Quck update from Chame

Just a quick update here. All is well on the trek. Found a very ropey internet connection here in Chame. Tomorrow Pisang and then Manang where we will spend an acclimatisation day. I hope to get a better connection there.

Nepal politics

Some of you have expressed some interest in what's going on politically in Nepal. I'm no expert, but it is certainly an interesting time. There is a very substantial Tibetan component to Nepali life; so there is obviously some interest in and participation in the general series of Tibetan protests which are going on everywhere. I haven't see any of this.
Quite separately there is a general election here on the 10th of April, in which about 16 political parties are competing for the "new Nepal", by which they mean the likely successor to the monarchy and to the interim government which has been in place for the last two years or so. The Maoists and a.n.other communist party are in the race - as well as more moderate and royalist parties. There are (apparently) lots of political rallies and marches going on. I've seen 2 or 3 perfectly peaceful marches. As far as I am concerned, this is simply an interesting time in Nepal, with no more trouble than on a Hearts/Hibs football day.
As already said I'm no expert in any of this, but I am of course genuinely interested. I've been buying the morning papers here, and I offer you a couple of links to their websites.
http://www.nepalnews.com.np/ktmpost.htm
http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/

Ready to roll

Well nearly ready to roll; there is some packing to do later. I and the other two have all been scouring the multitude of gear shops in Kathmandu today. They mostly sell counterfeit goods, but there are some decent bargains to be had. I've had to decide that my old rucksack isn't up to the trip ahead and so my major investment of the day is a new "Lowe Alpine" 80 litre in garish yellow and black. I hope it stays in one piece. I won't bore you with the rest of my shopping list. We have just collected our permits . No new pics today. The 3 of us are getting together shortly for a steak meal at K-too restaurant. After that it's packing and an early night (maybe), before getting up for the bus to Besisahar tomorrow and the start of our trek. I expect to be out of touch for several days now. Next time should be from Manang, where I understand there is now an internet cafe.

New mission: Annapurna Circuit

Some decisions have been made. Emilie, Björn and myself have agreed that we can coexist and that we all want to do the Annapurna Circuit - with some variations. Also that we want to hire a guide. We have even signed up a guide we are all happy with and agreed we will set off from Kathmandu early on Wednesday morning. Our guide's name is Gyan. He is from high in the Annapurna region and knows the territory well. The truth is that none of us really feel we need a "guide" as such, but we all value what Gyan can bring to the team in terms of local knowledge and language - not to mention the fall-back in case of need for help with packs at altitude. Since I last wrote here we have seen two of Chris Beall's lectures/slide shows - first on Annapurna and then tonight on Everest. He truly is a font of knowledge - and he seemed pleased to see someone come back after 13 years or so! Tomorrow will be fairly busy, getting some last minute gear, and finalising our permits - as well as packing for the trek (and leaving some stuff back at base here). I'm finding uploading photos pretty problematic, but I'll have a go here at including a pic of the team of 3 after our agreement this morning - in the outdoor restaurant at the KGH. I don't think I need to say who's who!

PS. 3rd garlic soup found today.

Mission accomplished

Well I've had my first garlic soup of the trip, and very fine it was too. Clearly I need some new challenges. Mind you it wasn't on the menu, but all I had to do was ask and it was provided (as long as what I wanted was "real Nepali garlic soup"). Perfick! I've met a couple of potential trekking partners - Björn from Sweden and Emilie from Quebec. Björn had a notice on the KGH board, and Emilie was reading at the same time as I was. We had dinner together last night at Pilgrim's bookstore and will be sussing each other out some more this evening when we attend a lecture by Chris Beall. He must have been doing this forever, 'cos I'm sure Mac and I met him last time!

By the way uploading these pictures has taken forever; so I might not be doing as much of that as I'd like. What you have here is my soup (of course), the buddha statue in the KGH garden, and a sample of the street scene just outside!

Saturday in Kathmandu

Finally arrived here late last night & am installed at the Kathmandu Guest House. I'm pleased to see it seems to have remained unchanged in the 13.5 years since I was here last. As I did some more wandering in Delhi yesterday I finally gave in to one of the multitude of shoe-shine boys who obviously regarded my mountain boots as an appealing challenge. The lad did a good job but what I didn't bargain for was that I'd made myself a sitting duck for all sorts of other pests and beggars. The worst was someone who seemed intent on cleaning my ears. I am finally getting rid of my purple hue. It's surprising what a bit of inadvertent hand-shaking can lead to!
I've just had a fine breakfast at the KGH in the good company of some Irish and Canadian folks who have just come back from an Everest trek. The sun is shining and I'm off to explore.

Thursday in Delhi

Well the travels have started. Yesterday was one of those days which are kinda surreal - starting with the number 747 bus in Glasgow at 6 a.m. and ending with a 3 a.m. taxi ride through Delhi.

I've just been exploring Delhi a bit on foot today, and have now booked a flight to Kathmandu tomorrow evening. I'm in a cyber-cafe - in fact the third of the day. The others were pretty useless - with Windows 98 on old unreliable machines. So I'm not going to write a lot here.

Although I've only been here for a day, I certainly know I'm in India and have been enjoying the sights and sounds and tastes. This weekend is apparently some kind of religious "colour festival". People are wandering around with colours of all sorts on their hands and faces, and there are more red-haired Indians than I expected. I seem to have become slightly purple!

By the way, would you accept a taxi ride from this man (Indra) at 3 am? He seemed to be drinking something that looked suspiciously like petrol! I was glad to get to my destination in one piece.

Monday in Edinburgh

I was back in Embra today - to finalise some business matters. I was also able to pay a visit to Fay - a neighbour in Warrender Park Terrace, and to give her a bit of a hand with her new computer.
I walked from Haymarket to Polwarth and Marchmont (& back) and took a couple of pics on the way. Great training for the Himalayas eh? I'm going to upload the photos here, but bear in mind that this is just an exercise to see how it all works. They aren't necessarily the most inspired views of Edinburgh - but you do get a glimpse of Arthur's Seat in the background.
I'd better start packing sometime soon!

Friday in Glasgow

This time next week I'll be in Delhi for a couple of days on my way to Kathmandu and the hills. I'll be gone for a few months. The plan is to spend some weeks in Nepal - maybe repeating my 1994 Annapurna circuit trek, maybe trying something new like the Langtang & Helambu trek. I'll firm up the plan when I get to Kathmandu and see who wants to team up and whether or not I can track down Himal - the guide/porter Simon McK and I employed last time around.

I don't know how much blogging I'll be doing, but want to try it as a means of keeping in touch with folks. After Nepal, I intend to explore India a bit and maybe get down to Sri Lanka to do something useful there.

As is my usual style I've left a lot of the preparation till the last minute. Today I'm frantically trying to get Bank of Scotland to tie up some business matters before I go. Two days ago I went through to Edinburgh to apply for my India visa at the consulate there. I guess I've been conditioned to expect bureaucracy in India, and this visit reminded me of that. Anyway I got the visa in the end, and that's the main thing.

Emina will be looking after the flat here while I'm gone, and she left today for London and then for her Easter break in Belgrade. Yesterday I had an Indian meal at Ashoka in Glasgow with my nephew Douglas. He will be on hand (with some others) in case anything goes awry at the flat here. So I feel that the countdown has begun, and it's time to try this blogging lark.