Wash Out!

Hi guys,

Well I'm writing this poolside in Pokhora!!! Yep there is wireless internet in the fancy hotel (the one we're not staying in!) and while the kids enjoy cooling off in the outdoor pool - I thought I'd put out a quick update on the first of our treks...

On September 23rd the Kathmandu Post proudly announced that the monsoon was over - and then the very next day the city was awash with flood waters that made the Belfast Westlink look lame! The newspaper held their ground declaring that the monsoon was still over and the floods were the first of the winter rain!

2 weeks and 5 nights in a tent later we have sadly concluded that the rains are still here! Last Sunday we headed off on our Royal Trek - into the hills just south of Pokhora and with stunning views of the whole Annapurna range. So called because this is the route Prince Charles was taken on during his visit to Nepal some years ago

Our first day started well as we hit the road, Lulu in a doko (wicker basket thing) being carried by a porter and the boys keeping up with the help of a gaggle of 9 kids! (we were travelling with 2 other missionary families which worked out really well. After about 4/5 hours walking we got to our destination... a disused rice paddy about 5 mins from the nearest village. Our dinning tent was put up and we sat down to enjoy some sweet black tea and popcorn. Just as we were finishing off it started to rain and our tea time ended with Paul (one of the other dad's) saying that out tents were in fact in a khet (a rice paddy) and that khets were made to keep water from draining out of them as rice needs a lot of water... at this point lightning struck and thunder roared and when we had to put up uimbrellas inside the tent we decided to head off to our own family tents... I have never seen a storm like it, the lightning came thick and fast and the thunder was directly over hear - we were totally exposed and everyone was scared... 1 hour later we were ankle deep in our tent as the water had come in over the ground sheets and our sleeping bags were floating about on foam mattresses. I managed to rescue 2/3 of our kit but we figured the night in the tent was a no go... in the midst of the storm we made a break for the village and ended the night in a v basic Nepali guest house... If we had seen it at 4.00pm we would never have stayed in it, but as it was it seemed like a God send - so we bedded down, like drowned rats but pleased to be out of the rain...

So things didn't exactly get off to a good start. Next morning we were greeted with some great views of the mountains so we cheered up a bit.

Another day's walk brought us to a lovely camping spot at the back of a Nepali families home. We had sent 3 tents back to Kathmandu so half of our group had to camp and the others had to stay in lodges or whatever was available... Anyway the send night, George got the short straw and stayed in the house, she slept on a straw mat on a table, while Ollie was on the floor and Lulu was on a small bed. With 4 doors into the room it wasn't exactly private. The night was spent listening to rats up above and then a 4.30am the porters started preparing breakfast right outside so everyone had very little sleep. I don't think Prince Charles got this sort of service!

With our expectations set somewhat lower we enjoyed the rest of the trek - the village we stayed in on the 3rd night was excellent and we woke to some fantastic mountain views...

Anyway our take home message from the 1st camping trek was that getting back to Pokhora is one of the best bits!!! Naw that's a bit harsh. All in all we had a blast but it was up and down with highs and lows...

Anyway a selection of our photos is online here: http://picasaweb.google.com/hopkinson.grenville/2008RoyalTrek?authkey=Ph44FDsL1Fo#

Tomorrow we head off on a more organised tea house trek up to a lovely village - the only drawback is that we've got to speak Nepali the whole way!!!