Top 21 photos from ... Nepal!

We've just got back from a week in Nepal. We had a brilliant time - a couple of days in Kathmandu, a couple of days in Pokhara and four days trekking in the mountains. Here's a little map:

We actually stayed in Patan, just on the edge of Kathmandu. The walk that we did was just northeast of Pokhara. 

We did a loop starting at Nayapul (just south of Birethani in the middle at the bottom of the map and about an hour and a half drive from Pokhara), stopping the night in Ghandruk, then Deurali (just before Ghorepani) and then the third night in Tikhedhungga before walking back to Nayapul. There were a LOT of steps. I never want to see any steps ever again. It rained one afternoon while we were walking up some of said steps, but other than that we were lucky with the weather and had some beautiful views of the mountains. 

I tried to narrow it down to a 'Top 10' of the photos but I couldn't. So here are 21. 

Newa Chen hotel, Patan (Kathmandu)

Patan Durbar Square

Pokhara lake (Pewa Tal)

Nepali bike shop in Pokhara! This is a juice seller. Brilliant!

We were with our friends from Delhi. The dog appeared out of nowhere  just before this photo was taken and then followed us up the mountain for three hours. The boys named him Tony.

The rhododendrons were out in full force - absolutely beautiful.

Dhaulagiri mountain in the Annapurna range

The guesthouse in Tikhedhungga

Golden Temple in Patan

Durbar Square in Patan

  

DAY 730!!!

It's Day 730 which means it's two years in Delhi and the end of my blogging project. There are a few gaps which I'll be filling in over the next few weeks, but I hope you've enjoyed our (almost) daily updates. I'm quite proud of myself for managing to stick to it until I got to 730, even though I got a bit behind sometimes.

I've ummed and ahhed about whether to continue or not but to be honest, there are only so many matchboxes in the world and I'm running out of ideas of things to post. So I think I will end the regular blogging here. Instead I will be doing mini photo projects and posting the photos from time to time... we're off to Nepal next week so I will upload some pictures from there when we get back.

We still don't know how much longer we will be in India, but we will let everyone know as soon as we have any news.

As our final blog post I leave you with the exciting announcement that we have a sequel to the blockbuster film Superhero Tom vs Evil Jack. We hope you like it!

Click here to watch the film!

DAY 728

We discovered this massive old mosque opposite a huge mall in Saket, South Delhi. You'd never know it was there if you were hanging out at Starbucks or buying a new pair of Nikes. It smells really strongly of bats, but it's pretty cool - in the middle of a residential area. There are about twenty of these rows of columns and archways, with open courtyards in the middle.

DAY 727

Here's the photo of the ghats or steps leading down to the Yamuna River. The river looks quite nice here. It's not. It's one of the most polluted in the world. But it's still quite calm and the boat ride was nice. There's a crematorium just up the river. We cycled through it and saw someone being taken to their funeral pyre. The ashes are thrown into the river.

DAY 726

I had the day off today and I did a bike tour of Old Delhi. It was brilliant - the second one I've done with Delhi by Cycle. It even included a boat trip on the Yamuna River. I'll post a photo of that tomorrow. 
It was also a special day at the end of an eight day fast for women. There were loads of groups of women outside in the street making offerings of sweets and ghee and milk. I still haven't quite got to the bottom of exactly what it was about.

DAY 723

Slightly random picture of the Red Fort just after sunrise. I've been in Delhi for six years and I've still never been inside.

DAY 722

I'm not sure why, but I really love this photo, taken in Old Delhi. The man on the big poster is Arvind Kejriwal - the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party that recently won a landslide victory in the Delhi elections. He's the same guy who got elected last time and then walked out in a huff after a couple of months because no one would pass his corruption bill. Quite right. Anyway: he's been voted back in and everyone is very hopeful he's going to make a big difference. Let's see.

DAY 721

Another road side shrine. This is the goddess Durga on her tiger. She represents female power or 'shakti'. You don't want to mess with Durga.

DAY 720

Another in my series of things people sell at traffic lights. This guy is selling window shades and phone chargers. Very sensible.

DAY 719

It was Holi today. We ended up going to a friend's house and getting completely covered in coloured powder and water, but I forgot to take photos so you'll have to make do with this one of the water fight the boys had in the street in the morning instead.

DAY 718

There are tons of little puppies on the streets at the moment. I guess it must be that time of year. Look at this sweet little thing. 

DAY 717

There are some great cycle rickshaw seats in old Delhi. I love the patterns on the metal.

DAY 716

This has got to be one of the weirdest matchboxes around. Even weirder is the fact that I found it on the anniversary of the disappearance of MH370. How strange is that? Anyway - so now we know that matchbox designers in India have an ironic / black sense of humour: 'MEGA safety matches'?

DAY 715

I was still in Hyderabad on the 2nd of March, but I don't have a photo from there, so I'm uploading this one of a this random poster that's posted on a column of a building down the road from my office. For no apparent reason.

DAY 714

Here's me doing an interview for our global teachingenglish.org.uk website with one of the presenters from the conference. If you want to, you can watch the video here. I'm wearing a sari because the whole team was supposed to wear 'ethnic wear' on the last day (that's what people actually call it which is slightly weird). Anyway. I had lots of nice comments but also one person who told me that I was walking as if I was wearing trousers and I need to walk differently when I'm wearing a sari and another guy who said 'Madam you look very nice, but you looked nicer yesterday.'

DAY 712

The conference started properly today after months of organisation. I've shamelessly stolen this photo from the set our photographer took of the event. It's big: over 950 delegates and 100 speakers over three days. That's my boss at the podium, along with our chief guest, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh and various other VIPs. There's more information about it here if you're interested. 

DAY 711

Another one from Delhi even though I'm in Hyderabad today. This Hitchcockian mural is just round the corner from the one I posted on Day 695. Murals seem to be a bit of a thing at the moment in Delhi. Notice the tree in bloom behind ... the season where Delhi bursts into flower is almost upon us.

DAY 710

I flew to Hyderabad today for our conference, but unfortunately I didn't take any photos. So you can have this one from an old Delhi neighbourhood instead.

DAY 709

Not a very good photo but here's another bike shop. Look how much stuff he's got balanced on it! Totally bonkers. He's selling rugs and mats.

DAY 708

So this matchbox is interesting because usually the word to describe the picture is an English word written phonetically in Hindi, but this time it's the opposite. 

DAY 707

A little trip to Nehru Park today after the farmer's market. I'd never seen this bridge before. The boys climbed trees ... it was lovely.

DAY 706

Things people sell at traffic lights #2: books.

DAY 705

I've been meaning to post this photo of a quilt I had made. I'm not sure the photo does it justice. I bought the fabric and then took it to a quilt maker around the corner. It cost £4.50. I'm thinking of going into business.

DAY 704

Every year our gardener at the office grows these beautiful dahlias. I love them. 

DAY 703

Yet another matchbox.

DAY 702

It's not very clear here but these 'I love my India' stickers are everywhere. I've been wanting to get a photo of one for ages but of course when I'm looking for them, they aren't there ... this one will have to do. 

DAY 701

Northern India prepares for Holi - the festival of Spring. See Day 10 and Day 365 for a reminder of what it's all about. Here is some coloured powder and the obligatory water pistols waiting to be filled with it ... only a few days to go now. I plan to hide indoors.

DAY 700

I'm starting a new series of photos of 'things people sell at traffic lights'. First up: poppadoms.