Kirstie and Mike - Walking in Nepal

Holiday: Walking in Nepal 2005
Main tour operator: Kuoni
Other operators: Sita (India), Sita (Nepal) and Ker & Downey (Walking)
Holidaymakers: Mike Mason and Kirstie Mendham (Mendy)
Departure: Heathrow to Delhi, 16th August
Delhi to Kathmandu, 19th August
Kathmandu to Pokhara, 21st August
Pokhara to Kathmandu, 29th August
Return: Delhi to Heathrow, 31st August

Day 1 – Wednesday 17th August
Landed at 11am local time in Delhi International airport after about 2 hours of sleep on an 8 hour flight. Not that good a Virgin flight – rubbish films, food and service. Mendy was sicky – I never knew anyone actually used those little bags.

We were met at the airport by Swagat from Sita India who took us to our car and driver. Our first experience of Delhi was a mental journey through the back roads to our hotel. Swagat pointed out all the interesting things on the way. We saw cows hanging around in the middle of the road, people living by the side of the road, kids begging at the car window at traffic lights, really mad driving by everyone on the road and very excessive use of car horns. Although most trucks had signs on the back saying “horn please” as well as painted-on rear lights. In order to reduce the number of cows hanging around on street corners, the local authorities offer a 2000 Rupee reward to anyone that turns one in.

The hotel Crowne Plaza (in the News Friends Colony part of town) is an Indian 5*, although it’s probably more like a British 4*. We’re in a deluxe room - very big bed. Had our first curry for lunch in Le Café in the hotel – chicken byriani and chicken tikka for the lady – very nice indeed.

Went for a walk around the hotel. Saw more people living by the side of the road, this time in tents. More mad traffic and lots of little shops, including Pizza Hut, Dominoes and McDonald’s. Nobody really hassled us much which was good, but we still didn’t feel that safe, we felt very out of place. It’s very hot, about 32 degrees C and very humid.

Writing this diary in the bar with a bottle of Kingfisher beer. Bit too tired for dinner, had Chinese nibbles at the table in the bar with more beer. The lady crooner with the popular music tunes is great – I think she’s had more attention from us than ever before. She keeps looking over to us and nearly smiling.

Day 2 – Thursday 18th August
Curry for breakfast, what a great idea - didn’t have a Kingfisher with it though. Our guide picked us up just after 10 – same driver as yesterday, but different guide. Looks like we’re the only people on this holiday. We’re getting driven everywhere by car.

First place we visited was the Jama Majid Mosque in Old Delhi – Islam is one of the religions in the town. About 15 to 20 thousand visit this open-air mosque every Friday. It’s a cool building made out of red sandstone, including the huge steps on each side. There is some shelter on the eastern side for the elderly when it’s really hot or raining.

Next was the Red Fort, or Lal Qila. This is currently a military installation, so we could only visit the outside. It was built on the banks of the river Yamuna as an irregular octagon, surrounded by a wall about 2.4 km long. Originally it was built as the residence of the Mughal King Shah Jahan in 1648.

Next was Rajghat where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated, also by the river Yamuna. There’s a very understated national shrine to Gandhi (as well as others) in the middle of some very green gardens.

Next we visited India Gate which looks like a red version of Marble Arch in London. It is a World War I memorial on a long straight road in front of the presidential palace and parliament/government buildings. Originally called All India War Memorial, it was built in 1931 in memory of the 90,000 soldiers of the Indian Army who lost their lives. There are lots of statues of elephants in front of the presidential palace, Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The next place on our tour was Humayun’s tomb, an amazing old Mughal mausoleum built by the wife of Humayun. The building was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal in Agra which was built about 50 years later. The skies above the tomb were filled with dragon flies and big birds. There was a water feature that flowed around the whole tomb gardens in narrow channels – probably the reason for the dragon flies.

Just before lunch we were taken to a Kashmiri rug shop where they tried to sell us rugs ranging from hundreds to thousands of Blighty Quids! All hand-made and hand-knotted – beautiful, but expensive. Nice tea though, made of cinnamon, cardamom and saffron. Kirstie bought a really nice soft scarf.

We were then taken for lunch. We were dropped off in a restaurant while the driver and the guide waited outside. Things seemed strangely familiar as I had chicken dopiaza and Kirstie had butter chicken – they were both very tasty, except I didn’t eat much chicken – it tasted like it was a few months old – might become a vegetarian for the rest of the holiday! The meal was only Rs.700 including tip (~£9). We sat opposite a couple of miserable Frenchies who didn’t seem to be enjoying the cuisine – they only had a bowl of rice and a chicken sandwich. The snake charmer tried to get us to pay for a photo of a couple half dead cobras that he animated by hitting the basket they were trying to rest in.

After lunch we went to a Hindu temple, Birla Mandir. The guide told us lots of cool stories about some of the Hindu gods which was really interesting. It was built by the industrialist Raja Baldev Birla in 1938 and inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi. It contains idols of several Hindu deities.

The last visit of the day was to Qutub Minar, a 72 metre, hand-built tower made of red sandstone in 1199. The tower has been struck by lightening a few times and each time was rebuilt and added to by the reigning Muslim King in a slightly different style – so each layer of the tower looks slightly different. At the base of the tower there are the remains of a mosque and an iron pillar which dates from about the 5th century AD. The pillar has never rusted and is inscribed by the creators telling us who built it. Near the tower is the base of another tower. Another Muslim King tried to build a second, bigger tower to outdo the first, but when it got too high, it collapsed – he tried a few times but died before his huge tower was completed.

We were returned to the hotel through some pretty poor parts of the town. Just having a drink in the bar before dinner. The lady crooner is still at it. We had our third curry of the day in Seven, the in-hotel Indian restaurant. Although it didn’t have the same name, Mendy had butter chicken again – now she’s starting to look a bit buttery and chickeny. We’re really stuffed, I can’t remember what my meal was called, but it was made of sheep. Didn’t really need the starter of six huge blocks of fried paneer (Indian cheese).

Today was the festival of brothers and sisters. Everyone goes round to their sibling’s house and gives presents and money and wears a colourful wristband. Our guide complained that there are too many festivals in India – it costs him a fortune!

Day 3 – Friday 19th August
Got a note through the door at 1am, which we found at 4am when the fire alarm went off, telling us that the Sita man would be round at 8am. We were there at 8, but no one turned up and we had to phone to find out that we’d be picked up at 10:30am. Never mind, at least we had time for breakfast – wasn’t up to curry this morning.

Another mental car ride through Delhi to the airport. Waited a fair while for the plane – we were so early I felt like my Mum and Dad. Short flight, mostly cloudy until we got close to Nepal where we saw a glimpse of the mountains. Cool views into Kathmandu as we descended sharply onto the short runway. The plane maxed out at about 44,000 feet on the way over – the maximum for the Boeing 737 according to the pilot. The Indians on board were funny – I’ve never seen a group of people get off the plane so quick or people so eager to drink buckets of free Tiger beer.

The man from Sita Nepal (Deepak) and driver were waiting to take us to the hotel. The hotel Everest is on the South East side of the town, not too far from the airport and a Rs.250 (~£2) taxi ride to town.

We booked a traditional meal with the Sita rep. for the evening. We were picked up at 7pm and taken to a big old house in town – the rep. and driver sat and waited for us while we finished, a good couple of hours. The place was called Bhojan Griha and they did good local food with lots of courses whilst a band played and people danced in Nepalese costumes. Great evening – they even got us up to dance. The restaurant is in a 150 year old renovated building. We were given a tour of the building after dinner and they showed us lots of pictures of the renovation work. They also showed us pictures of famous Nepalese and Indian people who had visited, including the Crown Prince. Strangely the guide called the shooting an ‘accident’, but he was kind of looking sideways at us when he said it.

Day 4 – Saturday 20th August
Picked up at half 9am for a tour of Kathmandu by Deepak. First stop a Buddhist (the Monkey Temple) and a Hindu temple at the top of a little hill overlooking the town from the North West. Today is the cow festival where those who died in the last year are remembered. Consequently the place was heaving with people offering prayers. Strung from the trees and buildings were colourful prayer flags – the whole place looked amazing. There were lots of prayer wheels - everyone was walking round the temple rotating the wheels clockwise to send their prayers up to heaven. Bought a replica Gurkha knife – a big one – that’ll come in handy!

Next we went to the centre of town to a large collection of temples – Durbar Square. This place was even busier with musical precessions and lots of onlookers. The guide took us to the house of the living Goddess. This poor little lass gets locked up in a house until puberty. She has to pass lots of tests in order to be chosen to live there including being in a dark room with men in scary masks dancing around her. In order to pass she’s supposed not to be scared. The Goddess showed her head for about a second before retreating into the darkness – we weren’t allowed to take pictures of her.

The guide then took us to a picture shop where a man told us about his hand painted pictures that cost a fortune. We felt obliged to buy something, so we got a really small one.

The guide left us to ourselves after this brief tour (I think we were spoiled in Delhi). There were a lot of bad smells in this town which wasn’t doing much for my developing bad belly. We sat in the Snowman café for a while to try and Coke my belly away. Mendy had a horrible cup of tea that tasted like it had been made with a pint of Monkeymilk. We went for a walk up Freak Street (very popular with the Hippies in the Sixties) and back to the square to watch the world go by – the world consisted mostly of a kid trying to fly a kite and two others playing football with a cube of polystyrene. The belly got the better of me and I spent the rest of the day in bed feeling very poor.

Day 5 – Sunday 21st August
Just about recovering from the belly – wasn’t very well last night – still feeling quite unsettled. The driver came to pick us up at 9am to take us to Pokhara. A five hour, 120 mile journey through the valleys of the foothills of the Himalayas towards the west – cool. Stopped off on the way for lunch at the Hill Top Restaurant after about 2 hours of driving. Had something called mountain soup which turned out to be hot as hell – probably not the best thing for my recovering belly, but very nice all the same. Seems like people in Nepal drive better than in India, but it still feels like we should be having a collision every five minutes. It doesn’t matter if there isn’t a gap, they just make themselves one – the strange thing is everybody drives like that – how does it work? I think it would have taken twice as long to get to Pokhara if I’d have been driving.

The hotel in Pokhara, The Shangri-La is great, although the first place to be full of white foreigners. Passed the airport on the way – looks like the flight back might be elastic-band powered. Sitting by the pool writing this – lapping up the last bit of luxury before we start walking tomorrow.

Ate in the hotel restaurant, first solids in a while – managed to keep it down. Early night for an early start tomorrow morning.

Day 6 – Monday 22nd August
Breakfast in the hotel. Met the guide at half 8am. He’s an ex-British Gurkha from a village in the hills – he calls himself Prem. We also have a porter to carry our bags, he’s called Shibi – also a local man. They’re both really friendly, especially Prem, whose English is great. We’ve spent most of the day talking about pretty much everything with him.

We drove from Pokhara for about an hour and a half through the hills and clouds and stopped at a little village by the side of the road called Lamkhet. Prem set off at a fair pace – this isn’t going to be an ambling holiday. The first hurdle was a bunch of horses pretty much blocking the path. It took us just over an hour to get to Sanctuary Lodge, our first base of the walking holiday.

Had lunch – tuna and mustard sandwiches with coleslaw and chips – and then off for another three hour walk. We started off on the flat and then climbed about 1000 feet up a lot of slate steps to the top of a nearby hill. Cool views of the valley up there. We had to have a couple of stops on the way up, it’s so humid and close, I think I sweated half my body weight. We were walking along with about a ten school girls who have to do this every day to get to and from school at the bottom of the valley. We walked along the top of the hill for a while then started descending as it started to rain. A couple of minutes later the rain was like stair-rods. Some of the slate steps turned into mini ice rinks which made the descent tough. Prem was skipping down them as if he was on an escalator. We passed over a really deep gorge across a ropey old rope bridge. It was very wobbly, but the view was cool although a little wet. Couldn’t take any pictures, it was too wet – the camera would have been ruined in a second. The rain slowed up as we came down.

When we got to the bottom we stopped for a coke in a little tea shop (of which there are many in the bottom of the valley) – the sugar was good. We walked a bit further until it started raining again and stopped in another tea shop. We didn’t buy anything but we sat for quite a while watching the world go by in the rain. The chickens were watching too.

Back in the lodge we washed off the amazing amount of sweat and relaxed waiting for dinner. Dinner was Dal-Bhat – rice and lentils with curried vegetables and chicken – a traditional Nepalese dish. Very nice, but still don’t have my full appetite back. Prem said that banana is good when you have bad food poisoning. We chatted with Prem again for a while and then went to bed early. The generator only runs from dusk to half nine, so that’s when we went to bed. Dreamt of rocks and mountains all night.

Day 7 – Tuesday 23rd August
Woke up at dawn and looked out of the window to see a glimpse of Fish-Tail mountain (Machhapuchhre) in the mist. Prem was going to wake us at 5:30 to have a look if it was clear, but it wasn’t worth it. We were woken just after seven with tea served through the window while I was still in bed – that’s good service!

After breakfast we climbed to the next lodge where we’ll stay two nights. It was a very steep climb and Prem keeps a good pace still. We stopped at a few places on the way to check for leeches and to check the view. In an hour and a half we climbed ~1500 feet, but covered a horizontal distance of less than a mile. The crickets in this place are realy loud during the day. They sound like something being sharpened on a high speed grinding wheel.

This lodge (Gurung Lodge) is only two years old, so looks really new. It’s all made from local stone (hand cut) except the slate roofs which were carried for two days from the quarry. The slate and stone is rich in mica, like most of the local rock, so it looks really shiny silver.

Just after we arrived it started raining heavily and continued through lunch. Strange meal, macaroni cheese and vegetables – they seem to make an effort to prepare Western-type meals, but have an odd idea about what we eat.

After lunch we waited for the rain to stop then climbed some more into the local village. All the paths through the village were made of local shiny stone and all the houses were built in a similar way to the lodge. We were taken into a Gurung museum that looks like the inside of local people’s houses. The tour of the house was given by Prem who showed us how people used to live and how they live today.

As we came back down the sun cam out – when we got back to the lodge we could see the top of Annapurna South (7273 m). It’s really shocking to see how high the mountain is. You find yourself looking into the clouds to find rock and snow. The Gurung lodge is at an elevation of 1511 m, so really low compared to the mountains we can see.

Another evening meal and chat with Prem.

Day 8 – Wednesday 24th August
Prem woke us at 7am to see the mountain – a beautiful sign to see with a nice cup of tea. Couldn’t quite see the top though.

We walked for a coupe of hours in the morning – nearly down to the bottom of the valley – and then back again through some little villages. Free afternoon in the lodge, so we read our books, wrote postcards and looked at the mountains. We’re still the only people on this holiday. The lodge was completed in 2002 and has places for 20 people – it has never been full. Prem says that after 9/11 the tourist numbers have really dropped, especially the Americans. We passed a deserted lodge today. It looked quite new, but there just aren’t enough people to keep it open. Prem says they have good bookings for later this year, so hopefully things are picking up. It’s a shame because the place a beautiful and the people are really friendly.

Spent the evening in the dining room again chatting with Prem and the waiter and drinking beer. We even flicked through Michael Palin’s Himalaya book – thanks Claire.

Day 9 – Thursday 25th August
Woken again with tea at half 7am. Breakfasted, packed and then off to the next lodge. We have to climb over the hill and round towards Pokhara. It was quite cool today, but we climbed ~1600 feet so quite sweaty in the high humidity of the jungle.

Tons of leeches today. The jungle/forest is very humid and quite dark so they love it, and they love us. They don’t like salt, so we’ve been sprinkling our shoes with it to get rid of them. Luckily I’m wearing nylon trousers so they can’t get through. I’ve tucked them in my shoes and so far I haven’t got any bites! Everybody else has had loads. Shibi was walking in his flip-flops yesterday, so got bitten to death – nutter.

By the time we got to the top of the hill (6630 feet) it started to rain. We stopped in a small village in a tea shop for a coke and a rest. We joined the main trail a short time before, so there were more tea shops. The tracks we walked on since the first lodge were local paths for the villagers and their water buffalo. It’s started to rain really hard now, so I’m writing my diary again. We’ve been amusing the locals by taking pictures of them and showing them the image on the camera screen. Kirstie got leeched on the neck – two little red spots – looks like she got bitten by a vampire.

We walked to the next lodge in the rain wearing rain ponchos. More than ever the paths were silver with mica and sometimes golden with what looked like fool’s gold. We took about an hour and a half to walk to our last lodge in Dhampus. We were the only people there again. We were starving by the time we arrived, but even chip chapattis filled a good hole. We spent most of the rest of the afternoon relaxing, reading and watching the scenery come and go behid the clouds. We were visited by a couple of Tibetan refugees selling stuff. I bought a singing bowl (cool) and Kirstie got a couple of bracelets. Very odd thing though, we paid in pounds!

In the evening we ate and talked again. Prem had told us about the Maoists, who seem to be the cause of a lot of trouble in Nepal. He said that we may come across some during the walk and that he would have to give them a donation. But we didn’t knowingly see any. Any of the people we’ve seen in the towns and villages could have been members.

All the lodges serve San Miguel – not very Nepalese, even if it is brewed in Nepal.

Day 10 – Friday 26th August
Woken up with a cup of tea for the final day today. Still can’t see any mountains. Usual breakfast of porridge followed by toast, eggs and potatoes. Early start today to give us time for a Pokhara tour. An hour of descent along silver paths of mica rocks and sand brought us to where the car was waiting on a bridge over a fast milky river. Drove back to Pokhara and got dropped off at the Shangri-La hotel again. Gave Prem and Shibi good tips for looking after us for four and a half days. Shibi gave us a Buddhist scarf around our necks for good luck. If we came back to Nepal to go trekking we would definitely look at Ker and Downey to look after us, they were excellent.

Met up with Dipak from Sita at the hotel to be taken for a tour of Pokhara. First of all we went to the Tibetan refugee camp at the edge of town (not too far from the hotel). We saw them hand making rugs – we even bought a little one for only $20. We saw their little Buddhist monastery and had a look around inside where they pray every day.

Next we went to a cave with a shrine at the bottom. A local priest had a dream (many years ago) that he should dig a hole and look for a cave. He convinced a bunch of locals to help him dig and eventually they found a cave with a huge black, limestone stalagmite. They dressed the stalagmite up as a cobra and made it into a shrine for people to visit. The fact that the stalagmite is black is a little strange – all of the local rock is white. We saw the priest who had the dream on the way into the cave, he now makes a good living out of reading palms. Dipak said he was waiting for his dream to make him rich.

The next sight was a waterfall that fell about 100m into the ground. Tunnels at the bottom are linked to the cave we just visited – there was a moist breeze coming from a tunnel entrance near to the shrine. This was a very impressive, fast moving waterfall, almost at full capacity. We couldn’t see the bottom, it was too deep and dark. The waterfall is called Devi’s falls, named after a Swiss lass who was bathing near the top, a little up-stream. She died when she was swept into the underground tunnels by a flash flood.

Dipak then took us to his house for tea. We met his wife, little daughter (his cheeky monkey he called her) and his mother. His wife served us the tea and Dipak asked us to guess the four spices used to make it. It was very nice tea made from normal local Ilam tea mixed with cardamom, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Their flat in Pokhara was about the same size as ours in Redhill.

Net he took us to a gorge where the milky river flowed fast far below us. We stood on a bridge with fast flowing water running across it. This water was being sent to a local hydroelectric power station. Nepal is capable of generating more than 8,000 MW of hydroelectric electricity, but because of the countries issues with the King, government and Moaists, they currently only produce a few tens of megawatts.

After the gorge was another Buddhist temple in the north of the town. It was the dy of another festival, so the place was packed with people, smells and bells. The temple had a visit from the country’s leading yoga dude. He seemed to be aggressively telling people how they should be conducting themselves.

Finally we went to Pokhara’s largest lake, Phewa. We took a small rowing boat to a Hindu temple (Barahi) on a small island in the middle. Very relaxing, even with a little light rain. We rowed past the King’s local palace – the same palace he and the queen were conveniently at the day the crown Prince supposedly went nuts with a gun.

Back at the hotel now enjoying chicken momo (dumplings) and a beer (tea for the lady) after a busy day. It’s raining quite hard now, so thanks Prem for getting us up early.

Day 11 – Saturday 27th August
Woke up early today – no sign of the mountains – the waiter said the rain would wash the clouds away. Spent the morning relaxing in the pool. Dipak met us just after midday to send us off to the airport. Such a mini airport – I think it’s the smallest we’ve ever been to. Smallest plane too – a 16 seater propeller plane that’s not big enough to stand up straight in. The drinks trolley is a girl walking hunchbacked down the isle with plastic cups and a big bottle of Pepsi.

Just managed to see the tops of some big mountains during this half hour flight back to Kathmandu. Cool flight – looked really good banking hard onto the runway – ace way to see Kathmandu.

We were met by the Sita rep again (Deepak) outside domestic arrivals (an open tin hut). We were taken back to the Everest hotel for another couple of nights. Really busy in the lobby as loads of kids were arriving for a party in the club in the basement. We went straight out to do a bit of shopping. We started in Durbar Square as we knew where this was. Wandered around the streets looking at the shops and the scenery. Didn’t seem to be as smelly this time. Bought a pair of jeans that I had to have shortened, all for about £5. Bought Nepalese coffee beans, Irlam tea, spices, trousers for Mendy and a bag to put all our extra luggage in. We even went to a tailors where Kirstie had a shiny Chinese dress made and I had a couple of shirts made, all for less than £40 – Bargain (the Tailors was called Vogue’s Style in the Thamel area – very friendly and helpful man called Subarna). They only took about 24 hours to make all three. We walked around the streets some more until it was time for tea – found a mini version of the Monkey temple during our travels. Had dinner in a Nepalese/Japanese restaurant – it turned out to be mostly Japanese, so we had noodles. Up early tomorrow for a flight to Everest – can’t wait.

Day 12 – Sunday 28th August
Up at half five, picked up at six for our Everest flight. Same type of 16-seater plane as yesterday – full of Spanish holiday makers with a couple of Indians too. We took off and rose pretty sharply. We saw loads of huge mountains to our left as we flew towards Everest, all bathed in low cloud. By the time we got to Everest the clouds mostly cleared and we could see the big dude clearly through the pilot’s window. Just before we got to the big rock we turned around and headed back to Kathmandu with the Himalayas now to our right. It was roughly a 160 mile, one hour round trip.

On the way back I proposed to Kirstie – she said yes, so now we need to go rock shopping at the weekend. After we landed we went back to the hotel to email and text everyone to let them know.

We had breakfast in the hotel – probably a mistake! Afterwards we went back into town. Spent all day wandering around town and sitting in bars. For lunch we went to a restaurant called Café Almond. It sold mostly Chinese food, although I thought I’d have a cheeseburger – strangest thing, the burger turned out to be made of cheese! No meat. Mendy had chow mein. Spent some more time in bars – the best was Sam’s bar in the Thamel area. Went to try on the dress and shirts just after six – they all fit perfectly. Back to Sam’s bar where I started to feel a bit rough again. Decided to go back to the hotel. Spent the night being really violently ill. Bit of a coincidence that both times I was ill it was at the Everest hotel. Even Mendy was ill in the morning. We figure it was melted ice in the orange juice – beware!

Day 13 – Monday 29th August
Not really feeling up to the flight back to Delhi today. Lots of sitting aroud in the airport feeling rough. The Indian guy sitting next to us on the flight said that Delhi was back for food poising the tourists, but even the Indians get ill in Kathmandu. It didn’t help that he and his fellow countrymen spent the entire flight stuffing their faces and drinking as much Tiger beer as they could get their hands on – again. The Indians are extremely high maintenance – they made the flight twenty minutes late deciding where to sit.

By the time we arrived back at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Delhi (after being met by the Sita rep at the airport), we were dead. We wet out to get some cash ad went to bed with no supper. We booked a trip to Agra with the rep on the way to the hotel.

Day 14 – Tuesday 30th August
Up early again to meet the driver at 7am. It’s about a three and a half hour journey to Agra by car and there’s lots of Indian life to see on the way. The driver says you need three things to drive in India: good brakes, good horn and good luck. The other drivers are mental. It was dual carriage way most of the way, but everybody uses it from pedestrians to cyclists, horses, cattle, camels, elephants and people driving trucks the wrong way, in the fast lane! I felt sure we’d have at least one accident – but we were lucky, or had good brakes?

In Agra we were met by our guide in a hotel and then taken to the Taj Mahal. What an amazing place. Seeing it in pictures does not do it justice. It was built by Shah Jehan, a Mughal King, in 1648 as a mausoleum to his second wife Mumtaz Mahal who died after giving birth to his 14th child. He met her in the Bazaar one day and wanted to marry her, but he couldn’t because she was already to be married. He married someone else instead, but she later died. Mumtaz Mahal’s husband also died so they were able to get married. It is an incredibly beautify domed building holding the tombs of the King and his wife, flanked by a red sandstone mosque and guest house. The place is amazingly symmetrical, right down to the fixtures in the gardens and is situated by the side of the river Yamuna. The only asymmetrical thing about it is the King’s grave which is just to the side of his wife’s central tomb inside the central domed building. The King wanted to be buried in a black version of the Taj Mahal on the opposite side of the river, but ran out of money building the original monument. He tried to raise local taxes to pay for his monument but his son overthrew him and placed him under house arrest for fifteen years until he died. The foundations of the black monument can be seen from the Taj Mahal on the other side of the river.

We took our first ride in an electric tuk-tuk to get to the Taj Mahal as cars and industry are excluded from the immediate surroundings to cut down pollution. There were lots of very insistent street sellers outside the monument who wouldn’t take no for an answer – in fact they didn’t even take pushing them away as an answer. The guide was very apologetic.

Afterwards we went to a place where descendants of the people who did the amazing inlay work in the Taj Mahal sell loads of things made of white marble with patterns of semi-precious stones in them. We bought abut the cheapest little box we could get – everything was beautiful, but very expensive.

The guide had been telling us about the star of India, so he took us to a jewelers that sold them. They are stones with a six-point or four-point star pattern in them that moves as you move your head. They had lots of rings and pendants with them set in, but we didn’t even ask the price – we just had a look around and left.

We had lunch in a hotel – not much of an appetite, but gave a chicken byriani a go. After lunch we went to the Agra fort – a huge fortified building made of local red sandstone. The place is absolutely huge and most of it cannot be visited due to military occupation (like in Delhi). The bits you can visit contains lots of little palaces. Each Mughal King who lived there built his own buildings and made his mark. Shah Jehan liked everything to be white (the reason why the Taj Mahal is made from white marble), so there are lots of white marble rooms and buildings at the fort. All the marble contains the same intricate inlay work as the Taj Mahal. The bits of the fort he didn’t re-build he covered in plaster of Paris to make them white. We saw the room where Shah Jehan was under house arrest. It was in view of the Taj Mahal and the are where they hosted elephant fighting, just inside the outer wall.

After the fort visit it was time to head back to Delhi. We were really glad we went down to Agra, even though it was so far. The journey home was quite long (about four hours), with more of the same sights to see.

We were dead after a long day and still recovering from the poisoning and wondering all day if we were going to have an accident. For our last night we had dinner in the hotel café and went to bed.

Day 15 – Wednesday 31st August
Time to go home after a cool holiday. The highlights of this holiday have been the walking, the Everest flight and the Taj Mahal. Makes us want to come back and walk to the Annapurna base camp. But there are lots of places to see in the world first. Maybe Thailand for a honeymoon?

We were picked up at ten at the hotel. We lost the voucher to pay for the hotel, but the Sita rep sorted us out. Think we left it in Kathmandu with Deepak, never mind. We got used to the driving in Delhi, it doesn’t seem so bad now on the way back to the airport. Security in the airports in Nepal and India is mental – it takes ages to get to the departure lounge. One bit of advice: if you’re leaving from gate 10 or 11 in Delhi, get a cup of tea before you go through the gate – there’s nothing in the lounge itself. The Indians delayed the flight by twenty minutes again by faffing around.
We’re about half way home-ish as I finish writing this diary at about 35,500 feet, somewhere over a huge ocean that we seem to be taking hours to cross. On the way back we flew over Pakistan, skirted Afghanistan through Iran, over the east side of Turkey, across the Black Sea, through Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Belgium and home.

Arrived home at about half nine (2am according to our body clocks) – very tired – glad I booked an extra day’s holiday by mistake.

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