Just a quick update:

Thanks for all yer emails all...

Here's a bit of info on my first 6-7 days trekking in the himalayas - I'll update it properly with all the pics and glam around the 7th Nov when I get back into Kathmandu.

a segment of an email I just sent:

"there has been freak weather here which almost put the trek circuit in doubt - we arrived at the start under very heavy rain (unusual for time of year) - which meant up high was a LOT of snow! So the highest point got cut off - we've seen lots trekking back - but we got good news today and the pass (5416metres) is now open so we can make it through there in 3 days time.

We have now arrived at 3600metres and have to stay here 2 nights to acclimatise to the altitude - we now have a really nice lodge compared to the rest of the way here - we stayed in something like a mud hut the 2nd night!!!

Anyway, better get going - sunbathing to be done and shoes to be dried out!"

Nothings gonna stop us now

So after hitting Asia with a massive thud last night, I awoke to take my first peeks at Kathmandu from my hotel room. It was kinda how expected it - but at the same time completely different - you can see the typical market street in Tarmal, Kathmandu. The town itself is pretty crazy - driving is on the left but generally it's just every man or motorbike for himself - there's more horn honkin' than NYC. The shops are kinda like you'd expect; wools, novelty goods, knives, insense - a shop keeper at the front of each one trying to get your attention - they're okay though - none give you excessive hassle.

We spent the morning with our guide sorting out permits for trekking and withdrawing some Nepalese rupees - I feel well and truly spent today. I managed to blow 35,000! We bought him a drink and sat discussing our route for the next 18 days. It turns out that we have to endure an 8 hour bus ride to get to the first station for trekking - that was the same length as our flight here except I doubt we'll get Herbie to watch this time round - I think I'll just be grateful if I'm not sat on the roof!

This afternoon started out with some lovely hot sunshine, so we made a move up to see the 'Monkey Temple'. We'd been warned about these thieving little monkeys grabbing anything they could but they moved too fast. I got double teamed - one posed for me on a ledge with a great view behind, as I knelt to snap a pic - I felt a grab around my right ribs, as I turned to see who it was, the moneky had made off with my near full bottle of Mountain Dew! I didn't mind too much since it was flat anyway and 2 months out of date. Incidentally the Nepalese guy who sold it to me said to me "you England", to which I said "yes", to which he replied:


"David Beckham!
Rio Ferdinand,
Joe Cole,
GiGere Drogba ( I guessed he meant Didier),
Frank Lampard,
CHELSEA CHELSEA!!!"

I had to laugh with him, those were the only English words he knew. We had some Nepalese quisine on a roof top overlooking the valley while it started to rain. More monkeys were seen stealing some DVDs from a buddhist seller. Surrealism for the Westerner at it's best...

Neighbourhood

Well...

What can I say, I'm a bit taken aback by my first three quarters of an hour in Nepal!

It started off with an 8hr flight from Vienna, it went great. We were treated to one of the most amazing things I ever saw from an airplane before. As we approached Kathmandu, we could see the Himalayas shrouded in clouds with an immesnse lightening storm briefly illuminating the peaks - those mountains must've been getting a severe battering!

So then we descended to Kathmandu, normally you'd see rows of street lights and cars gliding along the roads. Here - things were so different. The lights you could see flickered like fire, the disorganisation of the city's buildings just gave the illusion we were in a grotto with the light glistening off of wet rocks. It was amazing.

So then an hours wait while we got our Nepalese visas sorted... bursting to get out and see Nepal, we walked through customs to the shouts of a hundred guys touting cab rides. Luckily we spotted our man with our names on a card. We jumped in what must be a 1985 Datsun - the boot barely closed to hold our bags in... the excitement turned to insecurity! We drove from the airport past a bunch of armed guards, on to a roundabout made of a few barrels and past a few wild dogs. Into the chaos of the streets it seemed as if we were going off-road, then back on road! We turned another corner past 3 wandering cattle - crazy. The driver scared the s**t out of us at first - head-on with a motorbike - with the mororbike darting out of the way at the last minute. Past some nightlife there were a lot of poor looking Nepalese taking a night time stroll - most of the buildings derelict, we suddenly stopped at a 20ft metal gate.

The "co-pilot" got out and asked to be let in, as the metalwork rose, our hotel sat behind it. A guy out front panicked and switched on the sign illuminating "hotel Centre-point". We had arrived. We dropped our bags in our room and came downstairs to talk of what to do. We decided on a beer and some internet time from the confines of our 3* hotel.

We're completely overwhelmed right now, so a few beers now and an early morning to gain some orientation are required... Thursday we leave for the Annapurna circuit - tomorrow we will look around Kathmandu - I'll see if I can't get some photo's uploaded. The great news was that it was 18 degrees upon landing at 10pm-ish - it should be about 30 tomorrow so I can start working on my tan :p

Vienna

I finally got some great sleep in our surprisingly clean hostel, and now I'm writing this at the end of my only full day here in Vienna. In summary, I saw a lot, but I'm not really sure what I saw since we had no guide\book. We headed out downtown and checked out some cool shops, the city seemed a little bland from our inital perceptions but then we got into the 'museum quarter' and thigns got a lot more cultural. Museums, churches, cathedrals and parks - not really sure, but they were all there! Nick and I were taken aback by the amount of effort gone into the architecture of this part of Vienna - I guess Ultravox would've gotten tehir influence here! !!Just as an update, we saw Karlsplatz, Stephansplatz and the Voltiv Church.
We got a few bits and pieces in for our trip and now we're sorted for an early flight to Kathmandu, Nepal in the morning... I hear it's around 30 degree's - Sweet.

Movin' On

To bring things up to speed, we had our final day in Wiesbaden, Germany. The weather was great again and a perfect end to a great start to the trip. We started in Wiesbaden by eating some brekkie al fresco before sampling some water pumped direct from the earth. I kinda lost the translation but I think I'll live forever now. Which is nice. It was really hot - not quite what you'd expect from a regular fountain. Now it was time to push on, so we jumped on the AutoBahn and headed at great speed to the Rhein. We took a walk through the grounds of a large castle that was home to a species of Green parrot before heading to an ice-cream parlour for a triple scoop of pure pleasure. I recommend the cookie flavour. We ate those down whilst watching the water drift past us on a sunny Sontäg afternoon.

It was time to get in our last sight-to-be-seen and headed up through the hills and past the local vineyards. Atop a pretty hefty hill stood a statue said to signify the beating of the French. Nick and I jump up the huge 4ft steps to take in the view... before getting down after being told that those German words engraved around the edges meant - "no climbing". Ah well, "we're English" - we said. "Insle Aphen" was the reply roughly translated as "Island Apes". It had gotten late and it was just about time to head home to pack and get ourselves back to the flughafen. I snapped away a little more before that journey.

We boarded the 45minute flight to Vienna in good spirits, and couldn't believe how quick time had flown and what a great start to the trip we'd had. It dawned on us we were on our own however, sinec we'd been shown around the whole time in Germany. We jumped on the 'CAT' and entered Vienna's national train station. A few slices of pizza later and we had to track down our first hostel. Naturally we found this no problems so we celebrated by finding the busiest bar in Vienna at midnight on a Sunday night - we had a few beers with the other 2 blokes in there then sank off for some kip.

Modern Way

After the stress we went through on the week preparing to leave, we arrived in Frankfurt looking to relax. So after some potato wedges and a few beers, we went to a cocktail bar and drank Zulu's. I'm not sure what the ingrediants were, but it was probably Vodka, Tequila and something else - that something else also being alcholic. The worst cocktail I ever tasted! It did however get us in the mood to put on our dancing shoes. A quick trip to the local 'classy club' and we were set for the night. Of course we felt right at home wearing our travel gear with all the locals dressed right up in their best designer jeans, shirts and lederhosen.



Saturday we spent looking at Frankfurt itself, eating authentic Frankfurters and "Australian" Belgian waffles. Very good. The city is really nice and clean, quite modern compared to London. The weather was cracking for a mid October day too. I'd like to tell you exactly what I saw but we didn't really have a guide book to check on what we were looking at.




The rest of the evening was spent chilling with a few beers and a movie. I'm about to go get ready for the transfer to Vienna this evening. I got a really good nights sleep last night for the first time in about a week so Iäm pretty much raring to go.

One

Well, I said goodbze to everzone todaz, and now I am sat here in Frankfurt. It all seems a bit odd that I finallz left the UK, and not least that all of mz ´z´s´ are coming out as ´y´s´. Crayz European Kezboards.

We alreadz sampled some local beers - including some coca-cola hzbrid beer and a beer called ´hell´.

I've still zet to pick up mz camera so no pictures just zet...

Wonderland

Friday night in Maidstone, Saturday in London.

I got to Maidstone at around 7.40pm and met with the guys, we started out in a wetherspoons pub for something to eat and a few beers. Those few beers seemed to spur us to bigger and better things, so by 10 o clock we'd walked up to Ikon (drinks were £1.60 each which seemed as good a reason as any to drop by). Then some shapes were thrown, more drinks drunk and before I knew it, the night was over... I hadn't planned to get quite as drunk as that but I managed to get myself up next morning and get back home.

England Vs Austria - World Cup Qualifier -
I met up with all my old work chums for our our final daylong session. We all went to a pub near Fenchurch St for some lunch and nice easy start to the day. By the time we managed to remove ourselves, time was pushing (4 o clock KO) so we dropped by the Ship & Shovell to watch the game. England won with a penalty scored by Mr Lampard and we held out the final half hour minus Mr Beckham - nice.

The rest of the evening in London was spent between various bars - and a quick detour into Somerset House, just enough time for the boys to pick me up and drag me through the fountains - cheers fellas!

We got back into Grays for a curry before I said farewell to a few of the guys that won't be out during the week. By this point England had qualified for the German World Cup after Holland beat the Czech Rep. in the other significant game - though none of us realsised this...

I now have no weekends left in the UK - that's a thought that's been giving me trembly-pant-syndrome most of today!

Block Rockin' Beats

My latest video (and my previous epic) from my last holiday in Mayrhofen, Austria - back in March this year...

www.rachlog.f2s.com

The Green Light?

So, today, 1 day after I planned to have left work - I finally gave in my notice. They seemed a bit shocked but there was no obvious bitterness or bad feeling so I was quite relieved. I will now work this Thursday 6th, Monday 10th and Thursday 13th October - the day before I leave! But now my final paycheque is in the bank - I don't mind helping them out a little.


My car is leaving me a week today, the last of my saleable things are on ebay, I've had all the jabs I can - I just have to sort out my Malaria pills and I'm good to go...


This weekend gone by, I said goodbye to friends of old from my C&E days in old stylee - drinks at the Pocock (Gravesend) followed by Nightshades or Barcode (I always forget the name of this place - I just know it as the place where once, so many of us sat on the same chair - it was flattened, the bouncer charged us £10 then threw us all out). It was great meeting up with everyone and I was relieved to have a pretty clear nog upon waking up Saturday morning. I dashed back to Essex, washed my car for possibly the last time and then gathered some stuff to take to Ipswich for night 2 of my penultimate UK weekender.


I got to Carl & Gils at about 4pm and started drinking while we all watched Ong Bak. By 9pm, we'd played some Pro Evo Soccer, eaten a lot of Chinese food, drunk more beer and ordered cabs to take us to a Vodka bar situated at some kind of boatyard (this is about as much as I can recall, it was dark). By about 11 and after more beers and 3 slightly dubious shooters, it was time to move on; the Corn Exchange was next. After discovering an Indie room - I was set for the rest of my night. I was not seen jumping like a fool to any Charlatans, Hard-Fi or The Music. No.


A whole bunch more Jack & Cokes later, we stumbled home before playing guitar, bongo's and singing (massacaring) Foxy Lady, Fool's Gold and other great songs of old... 5.15am (ish) I dropped my head. I awoke, and naturally went for a jump on the trampoline - it would've been very rude not to. I think this is where my headache came from, trampolines always do that to me...