Phokara

August 28 2007

We are about to set off on a two week trek so will be out of contact until we return - I know I just left my phone number but you can only call us on it today or in two weeks. So I will just update you on the last couple of days..

Thursday our friend Tim arrived like Santa Claus with tonnes of presents for us and the kids. We had a little party at the orphanage that night to say goodbye to the kids and there were tears all round unfortunately, we promised them that we are going to go back and see them in November so that helped slightly. We managed to keep Tim awake all day by taking him climbing and feeding him plates of chilli masquerading as chips so that his jet lag would not be too bad. Friday we spent the entire day trawling the shops in Thamel so the Testosterone Twins could buy a million pieces of mountaineering equipment that they do not need...

Saturday and Sunday we spent two days rafting and camping down the Trisuli river which was really amazing. The scenery was stunning the entire way and the campsite was just a little white beach on the river bank it was so nice just listening to the river swish by all night and breathe fresh air rather than smog..

Unfortunately after the rafting was over we had to catch a 4 hour local bus to Phokara - there is no doubt that the trip was the most terrifying of my life. The bus driver was a crazed lunatic whom I am sure has never oficially passed any sort of driving exam in his life, and the bus.. well lets put it this way it was built sometime in the 18th century and everytime we went over a pothole Tim smashed his head on the ceiling so hard that he had backache the entie day. The entire journey was down a road that on one side (our side) had a 200 metre sheer drop into the river. By the time we arrived we had been so tense that we all had stomach cramps and I had managed to fall out with pretty much everyone sat near me..
By some miracle we arrived with our luggage which was an extra bonus and checked into a lovely luxury hotel (new nepali standards) and have spent the last two days sleeping by the pool, reading and buying more trekking gear that we surely do not need.

Tomorrow our guide arrives to take us up into the mountains which is what we have all been waiting for and when we get back we say goodbye to Tim and start work in the new orphanage here.

Just a couple of words about Phokara - it is beatiful and now that we are here I really do wonder how on earth we stayed in Kathmandu for so long it is clean here, the people are really friendly, there is a great lake and mountains all around us and everything is so nice and quiet. We could spend the rest of our time here which may well happen or we could go to the Everest region for a month or so as well. I think I feel quite settled here for a while to come though!

Speak to you all after the trek but do call if you are bored at work!!

Caroline x