Leaving India and Onto Nepal...

First of all I will say this is probably the fastest blog I will ever write so please excuse the terrible grammar, ill spelled words and so on! We left Goa last week to climb on board a 26hour train to Delhi! It was much better than I had imagined it would be and the time passed quickly between reading books, playing cards and general chit chat. Although typical India the meant to be 26 hour train very quickly turned into the 30 hour train and so we sadly had to wave goodbye to our hopes of seeing the Taj Mahal that afternoon! We were obviously disappointed but we were relieved to know we didn't have to cram too much in before our flight from Delhi.

When we arrived at Delhi train station the usual hustle and bustle was to be expected. A race to get off the train that I never quite can understand, the intense heat from outside blasted us as if we stuck our heads in a rather large oven. The rickshaw wallahs who pulled at our sleeves and the children making gestures with their hands to their mouths, money for food! After pushing our way through we managed to queue up for the pre-paid rickshaw service to take us to Pahar Ganj, a district within Delhi where all the backpackers go. We arrived unharmed and in one piece after a very bumpy ride and some rather impressive maneuvering on our drivers behalf! Our room was standard, overpriced and damp...the usual then.

Our flight left the next morning from Delhi's International Airport and left without a hitch a few hours later! Delhi airport was nice and clean, Daniel and I sat read our books, wrote in our diaries and sipped some coffee. A 2 hour wait is nothing after a 30 hour train!!!

On arrival at Kathmandu dusty and slightly rundown airport, Binay was waiting for us with arms open wide and quickly took us to a car that his friend had picked us up in! Free of course which makes a change to the usual welcome at train stations and airports! They took us straight to Thamel. Thamel is made up of small roads lined with stores selling Thangka, Buddha statues, paintings, Tibetan hats and the other tourist memorabilia. This little part of Kathmandu has everything and restaurants line most corners along with bars and hangouts! I have to say I love it! We have seen loads already thnanks to Binay.

Binay is a good friend from Nepal and he has been fantastic, it really does help when there's someone to point you in the right direction. There was no messing about and we got straight to investigating the local area within the first couple of hours. The first few nights we stayed at The Kathmandu Guesthouse, very famous hotel in Nepal and one of the first Guesthouses ever built, it has seen everything from backpacker status to the rich and famous such as The Beatles, it hosts a range of rooms from anything from $2 a night to $160 a night. Daniel and I went for the $12 but only because the cheapest were taken!!!

Anyway there is so much more to tell and so much we have done but for now I am running out of Internet time and have to say Goodbye!

Speak soon!