Reimposta ricerca
2024 Adventure2024 Adventure
SatelliteModifica percorso

2024 Adventure

febbraio - settembre 2024
A seven month trip around Asia and Europe. Full blog at twobackpacks.co.uk Leggi altro
Attualmente in viaggio
  • 57impronte
  • 6paesi
  • 107giorni
  • 541fotografie
  • 67video
  • 26,0kchilometri
  • 17,4kchilometri
Segui Calendario Condividi Lista dei desideri
Data decrescente
  • 2024 Adventure
    Giorno 91–93

    Bangkok Continued

    4 maggio, Tailandia ⋅ ☀️ 37 °C

    On our second full day, we decided to head to an art center to look at art and get breakfast. The taxis here can be ordered through Bolt, the same way you would order an Uber, so it was really simple to get around. We arrived at the art center and got a simple croissant breakfast, and I tried Thai tea, which is more orange-colored than milk tea and tastes lovely. We stayed so long that we ended up ordering a second round of cold drinks, then decided to skip the art (there didn't seem to be much anyway) and headed to the HUGE shopping malls next door. It was more like three malls in one and just went on and on. I was searching for a phone shop to get a SIM card, and James was browsing the tech since it was cheaper here. After browsing the shops and marveling at the consumerism, we went to the food court, which was epic and had so many restaurants and street food stalls that it was hard to choose. The food we settled on was delicious, and we decided to get a local type of iced bun for dessert, one of which was pandan-flavored, which was a new taste.

    We then headed back and rested before going out for an evening of drinks. We began at a place around the corner from us and ordered a delicious clear fruit wine drink that was 13% alcohol and came in flavors such as peach, yogurt, and grape. After sharing three bottles, which were small, but we were only given shot glasses to drink from, we definitely felt tipsy. We then wandered down to Khao San Road, the famous party and backpacker road, which immediately hit us with super loud bass music and touts outside every bar and club offering us one free drink, discounts, or laughing gas. Not to mention the street food vendors selling grilled scorpions, centipedes, and spiders to eat. It was pretty overwhelming, but we eventually settled in a quieter bar where we ordered one last drink before wandering back home to bed.

    For our third day in Bangkok, we decided to see a huge street market and then visit the museums in the afternoon. We got a taxi to Chatuchak Weekend Market and picked up some breakfast and Thai tea/coffee before wandering around, taking in all the many stalls and their wares. They sold everything, from clothes and paintings to kitchen equipment and even plastic food and flowers. The alleys were all covered, and most had fans blasting air around, but it was still hot. You could spend hours there going around the warren of shops, but we had museums to see, so we picked up a crushed ice orange drink, which was delicious, and headed to the metro to the Siam Museum. The museum is all about what is Thainess and was a very interesting exploration of what makes something Thai and how the old meets the modern. It was really fascinating and also very fun and interactive. I definitely recommend it to anyone visiting. My highlight was the different traditional outfits you could try on at the end and take pictures in. We then went to the attached cafe for lunch, which was a bit fancy but very delicious. We then headed back for a nap and rest before that evening's dinner, which we ate at the pop-up street vendor opposite our rooms. It was cheap, delicious, and such good value.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • 2024 Adventure
    Giorno 90

    Arriving in Bangkok

    3 maggio, Tailandia ⋅ 🌩️ 38 °C

    When we arrived, the first thing that hit us was the heat! Standing and waiting for our taxi, I thought I might melt. The region was currently experiencing record-breaking temperatures of 40°+, but we arrived just at the tail end, with most days reaching 39-42° and getting down to 36° at night. So basically, it was still boiling.

    We made it to our rooms in a recently renovated building that was still undergoing some cosmetic work on the ground floor. The room was very nice but strangely laid out with two king beds at the back wall of the room, end to end. They were also really high up, sitting about waist height, so you had to jump up a bit to get on them. The AC worked excellently though, so we were going to be alright.

    Having arrived at about midnight, we slept in late and awoke starving and in need of breakfast. We emerged from our room to more heat and humidity that instantly clung to our skin. We found a hotel buffet that let us eat next to a pool, which we were very jealous of, and then wandered around getting our bearings. We then headed back to do some admin and figure out what we were going to do for the next four days in Bangkok.

    In the late afternoon, we ventured out, hoping it would be a bit cooler. We first stopped off to get some midday cocktails, (why not we're on holiday). As we were super central, we wandered down to the royal palaces, but before we could hit the main road, a man with a walkie-talkie told us we couldn't walk down there and had to go another route or stand back. We eventually figured out it was because the king was leaving the palace and driving down that road. After five minutes of waiting, literally 50 red cars drove past very quickly, and among them was a fancy cream car where we could just make out the profile of a man. The King! Less than 24 hours in the city, and we'd already seen the king. We learned later that the three pillars of the country are the nation, religion, and king, which one could argue are the same thing. They're pretty strict, and you can't even step on a banknote because it has the king's face on it.

    We wandered down past the palace to the pier, where we got a cheap speed boat to another port near our hotel, then stopped off for a tasty dinner and bed.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • 2024 Adventure
    Giorno 87–89

    Taiwan part 2

    30 aprile, Taiwan ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Today, we planned a day trip out of Taipei to go hiking and visit some scenic towns. So, we donned our hiking boots and took the train to Hutong Cat Village. It was previously a booming mining town, but when the mines shut down, visitors began feeding the cats, causing the cat population to boom. Now, they have shops selling cat food to tourists and cat cafes.

    When we arrived in Hutong, we first picked up some small cat pellets and then tried to feed them to the cats, as a pretext to letting us pet them. It worked fairly well, but as they get fed so much, a few of them were a bit snooty about our dry food. The cats were cool, just lounging around in the middle of the street or asleep by walls, but the sound of a bag shaking quickly stirred them.

    In the village, they also have a huge free mining museum, which used to be the processing factory for the coal. It still has a lot of the old rusted machinery in it, and the exhibition is built up around it.

    As we wandered around outside in search of friendly cats, it began to rain heavily, so we took shelter inside a nearby cat cafe where we had lunch while watching the rain. It felt super cozy.

    Given the amount of rain, we gave up on our plans for a hike and decided to go straight to Jiufen, which has amazing street food and lanterns decorating the town. It's said to have been the inspiration for the town in Spirited Away.

    It was beautiful, and the narrow winding streets had food and tea stalls and trinkets, which was a feast for the senses. We walked up and down and then realized how tired we were, so we decided to head back to Taipei for the evening. We stopped off at a local fast food chain called Mo Burgers where I got a shrimp burger and James got a rice bun fish burger.

    On our 4th day in Taiwan, we decided to rent city bikes and see the town. The bikes cost about 20 cents for 2 hours, and the cycle lanes through the city and the parks were perfect, making it irresistible not to keep riding for hours. We cycled up to the National Palace Museum where we ended our cycle and bought tickets and looked around at some of the precious artifacts held there. After lots of days of walking, our little legs were too tired to do anything else, so we spent another quiet evening resting and doing any last bits of laundry ahead of our flight the next day.

    On our 5th and final day in Taiwan, we spent the morning apart in search of different things. We were catching our flight at 9 pm that evening but still had a whole day to fill. So we left our bags at the hotel, and I headed off to a bookshop in search of a guidebook for SE Asia, and James went to an Electronics plaza. After a couple of hours and success on both ends, we met up on the metro and headed out of town to the city zoo. It was £2.50 (!) for both of us to get into the zoo, which is insane and such good value. The zoo was huge and hosted a vast array of animals, some of which were more local to Asia than what we usually get in Western zoos. The enclosures were pretty big and well-stocked with structures and vegetation for the animals. The highlights were the aviary, where we finally managed to see the national bird of Taiwan, the mandarin duck, and another colorful pheasant that is the closest relative to the dodo. My highlight was achieving my trip objective of seeing a sloth! As they're only native to South America, a zoo version was the best I was going to get, but it was still pretty amazing seeing them in person and so close up. After we'd seen as much as we could at the zoo, we headed back to collect our bags and get to the airport. The airport was very quick and easy to get through and very empty. It only had one food outlet which played the same track on loop which basically only consisted of a chorus, that went '...I'll be happy tomorrow, so let's be happy...' 😵‍💫 The flight was thankfully smooth and pleasant and was a great way to start our time in Thailand.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • 2024 Adventure
    Giorno 85–86

    Taiwan!

    28 aprile, Taiwan ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Sun 28 April

    Upon arrival at Taipei Airport, the first thing we noticed was how busy it was. Lots of people seemed to be arriving from other flights. Before reaching border control, we had to go through meat and veggie screenings to ensure we weren't bringing anything in. We then walked past a dengue fever and illness screening desk. Although I had researched that we didn't need a visa to enter Taiwan, waiting at the border made me nervous that I'd missed something or that we needed to fill in some form in advance. Thankfully, we didn't, and they just gave my passport a pretty cool stamp, and off we went.

    After retrieving our bags, we picked up a pay-as-you-go card for transportation and a phone SIM card. We were super surprised by the fast data speeds we were getting.

    After taking a beautiful train ride into the city, which carried us high above the lush hills, we decided to grab some food before checking in. James found us a highly-rated but fairly traditional restaurant where we ordered a traditional Taiwanese beef noodle soup. It had the softest beef I'd had in ages and jelly bone marrow as well, which I personally wasn't as big a fan of. Then we checked into our private room at the hostel, which was wonderful for the price. Even without a window at £37, it had a private bathroom, towels, shower gel, a tea/coffee kettle, and it was very clean and well-maintained, which is a lot more than I can say for some places we've stayed.

    We then spent a wild night doing ALL our laundry and basically washing everything because it all now had a whiff of the Hong Kong dungeon on it. Like an answer to my prayers, the hostel had washing machines and dryers. I forgot how long dryers take though, even at low heat, and even though we started at 7 pm, it didn't finish until 10 pm. I was so tired I fell straight to sleep.

    DAY 2

    I awoke with a headache and didn't sleep as well as I thought I would, considering how tired I was, but I took a painkiller and it went away. Our free breakfast was the strangest medley of things I've ever seen on offer. I think it was all more traditional Taiwanese breakfast stuff, but it was all savory, such as chili chicken pasta in a white sauce, veg and sausage in gravy, what I thought were hash browns but were actually a creamy cron thing, and more. It was all pretty delicious though, and I tried everything. James was boring and just ate the toast and jam, boo. The tea here is super milky and sweet too, so I'm in paradise.

    We then headed off to a free walking tour of the old city. It was a pretty big group of mostly 27- to 40-somethings who all seemed neat and were traveling around East Asia. As we were listening to the guide, something tickled my foot. I looked down thinking it might be a fly or something, but to my horror, it was a centipede! I flipped, shaking my foot and jumping around and throwing off my sandal too. It went off pretty quickly, but I got the fear of it now and had to put James between myself and it. Of all the people's feet it could have crawled on, it had to be mine, who has the biggest fear of them, FFS.

    The rest of the tour was lovely. The guide was really good at simplifying the complicated past of Taiwan's many invaders and people, and I definitely came away knowing so much more than I did upon arrival.

    It was about 33°C out, and even in the shade, quite hot. In the middle of the tour, we stopped at a local stall and had a mixed fruit water drink that also comprised of a jelly, which was delicious! After that, James and I lost our concentration a bit, but we did chat to a guy from the UK who grew up in Catford (where we live) and now lives in Singapore. We ended the tour in the younger neighborhood, where the LGBTQ community also gathers. We then headed to a nearby cafe and got some lunch, and as we were tucking in, what seemed like a practice procession of floats went by banging drums and in a dragon costume.

    After our lunch break, we headed to Monument Square, before going back for a nap in our room. After crossing the roads, which take five minutes because they're so big, and picking a bus to take (they only come every 20 mins), we arrived at the square and were immediately struck by how HUGE the buildings were. We walked around admiring them for ages, craning our necks to see the beautiful decoration of the roof and sat on the steps of the National Opera to admire the whole scene while nibbling on some traditional biscuits we picked up on the way. We then headed to the furthest monument of Chiang Kai-shek, sitting on a chair, very similar to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. The scale of everything was pretty stunning. We read the style had been brought over by Chiang Kai-Shek in 1949 when he came over from China. After wandering around the building, we headed back to our room where I napped for two hours.

    At 7 pm, we headed out to Shilin Night Market to get dinner. The area is famous for its many food stalls and night shopping, and it did not disappoint. We got out roughly £35 cash but only spent half of it and managed to eat about six different things plus a drink. We started with a Taiwanese sausage in a rice wrap, which set us up with unique flavors for dinner. We then had fried crab leg, which was delicious. I didn't realize the texture of crab meat was so soft. We then had the longest, straightest potato chips (aka French fries) ever, with mayo and seaweed, so crispy and delicious. I got a very tasty cranberry drink. Then we had a bun with pork filling, which was so good, but the bun was more bready than I was expecting. We then moved on to dessert, starting with an ice cream sandwich and then shaved snow (frozen condensed cream) with fresh mango on it. It was huge and a real showstopper. It was a delicious evening, and as we left, we were discussing coming back to try all the other things we missed. Overall, a fantastic first day in Taiwan, which is making us fall in love with this country a lot.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • 2024 Adventure
    Giorno 83–85

    The rest of Hong Kong

    26 aprile, Hong Kong ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    With Hong Kong being one of the most expensive places in the world, let alone on our trip, we struggled a bit to figure out what we could do for cheap or free while staying out of our dungeon accommodation as much as possible.

    We started each day with breakfast at a nearby fast food joint, for £6 each which had an odd medley of things to eat. On our first day, we booked a free walking tour, which was really good and helped ground us in the location and understand it better. Highlights included going on the world's longest outdoor covered escalator system, the Central–Mid-Levels Escalator, and the Chinese temple, where we were instructed on how to pray and ask the gods questions. We also tried a local egg tart dessert that tasted mostly like egg.

    We then did some much-needed shopping for shorts, as we were now going to be in less modestly dressed countries. For dinner that evening, we went to a Chinese restaurant and ordered the local specialty, Won Ton noodle soup. We then went off for an evening walk and realized we were right by the shore facing the city lights. We walked along the huge boardwalk until we got tired and went to bed.

    Every night that we slept there, our sleep was worse and worse. That night night, I woke up feeling like something was crawling on me; the night before, something from the roof dripped on my head. I woke up that night literally saying to myself, "One more night, it's only one more night." As we were in a bed just a tiny bit bigger than a single, when I awoke, James woke up too and turned to me and said, "That was a shit night's sleep, but it's okay because that was our last night." I was like, "Wait, no, we have one more night." Turns out James couldn't sleep that night either and was so fed up he booked a hotel near the airport that had a pool and breakfast included. I literally could have cried with happiness.

    Our only urgent task for that day was to post some of our warm clothing and souvenirs back home, so we quickly did that, packed, and then, as our check-in wasn't until 2 pm, we got a celebratory ice cream and went to the art gallery on the waterfront. We then went off to the hotel and checked in. It was expensive, but after suffering through the past few nights, it felt very well deserved. The room was pretty incredible by normal standards, with a floor-to-ceiling wall overlooking the green hills. We donned our swimsuits and, even though it was on the verge of raining, we went to the pool and hung out there until closing at 5 pm. We then wandered around the shopping mall that the building was attached to and got some dinner, then returned to our room just to soak it all up.

    Breakfast the next morning was delicious, and we then packed and headed to the airport to catch our flight. Hong Kong, you were beautiful and fun but in a different way than we've experienced so far. Maybe we'll return one day when our budget is bigger.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • 2024 Adventure
    412
    Giorno 82

    Hong Kong Disneyland

    25 aprile, Hong Kong ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    We'd played with the idea of visiting Disneyland in Florida some years ago but decided against it for cost reasons. However, as we were already nearby, we decided to spend the day at the Hong Kong version to see what it was like. We arrived early for the 10 a.m. opening, and as we walked up the drive to the entrance, we both felt the excitement building.

    After getting through, we started with a train ride around the park to figure out the layout. We then decided to go clockwise and began with the Space Mountain ride. James had assured me this first ride was gentle and not too intense; however, we quickly realized how wrong he was. It was a very fast, very twisty indoor dark thrill ride, which I was not prepared for. I finished feeling a bit shaky in my legs and needed to sit quietly for a few minutes. James loved it. I then felt a bit traumatized by that first ride and was cautious about the rest of the rides.

    We did a few more mellow rides, including an Ant-Man and The Wasp ride in the Marvel area and then a boat trip in a lagoon that included a waterfall that was on fire. We then went to the mining village, where we got on another thrilling ride, which was incredible, long, and really loopy and mad. It ended up being our favorite ride, and we had a second go on it before finishing our time in Disneyland.

    We did some more rides and saw a Lion King show, which was a bit cheesy but fun, before heading to Toy Story Land, which was one of James's favorites. We went on the Toy Soldiers ride, which was a drop-type ride that I hated and screamed the whole way through (see video), and the toy car ride, which I point-blank refused to go on, as I hate swinging rides after a bad experience on one in the past. James enjoyed it thoroughly.

    The new Frozen Land was gorgeous, and we arrived just at sunset, which made everything seem even prettier. The rollercoaster ride was a bit disappointing, though, as it was extremely short, and we'd waited in line longer than the ride lasted. We then did the classic It's A Small World boat ride, which was actually really pleasant, and then we went back to the mining ride for a second turn. It was then dark, and the park was looking twinkly and beautiful as we got some tasty dinner and decided to wander around before the evening firework display. There was a beautiful maze with little miniature princess scenes, which was lovely, and then we rode the teacups before taking up our spot for the display and fireworks. They went on for ages and were very pretty. It was a lovely ending to a really fun day.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • 2024 Adventure
    141
    Giorno 80–81

    Traveling to Hong Kong

    23 aprile, Hong Kong ⋅ 🌩️ 25 °C

    Our journey to Hong Kong was probably the longest and most exhausting experience I've ever had. It started at 9 am in Pokhara (ace lasted more than 24 hours), where we took a very small domestic flight to Kathmandu, which was SO bumpy I was actually quite scared (the person behind me was also sick. James and I were both pretty nauseous too btw). We then waited in Kathmandu airport for ages as the King of Qatar's visit meant the whole airport was on lockdown until he left. We also went through a ridiculous number of checks and security, which became extremely aggravating. On our flight to Delhi, just as we were beginning our descent, when the captain announced that due to a thunderstorm (and extremely bumpy conditions) we weren't going to be landing in Delhi but in Lucknow, which was back half the distance we'd just travelled. Once landed there, we waited for 20 mins on the plane before being told we'd refuel here and take off again to Delhi. Our 2 hour flight became a 5 hour flight. We arrived so late in Delhi that there was no point going to our hotel, so we got a Domino's pizza and checked into our next flight to Hong Kong, departing at 4 am. Checking in was slow as the airline's systems were down and after no sleep and being exhausted, it was very hard to stay standing. After making it through security and into the departures area, we found no seats that did not have hard metal armrests, so it was near impossible to get any sleep, plus there were loads of mosquitoes there which I could feel and see biting me as I sat there.

    As soon as we boarded our flight, James and I fell right to sleep and woke after several hours hungry, but soon realised they didn't serve free food on this 5-hour flight.

    When we arrived in Hong Kong, it was like stepping into the future. After being in some chaotic and rundown airports, it felt weird walking through a pristinely clear space that had automatic flushing toilets with paper, tap water we could drink, and even showers all before immigration. Immigration was a breeze, and we collected our bags and found the bus stop that took us straight to our centrally located room. We got front seats on the double-decker bus and ogled the smooth roads and obedient cars. The hills surrounding Hong Kong are lush and beautiful, and springing up from below them are tall high-rise buildings which make it so interesting to just stare at.

    Our Airbnb room was located in Chungking Mansions, which I would recommend Googling as it's a bit of a notorious place that used to be considered a ghetto (though we didn't know this at the time). The room was... um...a room. We knew it wasn't going to be that nice as it was one of three places that was within our budget in the whole city that wasn't just a mattress on the floor, but we still hadn't quite expected what we got. The entrance was through rough currency exchange and Indian food stalls, to the lifts in the centre. Our landing was then extremely humid and smelled of fried food, and it smelt of BO and more food in the apartment hallway. The apartment had obviously been roughly divided into 6+ rooms. Ours was only just a bit bigger than our bathroom at home and consisted of a bed, toilet and shower room, and a wardrobe. It was tiny, and the AC unit was old and loud and had one setting; cold, and no window (well, a window to a shaft that we were too scared to look into). We both played it cool and tried to pretend it wasn't the worst place we'd ever stayed in.

    We quickly freshened up and headed out for some dinner at a ramen restaurant which cost us £45, more than we'd spent on a single meal for the whole trip.

    We then took the bus to Victoria Peak where you get a stunning view of the city skyline from atop a hill and then took the old (but now refurbished) super steep tram down.

    By now very tired, we then went back and slept to get rested for our trip to Disneyland the next day.

    P.S. we did not sleep well as the AC was freezing when on and humid and stuffy when off, plus I'd all but cocooned myself in my silk liner for fear of bed bugs or other creepy crawlies getting on me. Plus when we woke up it was as dark as when we fell asleep, so we had no idea what time it was all night when we stirred awake.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • 2024 Adventure
    Giorno 75–80

    Pokhara - part 2

    18 aprile, Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    On our final day of the trek, which was our travel back day, we woke up early to catch the 7 am microbus with Cecilia. We ate our breakfast in the Manaslu hotel front outside area. After we had finished, we said goodbye to Mitra, which was sad as we had spent so much time with him and got to know him, knowing we probably won't meet again.

    The journey was long and bumpy as usual, the only moment of note was when we got stuck in the more standstill chaotic traffic jam I've ever experienced. On a road with construction taking place, a truck and an oil tanker had collided while trying to pass each other on a dirt road. Nothing was much damaged, but obviously, it being an oil tanker, they were being very 'careful' with a digger trying to dislodge the vehicles from each other. This was taking up the entire road, and so the other half under construction road was being used to move either side of heavy traffic past, although this was not being managed by anyone and was super ad hoc. We didn't know this until passing by, so we got stuck further up, and it all seemed to be people trying to wiggle and pass each other for the whole length. It was also extremely hot, and we were in a mental box with no fan or AC, and with the car not moving, no air was getting into the open windows. We all quickly sweated through our clothes, and I began panicking that I'd get heat exhaustion and pass out. We were in the same spot for at least 1 hour. I was very close to getting out and walking past the traffic jam I was that desperate. Finally, we began moving inch by inch and got past it. Finally arriving in Pokhara, we said goodbye to Cecilia and got into our separate cabs to head to our accommodation.

    We found our place on the slope of a hill, at the top of a dirt path, with a stunning view of the lake and treetops growing around us. Our room was divine. Huge with a lovely bathroom, huge bed, and windows opening out onto the view, with our own private balcony.

    We didn't get up to much while in Pokhara, mostly read our books, slept extremely well, wandered around to the local cafes and bars for food, and enjoyed delicious homemade granola made by our hosts.

    There were a few highlights though. We went up in the gondola, which was right by us, to the top of the hills, where you can normally see the Manaslu, Annapurna peaks but with the haze that engulfed the city the whole time we were there, we didn't see them. The gondola ride itself was fun though, very high and much longer than we thought it would be.

    We also rented a pedal boat for an hour and went out into the lake, but it was very hot and a lot of physical effort, most of which James was doing, though he didn't realize until we were almost done.

    And one evening we went to an outdoor screening of Amelie where we got served drinks and pizza all surrounded by a bamboo forest and twinkly lights it was lovely.

    On our final evening, we met up with Cecilia and had a fun evening dinner and drinks, catching up on what we'd been up to and what our upcoming plans were. It was a lovely way to end our time in Nepal, laughing and having fun with new friends.

    Our time in Nepal has been really magical. I've learned so much about myself and experienced things I never thought I'd do or see. The people we met have been amazing and friendly, and the country will definitely have a special place in my heart.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • 2024 Adventure
    Giorno 74

    Day 12 - Manaslu trek

    17 aprile, Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    It definitely felt like we left the mountains behind today, which was sad.

    By now, we'd all settled into our breakfast classics: Cecilia's porridge, James's eggs, and my muesli. Sadly, there was a big furry centipede-like creature in the sugar jar, so I had a little freak out first thing in the morning.

    After that, we set off promptly to the next village, Tilche, where we were to meet the jeep that would take us down to Besisahar.

    I chatted with Cecilia for most of the walk and spoke about how she found the love of her life, her husband, which was not a straightforward tale, but was really beautiful to hear.

    When we arrived at the jeep, James and I squished into the front seat, with Cecilia and two other Nepalese ladies and their two children in the back seat, and Mitra and another guy sitting/standing in the open-topped cargo area.

    Although it was bumpy for lots of the 4+ hour route, it was actually not bad compared to our Langtang return. The hardest part for me was trying not to roll onto the driver next to me, as I had no seatbelt available, and keeping my legs out of the way when he needed to shift gear.

    We'd heard tell that the Annapurna trek route went up roads now, and we saw this first hand as there were quite a few trekkers going up the road with all their gear while us and lots of other jeeps and lorries went by, throwing up dust and exhaust fumes. We definitely picked the better trek.

    As we got lower in altitude, it got steadily hotter. When we arrived in Besisahar, we found ourselves in a bustling city and us in our smelly dusty trekking gear. We ate a delicious lunch in the Manaslu restaurant and then stayed in their super cute blue guesthouse across the street. Our window view was of a cement wall, which was great for echoing the sound of other rooms' noise to us and making it super hard to tell where the goat bleating noise was coming from. Back in civilization, I felt very unsure of what to do with myself, without any mountain to look at and only a busy street to explore.

    At lunch, Cecilia showed us the new clothes she'd purchased as it was easier than trying to wash your clothes, and we chatted and exchanged tales. Getting to sleep was much louder and more chaotic than in the mountains, with the noise of someone watching Call of Duty footage floating up to us and someone deciding 9 pm was a good time to blast the latest Nepali hits, but we drifted off eventually.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • 2024 Adventure
    1
    Giorno 73

    Day 11 - Manaslu trek

    16 aprile, Nepal ⋅ 🌫 4 °C

    James and I both slept solidly for more than 10 hours. It was glorious. We woke warm and well-rested; it was hard to leave our sleeping bags. After breakfast, we said goodbye to the Canadian group with Dil Man who'd been shadowing us for the last 5 days and began our further descent down to Gowa at 2550m. This was to be our last full day of walking, so we pledged to try and enjoy it as much as we could. Thankfully it wasn't hard to enjoy, as the mountains in the background were epic and the rocks quickly turned into lush floral forests, making it hard not to stop every five minutes and take photos. We hiked through lush flower forests, dense clifftop woodlands, through a burnt-down woodland (from where lightning had struck), and finally on a rough dirt road.

    Along the way, we bumped into hikers we'd met earlier on the trail, who'd also done the pass the day before. The German man told us how hard he'd found it and how he'd also nearly cried reaching the top. He was especially relieved to hear that we'd also found it incredibly hard.

    With about an hour to our final destination, clouds began rolling in through the valley, and after a few very large drops, James and I put on our new ponchos. It was good to get some use out of them. We tried to quicken our pace as we heard lightning and thunder, and the memory of that burnt forest area came back to me, but after so many hours of downhill, our ankles and knees were protesting.

    We finally made it to our destination without getting too soaked, to our wonderful cabin rooms which had little skylights and en-suites (with a cold shower!) the luxury. After getting out of our wet things and taking a quick cold shower, we settled down to read and watch the rain. After an hour, James spotted the most humongous spider hanging out right above our heads. It was too big for me to get near (and I'm not usually scared of spiders), so James got it into a vessel and released it outside.

    We finally had full WiFi coverage so dinner was a bit quiet while everyone checked their phones, but overall it was lovely as we drank alcohol and ate some very tasty food. Mitra even arranged for us to sample some dried buffalo meat, as we hadn't had any meat for the hike. It was chewy but beautifully seasoned. Now used to an early bedtime of 8 pm, we all went to sleep in our last night in the mountains.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione