The Yetis Continue..

So 3 became 2.. now Shippers normally was the one pushing for a nice hotel with a pool, quite a rarity until he left,then we managed to stumble across a Royal Lodge in the centre of the lake at Pokhara and chilled there on quite a few occasions, facilities were minimal, only hammocks, pools, lush gardens, beer, surrounded by the sound of the jungle, the usual really! We then started to formulate a rough plan with the help of a very generous landlord we met there called Mark, a Brit who had been to Nepal a few times (26 to be precise) so the knowledge and contacts were priceless!




Nepal was at our beckon call, but all the time thinking about how we were going to deal with the Crow, after all, we could end up in a world of shit, illegal importation etc. So we decided to have a go at the usual; just a bit of Paragliding through the Himalayas, a spot of National Park action on Elephants, open-air World Cup viewing with the locals, experimenting with the Crow against all the locals advice and the obligatory naked swimming in the freshwater lakes! Ahhhh, the feeling of freedom!



A few highlights; running off the side of a mountain with another man pressed against your ass and some material above your head in the hope that this combination will keep you alive.. relativley expensive but well worth the experience!




We then decided to go up to the view point where you are able to see the sunrise over a panoramic view of the himalays, so quite high, we thought after seeing 2/3s of the 'road' the day before we could go all the way even though tourists on arranged tours have to walk to the top as it is considered almost inaccessible.

The Crow however flew up, no problems at all...






Not strictly true; stuck in 1st most of the way, we disturbed the mountain peace somewhat, attracting scores of kids who would run along side, jump on the poor crow hanging off her cheering and laughing 'Tempo Tempo' (later we found out this meant 3 wheeler).



After passing all the parking stops much to the locals amusement, astonishment and againts all their advice - we did hit hard times and the Crow had to soak up some serious boulder pain on some unbelievable gradients, all of this at full power and completely out of control! "12 people, roll down and dead a few days before" said one of the locals! We did have to empty her out completely, carry a lot of stuff up alongside, and push her some of the way, BUT she made it!!!!!! Right to the top!


We set up camp, well, eventually, after establishing we were pegless due to a hole in the bag, we had to deploy some resourceful thinking, borrowed a knife off the army to make some pegs and found some random iron girders to ensure our home was going nowhere! Then we had some whisky and brandy, bought some wood and built a fire using our petrol supply..(nothing more on this, all I can say is we had a lot of fun, and you only need a small amount to actually get her going, using anymore may literally blow you off your feet!) So we listened to music and waited for the sunrise looking all around us at the world below on a crystal clear, silent night, quite the tremendous time!





On the way down, we were offered the chance to invest in a hotel being built, met with even more bemused looks and cheering kids and had some rocks thrown at us to get us to stop, not ideal. (This was a one-off, but a good reminder to keep your wits about you!)

So we came down, did a two day trip South to Chitwan National Park, a quick Elephant and Canoe safari taking in the odd Croc, Deer and Rhino before crusing back North for some more lake action!






This time on Kayaks, paddling as the sun was going down, just enjoying life, then we started to get photographed, on approaching our voyeurs we were offered Tequila, in Kayaks, on the lake.. of course we accepted and had a drink with our Nepalese hosts, all in a days work!
The next lake was for the locals, much much cleaner, quieter and ideal for some naked swimming! (Sounds a bit homo, but it was immense to be able to do this surrounded by the Himalayas with the only sound being our bodies, hitting the water trying to do funny penguin dives off the boat!)




It became habit to watch most of the matches in Open-Air bars from 5pm onwards (even Englands dismal performances); a good place to meet Nepalese Mafia, a few more English and of course a guy (Rick) who has a business buying and selling Indian & Nepalese vehicles..what a coincidence.. So this is where we left the Crow, she's gone into hibernation for the Monsoon season and out again in September to flaunt herself and hopefully find a new owner ready for her next adventure! Contact mattprior@live.co.uk if you are interested! We then jumped on a bus to Kathmandu, cruised Bhaktapur (old-school, preserved Nepal)and engaged in some shrewed local purchases, which when valued properly back in Kathmandu were found to be worth up to $2000!! A 4000% return ; ) We left for the UK a few days later with smiles on our faces, mission complete and aspirations to return asap to carry out some hardcore 2-3 week trekkage!

More ideas are in the pipeline...they will of course be well planned, thought out and safe