It’s all been a bit quiet on here of late. The main reason being there is a LOT going on for the two of us right now! We have pretty much settled into our new home right on the cusp of the Peak District and within easy reach of the wonders of the City…the City being Manchester of course! In truth we absolutely love it here, out in the country with walks from our door step and fantastic hillside and valley views. We have found our spot, for the time being at least.

So what have we been up to? A trip to the Lake District saw us bring in Dave’s 30th birthday with a lovely spell in Ambleside. We stayed in a boutique B&B; The Waterwheel which with only 3 rooms really felt quite cosy! Our hosts Julie and Nigel made us feel very at home by leaving home-made chocolate cake in our room and rustling up a very tasty breakfast each morning. It was simply nice to be away from our work-related and home improvement environments. At this time of year it’s a stunning area to visit as all the leaves on the trees are turning into rich golden hues and vibrant reds.

Ambleside is well located for local walks and shops and has a pretty good selection of restaurants and bistros too, although with this comes a price tag. We are used to good grub, we are also used to fantastic vegetarian food so although we ate well at Lucy’s and Fellini’s we felt the food didn’t quite match the price tags at around £16 for a main in both.

We enjoyed a lovely walk up to Easdale Tarn from Grassmere, which again is a very twee, picturesque village and this can be appreciated even in the rain! After grafting our way along slippery paths and streams in a torrential downpour of rain we came to a very foggy tarn. We managed to take a few meter readings for our new friend; a Bronica Medium Format camera and then promptly took the loop path back down to Grassmere. Once back in Grassmere we enjoyed soup and drinks at   Baldry’s tea room, great hot chocolate to be had there.

Something that was a nice little bonus during our stay was that the Ambleside Salutation Hotel next to where we were staying were offering a Sunday lunch and swim deal for £15.95 per person. This isn’t just a swim though, we had full use of the facilities including the gym, pool, sauna, steam and hot tubs, one of which is outdoors. Lovely for the cold autumn chill. The 3 course lunch was fine for what we paid and we spent the majority of our morning there so it was a worthwhile thing for us to do.

Earlier on in October we attended Sukie’s 4th Birthday party, wowee that was a whirlwind event. About 8 little girls from her pre-school came along, presents in tow and prepared for pass the parcel, sleeping lions (or something like that!), party food, a tremendous Tinker Bell birthday cake made by Emily and of course some crazy shapes on the dance floor. This was all over within a few hours! They have some fast energy those little ones! Love their group photograph too, they obviously didn’t find it a smiling matter!

Coming back to a more sobering note, we attended the Broadbottom Community Remembrance Sunday service on the 10th November. This is our first community event since we moved here and it was a beautiful site to see all the families and friends of the village come together in remembering lost one’s through war. This couldn’t have been on a more perfect Autumnal day, starting off with a low mist which by mid morning had cleared to a beautiful blue sky and bright streams of sunlight. A local brass band led the procession up to the cenotaph where everyone gathered in remembrance, singing hymns and offering poppy wreaths. Very atmospheric. We followed the service with a local walk which took in hills, paths, roads and more rivers! It is really beautiful around here!

After a two week spell as lifestyle and documentary photographer for Aston Martin, I was joined by David for a week long holiday in the region of Catalonia where we based ourselves in the beautiful medieval village of Begur.

Begur is a stunning hilside village, it’s steep on the way in and steep on the way out and is surrounded by luscious landscape, mountains and the sea. Long gone were the Aston Martin Rapide’s and soon we were settled into the lazy days of the Catalonian way of life! Although this wouldn’t be a Notworkrealted post without some kind of activities going on.

Based on the wonderful world of Trip Advisor we found our lovely guesthouse; The Aiguaclara, which is located in the heart of Begur. Thanks to all the raving reviews we had no question as to whether this would be the right place for us to base ourselves during our stay. Straight away there was a warm welcome by the hosts Clara and Joan who rennovated this colonial-style built in 1866, and they’re personality is all over the place with vintage decor, quirky objects and antiques scattered throughout. It’s a considered design across 4 stories, with each room unique from the other.

Happy with our choice of accommodation we then went on to explore the village, which in 1 evening is easy enough to do. We ate in the restaurant at the hotel “Fet Amb Love” which basically sums this place up and then walked up to the Castle. Which at night with a full moon is very rewarding.

On our first day as tourists we ventured out on a coastal walk thanks to a walking trails map provided by the hotel. From Begur we took the downhill route to Sa Tuna, greeted by many locals enjoying the escape of the city, we explored a path off to the right and up to a viewing point at Mirador de St Josep, before turning back down to the bay and taking the coastal path along to Sas Vaques and before long Aguafreda. At this point it was a little unlcear as to where the path was leading us but we cut inland on the road and then found the path again a little higher up en-route to Sa Reira. Eventually the signs re-appeared and so it wasn’t difficult to navigate. We continued the walk to Sa Riera, at which point we stopped for lunch in a local Tavern before enjoying a quiet moment on the beach. From Sa Riera we took a pleasant forest trial leading back up to Begur by which point it was 4pm and we’d hiked about 11km. It was a lovely walk lots of steep ups and downs but on a clear day some beautiful bays to take in.

For days 2 and 3 of our time in the area we hired a car through the hotel from a local car-hire company based in Palafrugell. It cost us 101 Euros for 2 days including insurance and 2 drivers. Fuel is pretty cheap in Spain so we only spent 40 Euros in 2 days.

We drove up to Figueres once we had received our little Chevrolet Matiz which from Begur took about an hour. Once in Figueres we managed to find free parking a little away from the Dali museum and we joined the ever-growing queue to get into the museum, it took a further hour before we were paid the 12 Euro entrance fee and were inside!

We hadn’t really anticipated the Easter vacationers coming into the area from Barcelona. The Dali Theatre Museum cost 12 Euros each to get in but this is like no other museum either of us have visited before! Described as being the largest surrealist object in the world, the theatre is home to ideas, dreams, sketches, objects and just about everything Dali ever imagined brought into real life. It’s really interesting, fun and engaging. A little bit like stepping into a circus allowing for the imagination to gather and grow. The only problem for us were the hundreds of other visitors muscling their way in and out of each space, oh and not to mention those using flash on their cameras to document it all! Why?!
We were on a Dali-fueled mission and drove out to Cadaques and Portlligat, which is a lovely drive over the hills and down to the coast. Portlligat is where Dali lived and his home is now a museum, the only problem being that we didn’t have tickets to get in and it was fully booked until Easter Monday. So we wandered around the quiet bay, enjoyed some patatas bravas and then drove to Cadaques. This place is definitely worth a visit on a sunny day. Again it was packed full or visitors but it really is a stunning coastal town. Much bigger than Begur, oozing character and every corner holding a link to Dali.

We found a small gallery ran by local legend and photographer Joan Vehi who houses hundreds of photographs taken during his lifetime. Draws listing from the 1960′s through to modern day and famous reportage shots of Dali in the area. Really worth a peek if you are ever there. We finished our evening with a walk up to the castle and Paella at one of the local restaurants in the village.

On our second day with the Matiz we ventured further afield, I wanted to share a few places with Dave that I had taken in on launch with the Rapides. Although the Matiz isn’t quite up to scratch with an Aston Martin we managed to get to Besalu where lots of Easter celebrations were taking place. This is a really stunning medieval village again built up around churches and with a large characterful square in the centre. It’s a great place to explore, lots of cobbled walk-ways, cafe’s and bars as well as views across the river towards the bridge built in 1066 or there about.

We followed our sightseeing tour out towards Ripoll and after another hour of driving we landed in Fibes De Freser where lunch was booked up in Ventola at Anna’s mountain restaurant. You can’t get a better authentic Catalonian mountain hut than this for food and service. They took Dave and I under their wing and were fantastic hosts for the afternoon, only reassuring further their gratitude at being the Aston Martin lunch stop of choice for the Rapide launch. This time with no Aston’s in sight the restaurant was packed to the rim of tourists, locals, hikers and skiers all following their noses to this legendary restaurant. Owned by Anna, a former Olympic skier, and ran by her loyal staff they run up and down the stairs with hot plates of food, sweat on their brow there is never a rest at this place! We enjoyed a great lunch and vow to go back their one day. With 3 meals in one we didn’t need to eat out that night! So it was a DVD back in our Aigua Clara home and a glass of Esmeralda white wine.

On our final day in Begur it rained! It was very misty and we didn’t have a car, so we simply spent our day in and around the hotel, walked a little, read, edited some photographs and enjoyed food with friends later on. We really loved Begur as a place to base ourselves whilst exploring the depths of the Catalonian region and the comforts of the Aigua Clara Hotel meant we had a home from home to relax at in between the sight seeing.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, Nikon D600, Nikon 50mm f1.4, processed in Lightroom 3)

Varkala was to be our place of rest, a holiday within our travels and we wanted to have a little base here for a while before moving on within Kerala. The train journey from Kochi was pretty good, we got there in about 4 hours, the only down side was that we didn’t have a seat where our ticket said our seats were.

This is because on sleeper class during the day people just sit anywhere regardless of whether they’re ticket says so or not. In our actual seats there were around 12 people crammed onto the lower beds. We opted for the upper deck with the bags and hid away, the plus side of this being that no-one tried to sit next to us. It was a hot and fun journey but we were more than happy to be getting off at Varkala.

We got a rickshaw to the North Cliff, under the impression that we would be staying at Shiva Garden Guesthouse, who had offered a free pick up. The only thing we had to do was make a call from the station area to get them to pick us up, we couldn’t find a phone anywhere and people were not very willing to help. So we just made our own way there and were pleased we didn’t get them to pick us up as we decided not to stay there after all. We wanted something a little nicer, after all we were on our holiday time! So we moved on and had a look at a few places in that area at the top of the North Cliff and settled for a 800rs room at the Clafouti Resort, we thought we’d do one night here and then move on. The room was nice and the location not too bad but the owners are not the most hospitable and we wanted to be on the quieter side of Varkala cliff.

Varkala wasn’t quite what we imagined it to be, it had been over-rated by fellow friends and travellers we’d met along the way. We now realised that we actually had it quite good up in Palolem. It’s a busy cliff resort full of bright signs, craft sellers, hotels and resorts, most of the restaurants cater for the tourist with western menus and the beach, hmmm! Still we thought we’d give Varkala time to grow on us. The first thing we did was grab some food at Clafouti restaurant, with a nice cool breeze coming from the wild ocean below we enjoyed a massive mexican meal, we just wanted a light lunch! We then ventured out to find another place to stay for the rest of our time there. We had read about Varkala Villas on South Cliff and so went for a stroll out along the cliff to the area.

En-route we passed a man demonstrating para-gliding as he was attempting to take off on the section of cliff between north and south. We helped him untangle his kite strings from a car and then he was off with the birds watched by several Indian tourists in amazement. We found Varkala Villas on the South Cliff and negotiated to stay with them for 3 nights at 1500rs/night for their lovely bungalow overlooking their beautiful garden. The owners are very accommodating and friendly with it which helps.

After we moved to the bungalow we spent much of our time relaxing, decided not to take breakfast with the owners (500rs extra) we did our own in the form of curd (yoghurt), fruit and muesli. We’d been carrying the muesli with purpose since buying it in Kathmandu when we first got to Nepal, we HAD to use it! Plus it meant we weren’t spending so much money on food every day plus they had a small kitchen with a fridge we could us too. We enjoyed the hammocks in the garden and would spend time in the middle of the day on the beach. When we were on the beach we were surrounded by other tourists and backpackers taking the time to soak up the rays. We rented an umbrella each time for 150rs and picked our spot where we would read in between dips into the ocean and naps. It’s a hard life!

The sea at Varkala beach is a little wild, you can’t really swim out very far as the currents are strong and the waves fierce. On our first swim Helen got a little scared as she kept having to dive under massive waves and was getting further and further away from Dave. But after time we both over-came wave-scared moments and enjoyed them like they were roller coasters, often washed up and tossed around. The North Cliff end of the beach is where most tourists gather and so this is also a prime spot for local male onlookers having a good ‘perv’ at the girls in bikini’s. It’s quite off-putting and at the same time laughable but they don’t ever see so much flesh on show so who can blame the?!

We took 3 yoga classes whilst we were there, one with the local ayurvedic doctor who’s Hatha style session was a little un-rehearsed, Dave was urging Helen to take over. The main problem really though was the language barrier as the next 2 days we attended an intense Ashtanga Yoga class with a teacher who’s English was much better and his practice was very focused. This second class based with Namaste on the North Cliff in front of Juice Shack was much easier to follow, although we ended up in buckets of sweat each time.

We followed our yoga sessions with a very good omelette and juice at Coffee Temple a few doors down. Although it took over an hour one day to receive the omelette it was very good and they do a fantastic chai-latte too. As Varkala grew on us we ended up staying 6 nights in the end and enjoyed our little routine during the day. One evening we went to the Varkala annual festival along with what felt like thousands of others. The atmosphere was building and building, with dressed elephants, musicians, dancers and folk in tradition costume. The only thing was not much was actually going on. There was a problem with the amount of people on the sides of the road and traffic was making it’s way through at speed, so much so that at one point one of the locals was hit by a passing vehicle which didn’t stop. It was quite a moment, being witness to a hit and run accident and how it was dealt with afterwards. The police went off after the car whilst the injured man was quickly rammed into the back of a van, we assumed he was being taken to hospital. Crazy times!

Other things did come of the festival though in the form of fire crackers and fire-works, they were so loud we could feel the ground shake, and they continued on throughout the night. We found solace at Oceano, an Ayurvedic resort who also offer a great menu of what we found to be delicious Keralan and other Indian food. We ended up eating there 3 times in the end as the food was so good and it was very rarely occupied. Oceano is on the South Cliff next door to KR’s Guesthouse. (Whilst this was our favorite jaunt for food we did also have an award for Cafe Del Mar’s smoothies on South Cliff).

Halfway into our stay in Varkala we met Andy and Lisa who through the power of Facebook were introduced to us via a mutual friend back home. We were staying 30 seconds walk away and so it was easy to meet up with them and we enjoyed beers, food, smoothies, yoga and beach time with them too. Next door to where they were staying at Villa Jacadera is Absolute Ayurveda a clinic that had been highly recommended to us by the family staying in the bungalow next to us. I knew they had to be good as Katrin is an ayurvedic practitioner back in Germany.

Based on her recommendation we chose a day package (it’s actually 2 hours ish). For 2700rs we enjoyed a full body massage, a chidroreah treatment involving 45 minutes worth of buttermilk, honey and other medicinal things being dripped onto our forehead. This was followed by a herbal wash (for Helen) and a facial for the both of us. Bear in mind that you are completely naked during this kind of treatment aside from a very small cloth thing! We both felt really good afterwards though an our skin felt amazing. Any of these treatments back home would cost a fortune so we figured we may as well do it in the home of Ayurveda.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8, Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 processed in Lightroom 3)

Our train to Ernakalum left at 10am (ish) from Kannur and so after another wonderful breakfast we sadly said our goodbyes to the friendly hosts at Kannur Beach House and to the other travelers and guests that had accumulated during our stay. We thought about staying longer but also wanted to move onwards.

The doctor’s got the same train as us and accompanied us in the reserved seat section. They had only paid for a non-reserved seat and so upgraded at a measly cost of 43rs for the 3 of them! Crazy that you can travel so far for so little here in India, train and bus travel is such a cost effective way to get around. Our journey took around 6 hours to reach Ernakalum and we were ready to get off the packed train when it did. Simply trying to get off the train can be quite a hassle (these are the downsides of cheaper public transport). When we got outside of the station our rickshaw driver from Mother Tree Inn was waiting for us and it took nearly an hour for the underpowered machine to reach the guesthouse in Fort Kochi. We didn’t end up at Mother Tree though, instead he took us to The Good Kharma Inn which is the sister guesthouse of Mother Tree. We didn’t mind and the young owner Anu was pretty amusing with it. The room came to 700rs/night with breakfast included, bargain.

We didn’t have much time to see any of Fort Kochi that night but we walked along the fort area people watching what seemed like hundreds of locals there for the evening. We also ate at the highly recommended Dal Roti; ginger, lemon soda and 2 paneer thali’s and we knew we would be back here the next night. The food is really good, the layout is pretty rustic and the maitre’d quite a character.

For our first full day in Kochi and after a satisfying scrambled eggs, toast and jam we took a walk out to the Chinese fishing nets located on the water front. It was pretty rammed full of cruise liner tourists that we weren’t feeling the authenticity of the nets at all, they are there really for tourism now and try to get you to buy fish from them and to go up and take photographs etc. From here we took a rickshaw to The Dutch Palace also known as (Manchetterry Palace) which we timed very badly as it seemed that all the cruise ship tourists had been bused in. We could hardly move in there and it’s not a very big museum at all, so for us we wanted to get out as soon as we arrived and managed to stick it out for 15 minutes before making tracks. At the Synagogue we were also faced with problems, they wouldn’t let us take our cameras in, regardless of whether or not we would take photographs there was no way we would leave our beloved Leica anywhere we weren’t!

However we did find some very nice items at Crafters in Jew town in the form of antique printing blocks which we thought would work nicely as decorative art back home. We actually wanted to get a wooden carved piece and found a beautiful old window cover but to ship it home would have been nearly 3 times as much as it was to buy! So we settled for the intricate designs of the printing blocks and bought 4 pieces for 1600rs. We also ate at the cafe upstairs mainly because we were hungry and didn’t want to be shopping around for food in a tourist area.

When we left Jew Town after exploring some more of the back streets we took a rickshaw to The Indo-Portuguese Museum only to find out that it was closed on Mondays! So instead we went to a shop on Lilly Street a few doors down from Dal Roti and bargained for a few more household items in the form of 2 very bold and contemporary block patterned bed covers and a material wall hanging. We followed our shopping trip by enjoying tea at Tpot Cafe another colourful rustic joint. We were finding more things that we liked about Fort Kochi! We once again ate at Dal Roti with a German couple we’d met at breakfast, this was followed by cheap Kingfisher at one of the drinking bars.

One our third day we went on a tour, our first tour in India and for 650rs each we paid to visit the Kerelan backwaters on a traditional wicker style boat. We opted to see the backwaters from Kochi rather than Allepey as we’d heard it gets very busy down there and so we hoped for a tranquil tour. We had a very friendly young guide who was also quite assertive and informative when required. With two boatmen using the punting technique we ambled through bigger canals down to very narrow ones throughout the day. It was a very relaxing tour, all we had to do was sit and take it all in. Along the route we stopped off at spice plantations, rope making, coconut farm and a calcium cement factory. A real mixture of the type of trade that occurs in the backwaters of Kerela. We also enjoyed our first banana leaf style lunch; the traditional way to serve a thali.

By the end of the day we were back in Kochi enjoying our final evening there, we had booked a train for the next day to take us to Varkala leaving at 9am. We ended up having food in the bazaar where a cool cafe place sits on top of the tourist information office. Although the presentation of the cafe is very in keeping with the yellow antique effect seen all over town, the dosa didn’t live up to earlier one’s we’d tried. We followed this with more tea at the Tpot (when we got back from the tour we nipped into Tpot for a juice and some of their delicious cheescake!) before heading back and preparing for another move the next day.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8, Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 processed in Lightroom 3)

The 3 tier non-AC sleeper was very basic. The windows provided plenty of ventilation and it actually got a little chilly, however a lack of curtain deprived any kind of privacy and no sheet on a plastic covered mattress completed the uncomfortable set. Non the less we did get some earplug assisted sleep and awoke with only 1hr until we were due to arrive  in Kannur, our first steps in India’s laid back state of Kerala. Breakfast was bought at the train station in a vegetarian restaurant and we devoured Masala Dosa’s (thin crispy bread, spicy potato filling and curry on the side) and Masala tea – 25rs, amazing value at 30p each.

After researching on the internet we discovered Kannur Beach House Home-stay which looked great and got very high ratings from previous guests. An 8km rickshaw ride south of Kannur to the beachfront of Thottado Beach and we arrived at the guesthouse situated on a stretch of backwaters. An annual Kerelan festival was taking place called Theyyam, it is local only to Kannur and takes places between October to May across each temple in the area. We caught the tail end of a 48 hour ceremony visited and observed the local population taking part and utilising traditional costumes, amazing facial painting and some trance (not the hard-house variety) based ritualistic dance.

Heading back to the home-stay we explored beautiful hidden beaches with golden sands, palm tree shade and then retreated to some well deserved hammock action. It did not take long to see why people love this home-stay. The food was some of the best we have ever eaten and we have eaten a lot! The 2500rs per room fee includes breakfast and evening meal which are Ayurvedic Kerelan home cooked in variety and you can have lunch for only 100rs each extra. The owners were equally accommodating and loaned us yoga mats as well as being able to observe their chef in action in the kitchen. A family of 4 and very close to each other they used to work in IT but have now built this lovely home-stay which attracts repeat visitors year in year out. We could see why.

Our fellow travellers also appreciated the surroundings and the food, it was really great to share this experience with Ture & Revital (London based conceptual designers/artists) and three graduated doctors from the UK. We cannot speak highly enough of the food. Each meal was a buffet selection, eaten outdoors frequently with the hosts and family and all washed down with herbal water and hot tea. To use a Master Chef quote… Vegetarian food does not get better than this! Yum!

We didn’t really want to leave but we were tied into a train ticket, although only costing around £2 so we could have easily discarded it, but at the same time we had a little bit of momentum going and didn’t want to settle just yet. On our last evening we enjoyed a longish walk along the quiet stretch of beach which just seems to go on and on. Some of the locals were out sorting out fishing boats and so on, whilst others were out to enjoy the views like us. We stopped for a group photograph with some girls from Kannur before making our way back for our last night of fantastic food and company.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

Day 21: Flight out of Lukla to Kathmandu

Up early and ready for our exhilarating flight leaving the Himalayas behind and arriving back in Kathmandu (after 21 days of hiking) in under 30 minutes! The weather looked favorable and from the window of the Northface Lodge we could see planes landing and departing. We made the 5 minute walk through Lukla town to the airport which is quite the site to behold. You walk behind the runway and get a great view looking down the steep tarmac to the cliff as the tarmac disappears over a cliff face.

Checking in for our 7am flight was relatively easy, bags weighed and tagged, airport departure taxes paid (we paid 150rs each) security searches and then arrival into the departure “lounge”. Passenger and delivery planes arrived and departed with surprising efficiency whilst we waiting to be called. At 8am our plane arrived and we were hurried onto the 12 seater aircraft and greeted by the lone air hostess.

Takeoff is an exhilarating experience that rapidly descends downhill and as we became airborne a little cheer from one or two passengers emerged. The views are obviously exquisite and it was great to see some of the paths that we hiked and the villages that we frequented whilst hiking. The video (taken on the Olympus Pen) hopefully gives a little flavor of the experience…

Upon landing in Kathmandu we collected our bags and exited the airport with surprising speed and jumped in a taxi. Kathmandu, in the three weeks that we were absent, had dramatically increased in temperature and we were soon stripping off the mountain layers. We returned to spend the evening at Pilgrims Guest house where we had stored luggage and utilised the free safety deposit box. Dave required a haircut and beard trim before we settled back into city life which cost 150rs.

We also arranged for the collection of our Indian Visas and passports, we had left them with Deepak at Mount Fuji Adventures and Laxmi from the Indian Embassy. With a little waiting around to do they didn’t let us down and by 6pm we had our passports back with the Indian visa stuck firmly inside. We did have to return to the embassy with Laxmi earlier on that day so that they could confirm that it was indeed us applying for the visas but that’s all we needed to do. The steep fees for arranging an agent to take care of this meant that we were able to undertake our trek without the stresses of waiting in Kathmandu for several or more days.

Hiking in the Himalayas was quite possibly the highlight of our travels so far. The friends we made along the way, the locals who provided shelter and food, the mountains for such wonderful awe inspiring views, the quite perfect weather conditions and the feeling of personal and physical accomplishment was every bit we could have wished for. We are certain that one day we will be back for more!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8 processed in Lightroom 3)

• Day 18: Gokyo to Mong

We were up early and breakfasted by 8am as we wanted to be on our way and get as far as we could in one day on our return to Namche. We felt ready to start heading down and Helen was starting to feel ill with a sore throat. This was our final morning with our new best buddies Joshua and Amata as they would leave a little later than us. We arranged to meet up with them in Kathmandu.

We left at 8.15am and it took us around 4hrs30mins to reach Dole. Although we were taking a few photographs along the way our main goal was to get down. We had borrowed some money from our friends to help us out with the budget; we’d gone over budget but only just. At the Himalayan Lodge in Dole we had some ra-ra noodle soup and hot lemon which was more expensive than nearly anywhere else we’d eaten the whole trek. We left Dole at 1.45pm and got to Phortse Tenga an hour later, from here we decided to head up to Mong and get the nasty uphill out of the way. We were feeling pretty shattered though and Helen was starting to feel rough so we opted to stay in Mong for the night at The Bouddha Lodge. We shared a Dahl Bat and sat in the smoky dining room with the family whilst they drank chang we watched and soaked up the warmth. We went to bed at 7pm which was probably a mistake as we didn’t sleep well at all.

• Day 19: Mong to Namche

Helen woke up with a stinking sore throat and cold, she was not the happiest of bunnies but we got up early enjoyed a pancake, porridge and tea and then set off at around 7.45am. It was a really lovely morning with clear blue skies, bright sunshine and hardly anyone on the paths. We decided to take a little detour on our way  back to Namche to visit Khumjung. Khumjung is one of the places that most people will do an acclimatisation walk to when they are staying in Namche as it sits at 3780m. We arrived there pretty early and were in search of the world’s highest bakery, which we found as we walked through the streets of the town. It’s quite a big place Khumjung and nearly every building has a green rooftop so it’s picturesque and also home to more locals than Namche.

We got to the bakery and decided to stay there a little while enjoying the hot chocolate, coffee and the best apple pie we’d eaten perhaps in the last year of travelling! It was well worth the stop. We left Khumjung via the Hilliary school and the massive mani wall that sits to the right of it. From here there are a few steep up and down hill sections which eventually lead you towards looking out over the town of Namche below.

We were back in Namche by 1pm and settled into The Moonlight Lodge, they welcomed us back and we enjoyed more of their good food. By the evening we were sat in front of the fire hoping that we would be able to set out to Lukla the next day as Helen wasn’t feeling very good at all. We said we would let them know in the morning and then they would be able to fix our flight ticket. They do really good finger chips at The Moonlight and they have a very sweet grandchild who is often the center of attention.

• Day 20: Namche to Lukla

We decided to push on the next day and hike to Lukla, at Moonlight they re-confirmed our flight ticket and told us which guesthouse we would need to arrive at later on in order to arrange the details. We were reassured that we didn’t have to rush though, usually people would need to arrive in Lukla between 3-4pm in order to confirm their flights for the next day but as Helen was feeling ill he said not to worry about that and to take our time.

We still felt an urgency to get there though and before dark. It took us a lot longer than the average 6 hours taken by the locals (we assume it’s the locals – perhaps they do it in even less!). We were now also fully laden with the gear we had left behind at Moonlight and straight away this was pretty noticeable. We enjoyed a good first 3 hours after leaving Namche as it was all pretty much downhill, as we passed by many porters carrying goods up to Namche for the weekend market. We enjoyed a cheese and crackers stop in Mondzo and later on, which felt like hours, we stopped in Phakding for lunch at the same place as we did on our way up. We were probably a little late getting lunch as our energy levels were in need of some rejuvenation, and fortunately for us the food was really good; noodles, eggs and chapatti, followed by a much needed Twix.

It was another 2hrs30mins before we finally got to Lukla at 5.30pm, we were spent and tired and it was a very good feeling to have made it to our final destination. We stayed at The Northface Lodge which is by all accounts a business highway of trekkers coming in or out of Lukla, they are there to sort out flight tickets and try to sell expensive food in the process. Although the food was good and the room decent for it’s price this place doesn’t have much personality. They arranged our tickets and we had all fingers crossed that we would fly out the next day. We were on the 7am 4th flight, and that morning only 4 planes had left Lukla for Kathmandu on the 6am rota so we only hoped the weather would be in our favour.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8 processed in Lightroom 3)

• Day 17: Morning hike up to Gokyo Ri 5360m

We were up fairly early and opted to have some breakfast before heading up to the peak. Most trekkers leave for the views before sunrise and enjoy the sun rising up over Everest. We had heard it can get pretty packed up on the top and so we wanted to leave it a little later so we would get up there and have the views all to ourselves.

We took it very slowly and we were all feeling the altitude slowing our bodies down. We passed many trekkers making their way down from the sunrise, some of which had started out at 4am and exclaimed that it was freezing for the most part. Even though most days the clouds close in as the afternoon arrives it’s usually pretty clear in the mornings and we were not disappointed by any means when we woke up to bright sunshine and clear views.

There are many paths all intertwining with each other as you start heading up the so called hill that is Gokyo-Ri. We took around 2 hours to reach the top and as we were on our way up we kept looking out across the lakes, the glaciers and to Everest. When we reached the top we felt emotional, this was the ultimate part of the trek, the highest we would go and we’d taken 17 days to get here. Before long the 3 French boys whom we’d travelled with on the bus out of Kathmandu had arrived to join us in our little moment of triumph. They had been to Everest Base Camp, trekked up to Kala-Pattar, crossed over the Chu-La pass and were now on Gokyo-Ri, all of this they’d done in the exact same time as we’d taken to get here! They were mountain boys though after all and we felt like we’d achieved what we wanted to. Still it was very ironic for us to be up so high with those guys and we timed it right, for over an hour we were on the top enjoying our time with no other trekkers or groups around. For a little while we weren’t sure which one was Everest and felt stupid when it was confirmed by the French lads as we’d been looking at peaks much further away!

We were a little trigger happy as the prayer flags were blowing all around us and we were just in awe of the views out across to Everest (In the below image Everest is the highest peak with very little snow). The four of us tied our prayer scarfs onto the line of hundreds that were already there and relished the moment. We even took time to enjoy a mars/snickers break.

It took us an hour to get back down to the lodge where we chilled out for the rest of the day. We were happy to be in Gokyo at our little lodge with our quirky lady owner entertaining us! Later on we were joined by a loud group of American, Brazillian trekkers with their highly accomplished guides and porters (their head guide had summited Everest 12 times). They spoiled our little haven but we were amused by their bragging stories of guru’s, buddhism and the Vietnam War.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8 processed in Lightroom 3)

• Day 14: Phortse Tenga to Dole with a high point of 4084m

We had now been on the go for 14 days making our way to Gokyo, 14 days of trekking! This is the longest either of us had hiked with our backpacks from place to place, valley to valley, mountain to mountain. We were loving every minute (nearly). So this would be perhaps our easiest day of hiking in terms of distance and landscape. We did have a fairly steep up hill section out of Phortse Tenga which leveled out as we got closer to Dole. Most of the trekkers left at around 8-8.30am but we found that having a slightly later start meant we didn’t bump into so many groups meaning we often had the paths all to ourselves.

We arrived in Dole quite rely before midday and opted to stay at The Dole Resort on the other side of the village heading on the path outwards. We had the place to ourselves, the owners are friendly enough and so we opted for an afternoon of reading wrapped up in our thick blankets until they put the yak-dung fuelled fire on. The main reason why this went on as more trekkers were arriving with a guide and porters and we assume that they call ahead to say they’re on their way. The other thing we witnesses was a local trekker getting seconds on ra-ra noodle soup!! This never happens being a tourist trekker! By the evening though we were pretty snug in our dining room den. We were pretty lazy that day once we’d settled but the best advice is to do next to nothing when you arrive at your new altitude, so we were merely following the rules! It was snowing for most of the afternoon and evening and so we felt good to be next to a hot fire.

• Day 15: Dole to Machhermo with a high point of 4465m

By now we were starting to have unsettled sleep, for some reason we felt like we were almost trying too hard to get air to breath in order to feel like we were getting off to sleep. It’s a weird feeling and the mind definitely plays tricks on you. Helen was getting headaches, but during the night they would subside, whilst Dave was still struggling with his blistered feet. Our bill in Dole for 2 breakfasts, lunches, dinners and tea came to 3130rs.

We really enjoyed the 3 hour hike to Machhermo, suddenly we were presented with new mountains and valleys to gaze at. We felt like ants in this massive mountainous environment. The mist and snow had cleared from the day before and although the winds were cold the skies were blue and the sun very strong. We also noticed that over the past 2 days we’d crossed the tree line, there were no longer trees just rock, some shrubbery and bits of grass. We drank plenty of water along the way and had a few snack breaks too.

Machhermo is a pleasant place with lodges dotted all around. We opted for Namgyal Lodge, quite a big lodge in comparison to the rest but we thought is there were more people staying there they’d get the fire going earlier. We did a little bit of clothes washing with a pot of water costing 50rs and sat in the sun soaked dining room. The rooms at the lodge are really nice and well insulated and they are built around a garden/patio area.

By this point a small pot of tea was costing 550rs and so thinking a little bit about our budget we opted for a pot of hot water at 350rs, as we carried some extra tea bags with us. At 3pm we went to an altitude lecture which we’d felt encouraged to go to when the volunteer doctors came around earlier on to let us know that it would be taking place at the rescue centre that afternoon. They are a porter charity offering food and lodgings to the many porters hired by individuals and trekking agencies. We were pretty shocked to learn that up until recently most porters would sleep in caves if there were no beds available in the lodges. Plus there were a few incidences of porter neglect at altitude and so this charity is there to support the scheme as well as offering medical and rescue care for trekkers in the region. We felt reassured that our altitude gain had been sensible and we all donated 100rs each to do an oxygen saturation test. Amata came out top with a whopping 96%, Joshua was next with 94% and Dave 91%, this is excellent for the current altitude, Helen’s sat more averagely at 86%. Based on the talk though both Helen and Joshua opted to take Dymox to help with the restless nights and mild altitude sickness.

After some fairly good dal bhat and potatoes with veg and cheese we were ready for bed. Dave felt he’d been discriminated against as there were no seconds on the dal bhat (this is usually a guaranteed bonus of having the local dish).

• Day 16: Machhermo to Gokyo with a hight point of 4750m

We both slept restlessly once again but Helen’s headaches seemed to have gone and it didn’t feel as cold mainly because the rooms are well insulated at Namgyal Lodge. Again we left a little later than most which worked in our benefit as we trekked towards Gokyo. This would be our penultimate day of hiking before reaching the dizzy heights of Gokyo Ri.

We loved the walk to Gokyo, it was full of contrasts. We were welcomed with wide open plains, the wild river below, more 6-8000m peaks and the totally awesome presence of the Ngozumpa Glacier (36km/22miles the longest in the Himalayas) with Cho Oyu (8,200m / 27,000ft) dominating the upper valley. At the first lake which was the only lake not frozen we met thousands of rock cairn monuments built by the trekkers who have passed through the area. It felt a little like a spiritual graveyard representing each and everyone of us who have journeyed onwards to Gokyo. It did feel quite special.

We took the day slowly and marveled at the views whilst also joining Joshua and Amata for some celebratory snacks along the way; teriyaki beef jerky (enjoyed by all but Helen) and some ginger dark chocolate which they had lovingly carried with them since leaving America for their trip. We passed by the 2nd and 3rd lakes which were both totally frozen and snowed over and then we were in Gokyo, a place now occupied with tea houses and lodgings. There aren’t any locals living here other than to run their guesthouses.

We had been given a card for The Lakeside Lodge by a Japanese hiker whom we’d bumped into in Thame. So this is where we ended up. It’s pretty much the first lodging that we got to but we thought we’d go with it, plus the lady owner had lots of personality and said to us in a whisper that if we stay with her she’ll give us a room for free! How could we pass that offer? The food was good and for the first night we had the place all to ourselves. 4750m would be the highest we would be sleeping at. We were running out of money but decided we would spend 2 nights in Gokyo so that we could hit Gokyo Ri the next morning and then rest before making longer days to get back down to Namche and onwards to Lukla.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8 processed in Lightroom 3)

It was our first time back in South-East Asia since we had to make our way home from Thailand last March. It was good to be back. Our pick up from Nirwa Homestay was ready waiting for us at the airport with a sign reading Helen & David and getting through the visa process was pretty straight forward so it didn’t take too long. Our pick up cost 250,000 IRP which is around $25 and the journey from the airport took about an hour to reach our accommodation.

We were greeted by the the mum of the family who offered us fried banana and tea and we enjoyed a good chat with her before making our way to our room. We had a bungalow style accommodation which was very spacious with an open roof, chairs, a lovely bathroom and a great Asian themed outdoor seating area. It was perfect and we were right on the edge of the rice fields.

The great thing about Nirwa is that apart from the fact that they are very accommodating and friendly we were happy to be away from the business of the streets of Ubud but only to be a 5 minute walk and we would be there. They are quietly nestled into the back alleys and it’s very peaceful in their area.

We explored a little of Ubud and it wasn’t long before we got the charm of the Balinese people, they are so friendly and fun loving people. There was a ceremony taking place that day and so the boys of the town were being chased around by the elders dressed in traditional costume. There was a great atmosphere about the place. Most of the streets were quite quiet due to the festival but we found a fairly boutique standard eatery that didn’t blow the budget but perhaps was a little nouveau cuisine for our liking. We had our first taste of the unusual textures of Indonesian food and cheap beer.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)