Verjaardaggroete van Nepal

Freezing our bits off in front of Annapurna I, the world's 10th highest mountain at 8090m. We walked for days through sun, rain, thunder, hail and a snow storm just to have this photograph taken


Happy birthday, ou tannie. Hoop Ma geniet die dag ten volle.

We wanted to have the picture taken in Tibet with Everest in the background, but I think the altitude affected our memory (and ability to obtain a felt tip). So instead we walked for five days to Annapurna Base Camp to do the necessary at the bottom of the 10th highest mountain peak. (Nepal has 8 of the world's fourteen 8000m-plus mountains.)

Our trek started in beautiful sunshine, with the only eventful moment on the first day being the elastic failure of my cherished black and white stripey underwear (Marks & Spencer, 1997 collection), which to the delight of Amanda, a herd of buffalo and three Tibetan refugee ladies, elegantly peaked out from the bottom of my shorts (only the left leg though; my right hip managed to hold up my dignity). I now only have five pairs of knickers left.

We walked up a very steep mountain and down the other side, just to scale another massive vertical incline and down again. And so on. All the way, every day for eight days. But it is spectacular and we enjoyed every painful, knee-jarring moment. The apple pie, dal bhat (lentil soup, rice, curry and pickle) and Snickers were very helpful in agony management.

The trek was also very good for talking in tongues, and I managed to speak French, German and Dutch about as much as English, while we both realised that our Spanish has been woefully neglected since South America when we met Joseba from San Sebastian. No Afrikaans, but we did meet three South Africans who also live in London.

The higher we walked, the colder it got (and the more expensive the guest houses and food - understandably so, because every morsel has to be carried up the mountain on some skinny but very strong guy's back).

The meteorological culmination was the walk up to Macchapuchre Base Camp in a snow storm (only for about an hour, admittedly), but the cold was quickly banished by sitting in the dining hall of the guest house with a flame thrower under the table for heat. (It's up to the individual to ensure that their feet/legs/rest of body are not incinerated.)

We're back in lovely Pokhara by the lake, eating steak, pizza, ice cream and fresh salads - often all at the same time. On 29 October we will be feeling severely car sick on a bus to the Indian border.


We walked up the million stairs of the Swayambunath Stupa (Monkey Temple) in Kathmandu for this one. It was clearly somewhat warmer than Annapurna Base Camp.