Chitwan - Kathmandu

Given that my Nepal visa is due to expire on the 21st, I thought I should cut my trek short, get myself to Chitwan then Kathmandu and arrange my India visa so I wouldn't have to buy another Nepal visa. I took an amazing flight from Jomsom to Pokhara - 18 minutes in a tiny plane flying alongside amazingly huge mountains, over forests of pink and red rhododendron, tiered fields of green and sparkling rivers snaking down valleys. Absolutely stunning!
From Pokhara I journeyed to Chitwan National Park, moving from below zero to 35 degrees in the space of five days! During a canoe trip, jungle walk and elephant safari I saw two types of crocodile (harmless gharial and the man-eating mugger), spotted deer, rhino (so many rhino!!), monkeys, and many beautiful birds, including peacocks. We also found trails for a small snake and python, the sloth bear and some tiger prints and scat. Very cool!
Arriving in Kathmandu I made my way to the India embassy bright and early only to discover that it was closed for the day (a public holiday in India). All my best laid plans were set astray so I now need to buy another Nepal visa before being able to apply for an India visa. Looks like I will be in Kathmandu for a while yet.
Yesterday I traveled out to Bhaktipur to see the old city. There are amazing buildings, temples and wood carvings, including a temple to Shiva and Parvati covered in images of animals in erotic embraces!
Today we (Kate and Amit from London and Manu and Vanessa from Belgium) set out (nursing hangovers) to Pashupatinath, a Hindu temple and site for cremations. It was very confronting to see families grieving for their loved ones at the rivers edge as the bodies were prepared for cremation. During this reflection on impermanence, we were approached by a local television crew and asked some inane questions regarding our experience of traveling in Nepal... how bizarre. We also saw a group of ash-covered sadhus painting their bodies for the day, using tiny mirrors and looking terribly vain for people who are supposed to have renounced the world.
We then walked to Bodnath, which is one of the largest Buddhist stupas in the world. It was an amazing place, absolutely buzzing with noise, mantras and music filling the air and a riot of colour as locals slowly circled the stupa. I spent a good amount of time in a Tibetan singing bowl shop and emerged finally (to my companions' relief) with a small bowl for meditation. It has a gorgeous tone and is lovely to sing along with. Yeay!

Annapurna Circuit

It is day 17 of my trek and I have taken a rest day in Jomsom.
For the past 16 days, my feet have led me through snow-capped mountains, desert valleys, fir and pine forests covered in snow (winter wonderlands!) and gorgeous old stone villages. I have passed countless mani wheels and mani walls, crossed many crazy rocking suspension bridges over tumultuous rivers, seen frozen waterfalls, yaks grazing, blue glaciers suspended over mountain-tops, and slid down scree slopes, snow and mud paths.
In villages along the way I have played guitar against the mountain backdrop, eaten dahl bhat, apple pie, chocolate walnut cake (divine!), vegie burger and vegie lasgania (sic) and bathed from buckets of hot water in freezing cold bathrooms with the wind blowing through open windows. I have witnessed a spontaneous sleeping bag stuffing competition, participated in a rather heated snow fight, watched the film 'Caravan' ("I am Tinle, I conquer passes!") in a freezing and tiny cinema, watched amazing sunrises and sunsets and gone to bed before 8pm just about every day.
I have had belly sickness, blisters, headaches, shortness of breath and have visited doctors of the Himalayan Rescue Association at both Manang and Thorung Base Camp.

The day before yesterday, I crossed the Thorung La Pass, which is about as high as you can walk without climbing a mountain, at 5416 metres (2 1/2 Mount Kosciuszkos). After reading a lot of information about altitude sickness and hearing an information talk given by the Himalayan Rescue Association, I was super conscious (to the point of paranoia) of the symptoms, however I crossed the pass with the help of a local porter and little more than shortness of breath and a teensy headache. It was a damn hard slog up the scree slope then through snow up and down a series of false summits, especially with so little oxygen available. After the pass, we had to race down as the boys (Darryl and Benny) were both in bad shape with headache, nausea, blueness of lips, lethargy and vomiting. We decended 1600 meters (oooh, knees) to Muktinath where we fell ravenously on steaming dahl bhat and hot tea.