Nep-please give this country some decent engineers!

Well, I can only compare last night's culture shock to being hit in the face by a gigantic frying pan, as sported by Vic Reeves on Shooting Stars. The only difference is that this frying pan was full of curry, incense, and kerosene, and there was a cow standing in the middle of it. Picture that, and you may know how I felt.

After signing off last night's blog, we headed back to the room for some much needed kip. The only problem was a cockroach the size of a dog wanted to fight over our bathroom. Now, remembering some extremely useful facts, I knew that not even a nuclear weapon could kill these bastards. So, I went ol'skool and picked him up and gave him a short journey on the watershoot of life. That's right I managed to do what the atom bomb couldn't with a simple flush of the toilet - have some!!!

Our next local visitor was a little gekko but he recognised my kung fu prowess straight away and backed out of the room before you could say "Dude, where's your tail?'

After that, Luke decided that safety was key and produced an extravegent hair net from his bag which scared me more than the bugs - how messed up does that picture look? I wrestled with the idea of flushing him down the toilet as well, but thought he was probably more scared of me than I was of him, so gave him the benefit of doubt.

With a start like this, you can easily understand why, come this morning, we decided to leave this golden palace and search for greener pastures. We're now staying at the Hotel Marchyangdi (view from the room, below) and are much more comfortable. Mind you, it's only for one night as we're off trekking tomorrow. Back of the net!!!



Today, we ventured out to see the Monkey Temple - probably not it's actual name, but it seemed fitting due to the numbers of, yep, you guessed it, stray dogs that lived there. OK, there were monkeys as well but I swear there were more dogs. This temple was sadly the location of our first brush with crime though as Luke's bottle of Mountain Dew was stolen by a swift moving monkey with a penchant for drinks which turn your tongue yellow. The last laugh was on the monkey though as the drink was a month out of date. Ha ha, gutted!

This is me at the temple just as I left the 36 Chambers - "Now I'll show you my Wu-Tang style!"

Kath-man-don't listen to the Green-Cross Code! - 18th October '05

Holy shitballs!
The flight over to Nepal wen fairly quickly with little excitement except for a cool thunderstorm over the himalayers as we were approaching Kathmandu. The clouds looked like giant jellyfish surging with energy with every strike. That was the first indication of the alien world we were about to enter.

Landed about an hour or so again and am now at the hotel. I'm not a religious person generally but I was seriously praying to any god that would listen on the journey from the airport to the hotel. I've no idea what side of the road they are supposed to drive on, or how the highway code works out here but my guess is it is a traffic lottery and everyone just goes whenever and wherever they like.

Probably stick to a few beers locally tonight as this place definitely needs some adjusting to before we venture far away from home. Our replacement guide did meet us at the airport as planned and brought a few friends along as well ????? We're going to meet him again tomorrow morning for breakfast and to discuss our trek, the sights of Kathmandu and the rules of the road.

So, all is going well and I can't wait to get up into the mountains.

Vienna - 16th - 18th October '05

Had no real preconceptions about this place and am little clueless as to what I am taking away from it now. We basically walked around the city all day, sponged a few free rides on the tram system and saw loads of huge buildings with little or no meaning to us. I think that if anyone was considering coming here, I would recommend more time and a guide book. It probably doesn't help much either that we're more interested in the next stop of our trip so Vienna was going to be at a disadvantage from the start.

Wiesbaden, Germany 14th - 16th October '05

The first stop of 'the trip' was to the town of Wiesbaden in souhern Germany. This is the twin-town of Tunbridge Wells and is the 3rd richest city/town in Germany. It is a 'bath' town, hence the inclusion of 'bad' in it's name - this coupled with the wealthy factor, are probably the reasons for it's twinning with Royal T. Wells - ra ra ra. It is the city where Elvis met his wife and it's topography was created by a giant pressing his hand into the land.

Aside from that, it was a great place to start our trip, and once again, I was blessed with great weather (had awesome weather when I went to Paris a month earlier!). We were staying with a good friend of mine, Johanna, who I had met in T. Wells 2 years earlier. She showed us round the region, gave a tour of Frankfurt and managed to put up with us laughing at saying "Das ist de autobahn!!" (Alan Patridge), and asking her to do quotes from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in a strong German accent.

Both Wiesbanden and Frankfurt were beautiful places with great architecture, clean streets, and a relaxing mileu. I'd definitely recommend the area to anyone looking for a new weekend break destination!