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Chris + Elli: World Tour
  • Chris Keeley
  • Elli Thomas

Chris + Elli: World Tour

Around the world in a year and a bit Read more
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  • Chris + Elli: World Tour

    Kathmandu

    Mar 2–13, 2024 in Nepal ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    We left Southeast Asia and headed for Nepal, starting the 4th section of our trip. We were eagerly awaiting it by the end, if only to escape the eternal 30-35 degree, high humidity heat! It was a relief to arrive in Kathmandu and feel cool air, sunshine and a totally different atmosphere, though Kathmandu is also incredibly dusty, so while this makes for beautiful light and incredible views, it's also hard on the lungs and has also been chaotic with more traffic and sensory overload, so turns out there's no such thing as peace even in the land where Buddha was born.

    Dave and Sumi met us and we spent 6 days together based in Lalitpur (a town just next to Kathmandu) going around Sumi's hometown. We
    explored some of the local sights - the huge and delightful Buddha Stupa; the Hindu Temple at Pashupatinath; lots of local markets and several Durbar Squares. The one in Kathmandu is home to the Kumari: a living goddess, or young girl who's chosen through various tests from local 3 and 4 years olds and lives in the Ghar as the living incarnation of the goddess, meaning she appears in the window a couple of times a day to be watched by worshippers.

    We also ate an astonishing amount of momos (Nepalese dumplings), Daal Baht and Thali (rice, daal and tasty curries) and Thukpa (a delicious noodle soup).

    Then we spent a few days getting organised before heading off trekking in the Himalayas.    Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
    Roads? Where we're going, we don't *have* roads
    The boneshaker1Trying on all the clothes beforehand1Sending off the rest of our possessions with Yadab, to (hopefully) meet us in Pokhara

    Machha Kola

    Mar 13–14, 2024 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Altitude: 870m
    An 8 hour drive from Kathmandu along some roads that increasingly stretched the definition.
    This is the start of our 9 day trek through the Manaslu Circuit, going up to Larke pass at 5106mRead more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
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    Deng, 1860m

    Mar 15–16, 2024 in Nepal ⋅ ☁️ 2 °C

    Another long day's trekking from Jagat to Deng. Lots of deep canyons along the river, getting deeper as we start ascending, and some frankly scary bridges. Lots more mules and the entertaining discovery that most of them are carrying mountain dew. We're not sick of dahl baat yet but we will be soon. Elli braved a cold shower but it's getting a bit nippy at 1860m.Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
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    Namrung, 2630m

    Mar 16–17, 2024 in Nepal ⋅ ☁️ -7 °C

    A full Tibetan breakfast and another long day. Closer to the Tibetan border so we're seeing lots more Buddhist shrines en route (just make sure you walk along the left hand side, which definitely meant a faux pas here or there). Surprised to see one of the last farms you can squeeze on the hillsides but the dahl baat is mostly potatoes and beans now. Thank god for a fire at the teahouse and a HOT SHOWER wow.Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour

    Samagaon, 3530m

    Mar 17–19, 2024 in Nepal ⋅ ☁️ -9 °C

    Another long day's trek and then an acclimatisation day at Samagaon. In our case, we needed the rest and not just the acclimatisation but Chris was starting to get headaches at this point - altitude is getting serious. We still (just about) managed a trek up to the lake on our rest day in between trying to keep warm. The water froze in the morning so sucks to be you, you only get to drink the water you heated on the stove and stuffed in your sleeping bag (pro tip).

    Saw our first yak, got our first view of Manaslu peak (8163m) and got caught in a few traffic jams of mules carrying building materials. Elli learned to play the Tungne, a Himalayan lute, in a teahouse over lunch. Samagaon itself is a proper village and a very historic one on the Nepal/Tibet trading route. It's primarily inhabited by Tibetans and has a lot of monasteries and traditional houses where the animals live underneath. Also means they just wander round willy nilly which is quite amazing.    Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
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    Samdo, 3875m

    Mar 19–20, 2024 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ -9 °C

    Pretty serious altitude now so we can only do short days and you can really feel it! Starting to feel short of breath but mercifully a lot of today was flat until a painful section at the end. Also now starting to see more snow underfoot. More great views of Manaslu which we won't see again until we're over the pass. Very cold at the teahouse and you need to eat your food very rapidly to force it down. Doesn't help that altitude kills appetite and that we really need the food! Celebrations all round when they light the fire finally at dusk.Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
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    Dharmasala, 4460m

    Mar 20–21, 2024 in Nepal ⋅ ☁️ -6 °C

    An overcast day and we're slowly ascending so there's more sky around us and less mountain on all sides. Down jackets needed with no heat from the sun and the only colours are brown, white and the occasional cluster of prayer flags. We got to Dharmasala about 1.30pm for lunch and this is our last pause before the final push to the top. We had to drag ourselves the last section up to the teahouse (more like a shack) and it's feeling like a real struggle.

    Elli joined Chris in the world of acclimatisation headaches and we were very glad for the medical guidance of Flo and Manu and the spiritual guidance of our room mate Darius. Our guide Arjun gave us some garlic which made Chris throw up in the snow and sent Elli on a transcendental almost psychedelic trip, but both of us felt a lot better afterwards.

    The toilet is a squat toilet in a hut with a broken door and a very dangerous ice sheet over it, so we prayed we didn't need to get up in the night. There's no fire up here - there's nothing to burn - at least we had hot water (costs £10 for 2 litres but worth every penny) and we went to bed at 7pm. Early start tomorrow.    Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
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    Larke Pass, 5130m

    March 21, 2024 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ -8 °C

    We woke up at 3am, ate breakfast (somehow) and set off with crampons and torches at 4am for the big push up to the top of the pass. The first couple of hours were in the dark and we could hardly see a thing. Beautiful as the light started to appear and our water bladders gradually froze despite our best efforts to keep them liquid.

    The first few hours went without too many problems but it got harder and harder as we got higher. We did 700m ascent and as we got closer to 5000m every step became harder - like walking through treacle. We'd stopped trying to have conversations while trekking several days ago but at this point we were stopping every 20 paces to breathe and encourage each other to the next boulder / post.

    A sense of achievement partly eclipsed by exhaustion when we finally got to the top, by 9.30am (as we commented, some days we haven't even got out of bed by then).    Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
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    Bhimtang, 3590m

    Mar 21–22, 2024 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ -5 °C

    The problem with going up is that you have to come down again.

    After 5.5 hours up to the pass we had to carry on. 1500m descent that day. We did a couple of hours to lunch which was relentlessly steep down a huge cliffside of snow and ice - thank god for crampons and at least we could breathe again. Amazing views down into a huge glacial valley though. Pushing ourselves on after lunch was such a huge effort and needed resources we barely had. At least for parts of it we could just fall downhill and hope not to break our ankles. (Elli has a huge bruise on her hip though).

    Arrived in foggy Bhimtang by about 3pm and we both agreed that this is probably up there with if not the hardest thing we've ever done.    Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
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    Pokhara

    Mar 23–Apr 2, 2024 in Nepal ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    A genuinely ridiculous journey back to Pokhara, which involved 3.5 hours in a jeep which bounced over rocks that I would barely call a road and then 5.5 hours in a local bus that was also the bounciest experience I could imagine with endless devotional songs being played at infinite volume.

    We arrived in Pokhara feeling utterly exhausted and scrambled in various states of travel sick and were sad to discover that there wasn't enough hot water to have a bath. Thanks to Gill for helping find us a slightly more relaxing hotel and we ended up staying in Pokhara 10 days.

    The day after we arrived was the Hindu festival of Holi, in which the entire city covers itself in paint. It was a lot of very messy fun, and then we spent most of the rest of our time recovering, resting, finding out what sound bath healing is (might need another go at that one) and hanging out in our favourite cafe by the lakeside, trying to find some good food (actually hard, weirdly enough, nowhere near as good as Kathmandu) and then throwing ourselves off a cliff by paragliding for only 3000 rupees (£18). Would recommend.    Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
    1Last momos

    Kathmandu (again)

    Apr 2–3, 2024 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Stopping in Kathmandu to return our sleeping bags and as it's the only international airport

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
    Only in Goa
    Beach life. Everyone comes out to stand on the beach at dusk.Lots of sunsets over the sea.1Constraint solving1Chris had this 3 times👋

    Anjuna, Goa

    Apr 3–8, 2024 in India ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    To Goa. A day of collapsing after 2 consecutive 10-12h travel days, some sitting by the beach, some furious replanning of the upcoming route after axing the Appalachian Trail, and some more relaxing with mind-blowing tandoori, before Elli goes it alone on her Yoga retreat.
    We are suddenly reminded of what India is like by all the cows everywhere and the fact that everything takes forever. Anjuna feels a bit placeless, we intended to go "out out" and experience the home of psy-trance, but didn't have the energy and have deferred it.    Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour

    Om Yoga Shala, Agonda

    Apr 8–14, 2024 in India ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Meanwhile Elli took the train down to Agonda to uncover the secrets of consciousness and to put her legs behind her head by learning ashtanga yoga for a week.

    It was actually amazing and I learned a huge amount, and sweated out most of my bodyweight twice a day. 🧘‍♀️ also really lovely to see South goa, which is a lot quieter and has some lovely peaceful beaches ⛱️Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
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    Candolim, Goa

    Apr 8–14, 2024 in India ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    While Elli went to her Yoga retreat, Chris went to a hostel by the beach to catch up on some planning and work on some projects.
    It mostly consisted of moving between the hostel common area, a restaurant on the beach, and sometimes some places with AC as it was punishingly hotRead more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
    Climbing over the cliffs to our local beach
    Holy cowBasilica of Bom Jesus - impressive Portuguese happily sitting in IndiaThe sadness of discovering our favourite beach bar from last week had literally been dismantledSurfing at MorjimBeachy beach

    Vagator

    Apr 14–19, 2024 in India ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Last few days of Goa spent in Vagator - just a bit further up from Anjuna.

    More cows including cows being chased by dogs, fish curry, sweaty walks on the beach, and attempting to go to parties but discovering that the end of season during an election is not the time.

    And some amazing surfing up at Morjim beach where the waves came across from Madagascar 🏄‍♀️    Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
    111111

    Mumbai

    Apr 19–20, 2024 in India ⋅ 🌙 29 °C

    24 hours in Mumbai. Arrived at midnight on the train from Goa, which was a very comfortable experience where we were fed to within an inch of our lives, and Elli made friends with an incredibly talkative 10 year old.

    Had a confusing time checking into a hotel with no door at 1am, then spent the next day foot slogging around Mumbai, doing our new favourite activity of "rapid fire tourism". Highlights were the open doored trains which you're not meant to lean out of (but everyone does) and the rediscovery of pavements as a concept    Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
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    Ho Chi Minh City

    April 21, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    An unscheduled day in Ho Chi Minh City thanks to a layover in Vietnam on our very reasonably priced flight from Mumbai to Tokyo.

    We had each had no more than 2 hours sleep when we arrived but we soldiered through, starting the day with breakfast at Phở Hòa Pasteur, then settling into a very lovely coffee shop for a few hours to relax and do some planning for our upcoming cycle tour in Japan.

    More noodles for lunch and then we spent a few hours wandering around HCMC with all of our bags, reminding ourselves of landmarks from previous visits and trying to join the dots, and enjoying the broad French style boulevards and the closest thing we've seen to low traffic neighbourhoods for some time.

    Lots of sweating, tired feet, and being incredibly glad to be in a country where taxis come in a matter of seconds through Grab rather than the 45 minutes of chaos we became accustomed to in Goa.

    Fermented shrimp paste at a surprisingly fun make-your-own-bún restaurant that we fell into and then back to the airport for our second red eye flight 🥱    Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
    Back in Shinsekai
    Returned to the gacha sushi train restaurantSardines!

    Osaka

    Apr 22–23, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Landed in Tokyo and got the Shinkansen to Osaka (because we didn't know where we were going when we bought the flights)

    Mostly just rested, had some very tasty sushi from the sushi belt lottery restaurant, got our bikes, booked the ferry and some onward accommodation as it's golden week next week!

    67.5 hours of travel from:
    Taxi in Goa at 2pm Friday ->
    train to Mumbai, arrive in hotel at 1am, day in Mumbai ->
    half sleep on the plane to Saigon -> day in Saigon -> barely sleep on the train to Tokyo -> Shinkansen and metro to accommodation, collapse, 2pm Monday    Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
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    Orange Ferry Osaka -> Ehine

    Apr 23–24, 2024, Inland Sea ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    We are starting our cycle tour of the island of Shikoku by taking the ferry from Osaka to Ehine. We picked up our e-bikes in Osaka this afternoon and cycled them to the ferry terminal.

    We were greeted by a very friendly group of staff who helped us lie our bikes down on a soft blanket in the car deck.

    It is impressively palatial for a ferry with an amazing triple height staircase and lots of very comfortable lounges.

    Our room (a single plus) is absolutely tiny but perfectly formed... apparently the upper bunk is meant for children, but it's all good, I'll just be sleeping with my panniers by my feet.

    We had some delicious udon and after setting off (in the rain) visited the boat's very own onsen.

    No photos of that, obvs 🙃    Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
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    Cycling day 1: Saijo -> Hojo

    Apr 24–25, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    We had planned a short(ish) day of 52km/690m ascent so left the ferry, had a salmon breakfast and cycled up the road to the towel museum, which is a weird combination of towel manufacturing and the Moomims recreated in towels.

    Then it started raining so by the time we got to Hojo (a strange little town just north of Matsuyama) we were freezing, hungry and had to wait nearly an hour to be let into our accommodation.

    Spent the rest of the day trying to warm up - thank god for the bath - and eating cut price supermarket sashimi. A total bargain.

    A slightly more stressful start to the week than intended but some lovely hills and views.    Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour

    Cycling day 2: Hojo -> Ozu

    Apr 25–26, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    75km and 520m ascent today and the sun came out - hooray! Started by going through the suburbs of Matsuyama and then out into the open and up into the hills, or, one big punishing hill and then a long roll home.

    Some beautiful little villages up in the hills, the soba restaurant we were hoping for was shut so thanks to Lawson for providing lunch, and then into the town of Ozu, which is in a big valley at the convergence of two rivers and feels like it is delightfully stuck in the 80s.

    We stayed in an amazing cat ryokan with the loveliest owner and had a fabulous bath and were woken up by the cats sitting on us.    Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
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    Cycling days 3-4: Ozu -> Tokawa

    Apr 26–28, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    81km and 910m ascent. A big day so we were glad to have planned a rest for the day after.

    Lots of hills and some incredibly beautiful views of paddy fields and then lush valleys, particularly as got down into the Shimanto valley. Some of the roads were very steep and we were on a bit of a deadline trying to get to Tokawa for a check-in deadline. Oh dear when we reached a traffic block and had to wait 15 minutes. Never fear - the daily "radio taiso" came over the radio and the traffic warden showed Elli all the moves. Good for both of our flexibility and then he waved us on our way.

    Tokawa is a small and very friendly little town by the river where they had the first carp streaming festival, where they string hand made colourful streamers over the river to celebrate Children's Day. We are here in Golden Week and just before Children's Day so they were pretty impressive. We stayed in a great little backpackers house next to the railway line that was very cosy and had a much needed rest, having not really stopped at all since we were in Goa...! Phew...    Read more

  • Chris + Elli: World Tour
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    Cycling day 5: Tokawa -> Tosa

    Apr 28–29, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    97km and 740m ascent, 830 descent.

    Along out of the Shimanto river and then a long slow ascent up an amazing viewpoint over towards the sea. Then an exhilerating/terrifying drop down through several tunnels towards Kochi.

    Stooped for the night at a strange little guesthouse outside Kochi and enjoyed our evening meal at the empty dining room at the local 7 11.

    Bums really starting to hurt now, at least for Elli, thanks to India not selling cycling shorts for women.    Read more

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