The garden of the Shangrila hotel in Kathmandu. A bit of a contrast to the rest of the city!
Us wearing our "Kata" scarves presented to us at the airport.
Our room! Could be in a hotel anywhere in the world.
Why don't we have these sockets all over the world? Just about any plug from anywhere will fit.
Hmm, I wonder what they are?
They look a bit like ugli fruit but bigger. Couldn't reach one unfortunately.
Flags, flags, flags and more flags. They don't half like their flags in Nepal. They're all printed with prayers that are carried aloft by the wind. Seen at every temple and at memorials.
World peace pond at the "monkey temple" atop Swayambhunath hill.
Two of the many Rhesus macaques at the monkey temple
View over Kathmandu from the temple
The top of the hill has a big population of dogs, some in better condition than others but mostly pretty mangey
Prayer wheel around the base of one of the stupas (Buddhist temples)
Lots of stupas, some small and one vast one.
Despite the appearance of doorways into the stupa, they are in fact solid and have no interior spaces. The rings around the top represent the levels of elevation of the soul through reincarnation.
Probably the mangiest dog you ever did see.
We never quite did find out what was going on under the sunshade. One chap seemed to be responsible for preparing offerings to be placed into the temple.
Their was a production line going here for preparing, lighting and cleaning out the burnt out candles.
Me trying to photograph girl swinging from tree
More prayer wheels
It's amasing that electricity or phones work at all in Kathmandu
Toilets in the famous Rum Doodle resaurant
Lots of beautifully carved woodwork all around the city centre
Traffic is utterly chaotic. Rules seem non-existant other than than to never stop moving forward. It's like a constant game of "chicken" and everone has to play it, including pedestrians
Sign city
Our plane to Pokhara
Kathmandu from the air. It's a pretty smoggy place. The main method of rubbish disposal is to burn it.
Mountains! Not on my side of the plane unfortunately. All I saw was clouds. :-(
Pokhara. 3rd lagest city in Nepal. A bit less chaotic than the capital
Street scene in Pokhara. I suspect that is Machhapuchhare peeking through the clouds in the backgound. AKA "Fishtail" for reasons that will become obvious in later photographs
The start of the trek at Phedi. The stone staircase start at the left hadn side of the picture and winds uphill forever
We're off!
"Are we nearly there yet?" Looking back down the route to Phedi.
Climbing...
...and climbing...
A friendly mutt who decided to join us on our climb. Nepalese dogs are for the most part pretty aloof but they do sometimes like a bit of company on a walk
Having a rest and one of the numerous rest places on the climb. The raised platforms are for porters to rest their packs on as it saves them having to pick heavy packs up off the ground
Water buffalo munching a stick, possibly a bit of sugar cane
Dhampus school
Love this flower
Enough rest, more steps!
Cicadas are everwhere, except you hardly ever see one. The noise drives you a bit batty after a while. It was a relief to escape them when we reached higher altitudes
Dewen, our Sirdar (trek leader).
Our first "Tea house" at Pothana.
"Fishtail" peeking though evening clouds
Our cosy room. Note lino on floor. We didn't appreciate it at the time but after you've jumped out of bed onto stone floors, you come to appreciate little luxuries like that.
View in the morning. Wow!
From left to right, Annapurna South, Hiun Chuli and then Fishtail on the far left
Annapurna south and Hiun Chuli
One of the many bouncy suspension bridges we crossed
Me living dangerously ignoring warnings about badtempered cow
View towards the Modi Khola river valley (where the melt water from Annapurna flows). Note big landslip in the distance. We saw a lot of these.
Hosepipe = washing facilties. That hut isn't on fire, it's just the porters trying to get warm. It's a tough life for them..
Annapurna South (7219 m high)
Rather splendid waterfall. Looks more like the outfall from a hydro-power station than a natural waterfall.
Surendra (our other "trainee" guide) leading the way
Multi-storey house just left of the middle is called the "Beehive" on our map. A very apt name
Water driven mill wheel grinding corn
This kitten initially sooked up to me but I managed to find another victim for it. ;-)
Awwww!
The Modi Khola river. Not one for paddling in unless you're feeling suicidal. A constant raging torrent.
No, my camera wasn't squint, the bridge was.
Big hairy catepillar
We saw a pair of brightly coloured birds, one yellow and the other orangy-red. A scarlet minivet we think.
Another bird.
A ruddy great moth
Women's work at Jhinudanda. ;-)
Climb out of Jhinudanda
The climb goes on. That's "Fishtail" now looing very fishtaily in the background. A stunningly beautiful mountain. Easy to understand why it's sacred.
Donkeys at Chomrong
Descending from Chomrong before yet another climb
A beehive, though not a shape that most of us are familiar with.
Just a shot to demonstrate the range of the terracing, right from near the valley bottom all the way to the top. Usual crop is rice or millet
Porters carrying our bags
Eagle of some description
Man carrying wooden plough with his two water buffalo
Yellow Hymalayan balsam
Looking back to Sinuwa
View from Sinuwa looking back down valley to Chomrong
Fishtail catching the evening sun
Strange unshaven trekker
Hindu temple on the footpath
A comb made by cliff bees
Rather stunning cloud formations seen from Deurali
Ditto...
Fishtail / Machhepuchhre basecamp
Fishtail as viewed from the NW
Another luxurious room
I'd LOVE to know why the artist felt it important to point out that he is on heat. ;-)
Our party on its way from Deurali to MBC
MBC in the distance
Cracking views
Effect of low air pressure on a packet of airline peanuts. Tight as a drum!
En-route from MBC to ABC.
Same route, looking up to Annapurna south
Annapurna I (8091m), the highest peak in the Annapurna range. Huge glaciated valley in foreground, the glacier long gone.
Me at ABC
Pointing back to Fishtail
That valley was HUGE.
Group photo taken on way up to ABC
A pika we think (a kind of vole)
That top figure at sea level would be reading 98 to 100%. You could certainly feel the difference!
A solar oven
We climbed a hill behind ABC for a better view of the hills but the cloud came down.
One of the better squatter toilets.
Bloody vandals! Some eejit scratched his name on the rock to prove that he'd run up there and back (from MBC) the day before.
A mere 4130m elevation is no reason not to plat volleyball, for the porters and guides anyway.
It may be 4130 m above sealevel but you can still grow veg up here!
Early morning view. We were going to watch the sun rising on Annapurna but the cloud raceed up the valley
Annapurna, going...
...going...
Gone. Ah well, didn't want to see the sunrise anyway. ;-)
About to set off back down towards MBC and onwards to Dovan
Some baldy guy wearing clothes exactly like mine. Guy in the green cap is KC, apparently the guide to have.
Himalayan cherry tree
Christophenes, AKA vegetable pears (a kind of squash)
More mad cows (well buffalos actually)
Bat clinging to the ceiling
Some eejit with a perfectly good pair of shoes in his bag going "native". Of course the locals have more sense.
Ploughing lesson. (Brown cow apparently a newcomer to the activity)
A BIG leech. Fortunately I was only bitten by a tiddler.
Muriel (and drying maize)
Typical Nepalese farm/country dog. A bit like a cross between a collie and a Rotwiller
You wouldn't want to mess with one but they seemed gentle enough
Little girl with bamboo ball
A kind of shield bug I think. . Very colourful
Our doggy friend again. He followed us for several miles.
A goat with no idea of what's in store for him. Alas it was the season for Dashain, a huge Hindu festival (as big as Christmas) when animal sacrifice plays a very big part.
A Christophene about to get the chop.
A typical(ish) Dal Bhat. Veg curry, rice, dal, a bit of pickle and a popadum. This was always served on an "all you can eat" basis. Endless portions of seconds/thirds/fourths etc. if you want it.
Climbing from Tadapani up to another Deurali. Beautiful river gorge.
Primulas
Woo hoo! Luxury accommodation in Ghorepani. Chalet style lodges with en-suite facilities! *gasp*
A lot of these solar water heaters about.
A bed of chilies. I think they were just drying. I don't think they were for sleeping on....
Note the hi-tech waterproofing achieved by nailing lino up the walls
A sink, a "sitter" AND a shower!
Very upmarket restaurant. You can dry your socks and underwear whilst you eat.
View from Ghorepani towards the Dhaulagiri mountains (more 8000m+ mountains)
Mad b*ggers on top of Poon hill at ungoddly o'clock waiting for the sunrise.
Here comes the sun!
Me wearing the coolest Mohican hat in Nepal. For some reason, Muriel wouldn't let me wear it in Glasgow airport
On our way back to Birethanti.
Wobbly suspenson bridge with a full load of donkeys on it.
Kids swimming in the river below
Man who came to chase the kids out of the river. Nice wellies.
A "Bottom" pear. :-)
RIce paddies
Picture of moon only taken to show that the orientation (perhaps surprisingly) is little different from out view of the moon at home. I was expecting it to be more "laid back" at this latitude.
Washing up/laudry facilities at our last and more luxurious tea house
Lake Phewa at Pokhara
Even fancier facilities at out last tea house. Note TWO taps to control the shower which, in the morning, both prvide cold water. ;-)
Wild rhesus monkeys on the cliff face if you zoom in enough.
On the road back to Pokhara. Trek over. :-(
Paragliders near lake Phewa.
Plane back to Kathmandu
Kids enjoying a swing erected for the Dashain festival
A Mynah bird (AKA a "wishing bird" accoring to an indian lady)
Women labouring pouring concrete on a building site. Men doing important supervising stuff.
Smallest man in the world. Now 18 and just over 2ft tall. We passed him in our minibus on the way back to Kathmandu as we drove through Pokhara where he lives. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/14/nepal-worlds-shortest-man-guinness-world-records
