From ABC to EBC

Before leaving Pokhara and ABC, I ticked off the final few tourist-y things to do: Devi's Fall's [more like a trickle at the end of the a dry winter], the Mountain Museum [combination of sunning Himalayan photography, and GCSE-esque geography/anthropology posters], attempted to enjoy the international paragliding championships [but bizarrely this significantly reduced the number, duration and complexity of flights...], and discovered a second establishment capable of a decent coffee - complete with refills :)

Next stop: Chitwan National Park with a small army of German medics. The usual combo of visitor centre, Tharu village, elephant breeding centre, traditional dance and bird watching were done, but the highlights were of course the big animals... A handful of crocs were up alongside our dugout canoe, bathing rhino seemed content with us watching them from our elephant taxis, and then clambered around on the back of the nellyphants at bathtime in the river. And another few dozen sunset photies to add to the collection too...

Now back in Kathmandu to reorganise, and will be AWOL from until the twenty-somethingth of March...

NEPAL ~ Never Ending Peace And Love

A month in Pokhara, and still not bored of the stunning Annapurna backdrop, the blue-ness of Phewa Tal, the scattering of paragliders over Sarangkot, daily daal baht, or the day to day life at ABC and Manipal.

Climbed up to Sarangkot a couple of weeks ago, watched a very orange sunset and a stunning sunrise, before paragliding from 1500m, via 2800m with 3m eagles and some acrobatics, back to Lakeside.




Have also been out rowing on the lake, wriggled through Mahundra and Bat Caves, scaled the mountain up to Manamakama, not quite fallen off any motorbikes, seen more weddings that you could imagine, experienced a Nepali bank holiday and Tibetan new year, enjoyed more BBQs and campfires courtesy of Hari et al, and finally found something that actually tastes of coffee.



My four weeks of medicine at Manipal is done; met some great interns who really made it what it was, as well as the elective students for far and wide...



Heading to Chitwan in search of the Junle Book cast next weekend, then back to smelly KTM, before the real mountains begin.