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Fabio is another couchsurfing contact that Val arranged for us, and he has a great little appartment in the outer suburb of Grajau. He is on the top floor, and has a rooftop space with an awesome view. In fact, we ended up sleeping up here under the stars later that night. After a quick bite to eat, Fabio and his mate Samuel wanted to take us to the beach, and before long we were sat under sunshade umbrellas at Ipanema Beach, beers in hand, with a large group of Rio locals. The backdrop was beautiful, and just how I imagined Rio would be. The beach was packed, a sea of yellow umbrellas stretching as far as the eye could see, with the locals parading up and down in tiny tight trunks and skimpy bikinis! Quite a sight! Towards the end of the afternoon we climbed a rocky promontory at the end of Ipanema Beach and watched the beautiful Rio sunset, which was applauded by the crowd of on-lookers.    After a shower back at home we headed out to a local street party, but were a little surprised that it was all over by the time we got there. A bar, and some beer for the rooftop back at home ended the evening, and a fantastic first day intro to Rio. After a late BBQ lunch the next afternoon Val and I took the Metro to the station nearest to the Sambodromo, hoping to find some reasonably priced tickets. On the internet, tickets appeared to cost anywhere between US$75 to $1,000, but we had heard that it was possible to buy cheaper tickets locally. Just outside the Metro we found several touts, and after some slightly confusing negotiations in Portuguese, we had two tickets for seats in Sector 6, at a bargain price of $25 each - marvellous. Minutes later we had a couple of beers in hand too, and felt like locals, ready for Carnival. The view we had wasn't the best, as our section of seats was set back from the huge concrete runway that the parade would come along, but we could still see pretty well. When the first parade began it took quite a while to reach our area, as each group has about 80 minutes to travel the whole length of the Sambodromo. But the atmosphere was amazing, everyone up on their feet, singing, dancing, and waving flags. When the first float arrived it was HUGE, followed by what must have been thousands of dancers in amazing costumes - the flow of performers was almost endess - and this was just the first of six parades on display tonight!    We watched the second and third parades, both equally impressive, especially the magician-like section at the front of the third parade, which under the cover of large magicians' sheets, performed some lighting fast costume changes.    We ended our evening somewhat early, heading out at around 1am, having an early start planned for the next morning. I don't think either of us could have managed another four hours on the rock-hard concrete seats either. We caught the Metro back home, among many brightly-costumed performers heading home too. What an experience! Once again, thanks to Val for his wonderful company, and to Fabio and Samuel for their fantastic hosting, and advice and directions.
So it was a wonderful surprise to see them at the appointed time and place, picked out on a Google map, and suggested to all who expressed interest in a hike up Corcovado Mountain to see the incredible statue Christ The Redeemer, which gazes down from on high over the whole of Rio. As I did with Table Mountain in Cape Town, I wanted to walk up to the top of the mountain, instead of taking the tourist-trap train up, and Val was keen too. Along with Samuel from our couchsurfer home, we had taken a bus to the Metro, the Metro to Botafogo station, and finally a taxi to beautiful Parque Lage, where the trail up the mountain begins. Paul and Kristi hadn't quite realised how steep the climb might be, and hadn't come too well prepared, wearing flip-flops and light open sandals respectively, but did fantastically well. It took about an hour and a half in hot sweaty conditions up a steep jungle trail to reach the top, where we joined the crowds who had arrived on the train, and in an endless stream of packed minibuses.     It was here that our troubles began, when we found turnstiles, where everyone getting off the buses would present their tickets. The guards manning the entry point would not let us in, and as far as we could gather, we couldn't buy tickets there either. A few other people had been doing the hike too, and we found someone who could translate for us, as Samuel had chatted to the guards, but we couldn't quite understand as he tried to explain the situation to us. It turned out that the turnstiles were a new addition, just for Carnival, to fleece the gringo tourists, and the group of local trekkers all refused to have anything to do with paying for entry. The ridiculous part of the situation was that we couldn't buy tickets at the summit, they were only sold down at the start of the minibus route way below us! "That's Brazil!" said one local in resigned voice! We managed to organise a free return trip in a minibus for one of our group, and Kristi volunteered to head down and back, returning in half an hour or so with five tickets, and we finally went through the turnstiles to see Christ The Redeemer, or Cristo Redentor as he is known here. I don't know what I was most impressed by, the awesome huge statue, or the breath-taking view over the city which is often referred to as the most beautiful city in the world. It was very crowded on the top, but that didn't detract one bit from the incredible view and location. Rio certainly is a lovely-looking city.    Thanks to Val yet agian for joining me for this trip, that's now a total of six goals he has joined me for. Thanks also to Samuel, Paul and Kristi for coming along on such a hot sweaty climb, what a great experience.    We took the minibus back down, as this was included in out ticket price, and all headed off in different dirctions, Samuel to the beach, Paul and Kristi to prepare for the spectacle of Sambodromo that evening, and Val and I to Sugar Loaf Mountain, which is pictured in the centre of the panoramic view above. We planned to climb that too, rather than take the cable car up, and tried a couple of different trails. The first was the wrong one, and took us to the foot of a huge steep cliff wall. The second trail, around the back of the steep cliff was more managable, but we reached a steep section that would have been much safer with ropes, as there was one section with a large drop below. We decided to return to the track, and somewhat disappointed, but pleased to have made a wise decision, we had to finally admit defeat and catch the cable car to the summit just as the sun was setting. The summit offers further incredible views of this stunning city, and we sat sipping beers as the sky darkened and the city lit up below us.    What a fantastic day in the mst beautiful city in the world!! More info on Cristo Redentor here, and on Sugar Loaf Mountain here. 
The wind wasn't right in the morning, so we took a hike up another nearby mountain, offering more awesome views of Rio.     When we spotted hang gliders taking off from the launch site below us, we headed back down, and Val geared up and received his instruction, and before long they were running down the steep ramp, and launching into the air. It looked fantastic, and I would have really loved to have a go too. However, the price was way above my meagre budget, particularly as I have spent so much more here in South America than I planned to, with the extra $800 that LAN Airlines charged us! (Still haven't had a response to my customer service email - very poor customer service!!) I glabbed a lift down to the beach where Val would be landing, and he was ecstatic. It certainly looked pretty thrilling. More info on flights at the Rio Hang Gliding website.    Eventually we headed home, and Val had to pack his bags to head to the airport. It was sad to see him go, as Fabio and I waved him off in a taxi. We have had a fantastic couple of weeks, and he is a wonderful travel buddy. Hopefully we will get to catch up again soon as my trip comes to an end in New York. I am now pretty-much at the end of my time in South America, but as yet I have nothing organised to actually leave here - no flight booked, and my next destination not yet quite decided upon. Still, there could be worse places to get stuck than the most beautiful city in the world!!
So once again it was an early start, and I made my way across the city to a hostel in Copacabana, and was picked up with the rest of the tour group. We were taken by minibus to the bottom of a huge hill which led up into the heart of Rocinha Favela, a shanty town housing up to an estimated 150,000 people packed into Rio's biggest favela. From the bottom of the hill we were taken high up into the favela, each on the back of a motorcycle taxi. It was a hair-raising ride, as it had started raining over night, and the greasy roads didn't seem to slow the traffic one bit! At the top our tour regrouped and walked down into the tiny chaotic streets and alleyways. There is no form of planning, permission, or real organisation, and the favela just grows as people build homes wherever they can. The spaghetti of electric cables and water pipes is incredible, and the streets are a confusing, litter-strewn maze. Drug dealing is prolific, as is gun ownership, but among this chaos, around 98% of the community are poorer families simply trying to live their lives.    Our guide Daniel gave us a fascinating overview of life in this packed, dirty, poverty-stricken area. It certainly is a world apart from anything else I have seen on my travels. A fantastic tour, and highly recommended for anyone coming to Brazil. We stopped at a local art gallery, where favela residents' paintings reflect their life in this amazing city. We stopped at a bakery for breakfast, and at a childcare centre run by volunteers. There they take in children through the day, so their parents can go to work, perhaps selling drinks on the packed beaches, or collecting used aluminium drinks cans. 65 cans weigh about a kilo, and are worth abound 1.5 Reais, or 75 cents. It's a tough life in the favela, but once again, as I have been in many poorer places I have travelled through, many people seem to have a smile on their face, and a cheerful greeting to offer. More info on Rocinha Favela here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocinha    In stark contrast, just a few short minutes away is the rich beachfront suburb of Copacabana, where I went looking for Pris, who I met in Australia a couple of years ago, as she visited her Aussie boyfriend there. On a sunny day the beach at Copacabana is packed, but on this rainy day there weren't so many people around.    Later in the evening I headed out with my couchsurfer hosts Fabio and Samuel to a couchsurfer meeting at a local pub. There we met up with many other local couchsurfer hosts, and many of their guests too. It was fun chatting to other travellers from all over the world. My final day in Rio the next day was pretty quiet. Samuel and I did some shopping, and we had a quiet BBQ on the rooftop that evening. Thanks again to my wonderful hosts Fabio and Samuel for making my stay here in Rio so much fun.  And so it's onward with the travels again today. I am the only one up and about, and am trying to pack my bags as quietly as possible. I fly back to South Africa in a few hours, and feel quite sad to be leaving South America. I have had a fantastic month here, so much of that due to the people I have been with, and have met here. Thanks to you all.
While in Port Elizabeth about a month ago, through helicopter pilot John, I met flight instructor Gerhard, and when we chatted about my goals and travels, he became quite enthusiastic, and offered to help out with this goal. He reckons he can get me flying solo without too many formalities, and with only a few hours of lessons. I have done a bit of flying of gliders before, and did manage to fly a couple of solo circuits, and this gave Gerhard some confidence in my potential. So from Rio I booked a flight which took me to Sao Paulo in Brazil, and from there to Johannesburg in South Africa, and a final short hop down to Port Elizabeth on the coast. I settled back into the same hostel I was in last time I was here, and gave Gerhard a call. Unfortunately the next day the weather was cloudy and windy, and Gerhard suggested that we put off our first flight for a day or so. so after an easy day, I met up with couchsurfing contact Karl in the afternoon. Unfortunately Karl is unable to host me at the moment, but was happy to take me for a quick tour of Port Elizabeth, including the new football stadium, in the final stages of preparation for the forthcoming soccer World Cup. The next day I had to get a couple of passport photos for my Student Pilot Licence, and Gerhard had booked me in for a medical exam. A trip to the hospital for a chest x-ray thinned my wallet down, and after a very thorough medical, I had to make another trip to the cashpoint machine to pay the hefty bill!    At least I got a full, clean bill of health, apart from my eyesight, for which I need a new prescription, again! Not long now, I think, until I have to wear lenses and carry reading glasses too. Oh dear! Afterwards I spoke again to Gerhard, and once again weather was causing problems for a first flight, so once again I am on hold, hoping to fly tomorrow.
After being allowed to taxi a very weaving course to the runway, Gerhard did all of the two-way radio stuff, and accelerated for the take off, but once airborne he pretty soon handed the controls over to me again, and I was flying! There was alot to take in initially, and like learning any new skill, it seems a little overwhelming at first. We did a couple of circuits, coming back in to touch-down on the runway, before applying power, and taking off again. As time progressed Gerhard handed more and more control over to me, and simply talked me through the proceedures, and I managed a couple of good landings on my own. We managed to fit six circuits into the first lesson. We took a break for lunch, and afterwards we flew for another hour, with the responsibility for the radio being handed over to me too. Driving the mining trucks in Australia served me well here, as much of the radio proceedure is somewhat similar, with verbal confirmation of everything said being required. By the end of the second hour I was doing most of the flying, and confidence was growing. Landings were improving too, and Gerhard seemed pretty confident that I would get to go solo if the weather holds up for the next couple of days.    At the time it is a bit hard to remember to actually enjoy yourself, as there is so much to concentrate on, but it was an absolutely fantastic day, and I really feel I progressed well. It is fun to learn with Gerhard too, as he seems as keen on helping me to achieve my goal as I am to do so! In the evening Gerhard had suggested I should go along to the local cinema, as it was half-price-night, and he thought "Amelia!", the story of intrepid pilot Amelia Earhart, might still be playing. Unfortunately it was no longer showing, and I had to make do with "The Wolfman". If you want to learn to fly, you could do a lot worse than check out Matiba Bay School of Flight.
The lesson was intense, but fantastic fun! After a buffety flight over to the training area we came in for our first landing on the grass strip, and Gerhard demonstrated the approach and landing. It all looked quite alarming, as there is a steep bank leading up to the touch-down point, and approach has to be quite accurate. After touchdown we were off again, and into my first couple of circuits. These were fairly leisurely, as there was another plane doing the same thing, and we had to follow him around. But once he left we had the strip to ourselves, and Gerhard had me flying tight, fast circuits. Almost as soon as we had left the runway, Gerhard would have me bank round to the left and straight onto downwind leg, level out, turn onto base leg, and then turn again for final approach. He let me do a couple of full circuits, hardly saying a word, and just giving a couple of pointers on landing - I am leaving my rounding out at the end a little too late, which I need to correct. It was great fun, and I especially enjoyed taking off and banking round at low level. Time seemed to go very quickly, as I was concentrating so hard. and as we flew back over Port Elizabeth to the main airport my hands ached from gripping the steering controls too hard.    I can't wait to get back out there again tomorrow! This is one of the most challenging, most exciting and most fun things I have ever tried!
But helicopter pilot and backpacker hostel owner John invited me to join him and girlfriend Angela, and helicopter buddy Martin for a "bit of a singalong". I had no idea what this involved, but I was hoping it would be at a pub, as cold beer would be most welcome after a dry week. But I was slightly disappointed as we parked up in what looked like a quiet residential area. It looked like we were going to a friend's house, and approaching the front door I wondered if we should have brought our own beer. But once through the door, I was very pleasantly surprised, as the once-upon-a-time residential home had been converted into a fully fitted-out pub. The place was fantastic. "Toni's Place" reminded me very much of the first home I built in Australia, very similar in style, but everything was set up to host large crowds. The bar was in the living room, a food servery in the dining room, and the main room and back garden blended together into one large, open area. Out in the garden there was a large open fire pit, and through the night a big fire blazed away. There was a stage set up, and tonight was an open mic night, where John would be one of the performers. If only I was a bit better with the harmonica, I could have joined in, but I still have some work to do before tackling that goal yet. They had mixing desks, computers, and video cameras, all-in-all a very professional set-up. There were a couple of great performers, and John too was on early, and did very well indeed. As the evening progressed more people played and sang, and the pub filled up. It was just like being at a big house party. At one point I said to Angela, "This is why I like hanging around with locals whenever I travel. I bet not many backpackers know about this place, or get to come here." "There are quite a few locals that don't know about this place too!" she laughed.    Well done John, great performance. A wonderful, timely reminder that I must get on with the harmonica!
"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." This morning was beautiful, and the winds were light, but as I waited for my fourth flying lesson, the winds picked up a little, and were blowing across the main runway. Gerhard had had me do a few circuits around the main airport, then happy that I seemed to be doing okay, we detoured onto a much wider circuit, and headed for the coast. Gerhard took the controls, and dived towards the sea, levelling out just above the surface, then handed control back to me. We flew along at around fifty feet, just skimming along above the surface of the sea, and Gerhard let me pick my own route, following the coast line closely, passing over rocky shores and breaking waves. At the lighthouse at Africa's most south-easterly point, we banked round to the right, and continued along the coast. It was an absolutely incredible experience, and exactly what I had hoped flying would be like. I think I am hooked! The cross wind was a bit strong to allow mw to fly solo, so we agreed to meet again in the early evening to see if conditions had improved. At around 6pm the winds were much lighter, and we went out and did three circuits, after which Gerhard had me land to a complete stop, and we taxied in off the runway. Gerhard climbed out, and with a last few words of advice, it was the moment of truth! I called the tower and headed back out onto the taxiway, and lined up on the runway. The takeoff went without a hitch, and the plane climbed much faster with just one person aboard. I turned right and levelled out at 1,200 feet, and turned onto the downwind leg and made my radio call. One more turn onto base leg, some flaps and get the nose down to maintain 70 mile per hour. A last turn onto final approach, more flaps, another radio call, and then concentrate on throttle, speed, distance, and approach. All went very smoothly, just as I had been taught, and I rounded out nicely, touched down with a bit of a bump, and taxied back off the runway. I hadn't really had much time to enjoy the view, but it had been a beautiful evening, with the sun setting to the west, and a full moon rising to the east. I was too busy furiously concentrating on what I needed to do to get around the circuit and back down safely! What a truly fantastic feeling. What a huge thrill, and what a proud achievement. I had gone solo at around five hours of flying time, and I was extremely pleased with myself. Gerhard and his wife Yvette seemed almost as thrilled as I was, and Yvette had made a wonderful certificate for me.    This has certainly been one of the highlights of the 80 goals achieved so far, and I owe huge, HUGE thanks to Gerhard for making this happen in such a short time frame. I think we have both equally enjoyed the challenge though. Thanks to Yvette too, and also John and his staff a Helicharter Backpackers. I don't think this one is over yet, I suspect I might be back here one day soon to finish what I have started! I am definitely hooked! For anyone thinking of flying lessons, I can almost guarantee that it will be cheaper to come down to South Africa for a few weeks and learn at Madiba Bay School of Flight than it will be to do lessons wherever you live! It cost me under US $1,000 to go solo! Fantastic!!
Here's a short video of a couple of clips from yesterday's solo flight. I think Gerhard might be horrified to find out I had time to take a couple of video clips! On Gerhard's Madiba Bay School of Flight website, he says, "We put the FUN back into flight." He has certainly done that! Learning to fly here in South Africa has been a big thrill and a huge challenge. But most of all, it has been incredible FUN. I can't thank Gerhard enough for his wonderfully patient instruction, and for trusting me at such an early stage with one of his planes! What an awesome experience! Thanks also to John and Claudius at Helicharter Backpackers for their wonderful hospitality. Onto a couple of bigger planes later this evening, first for the short hop back to Johannesburg, and then the long overnight haul to Perth. I reckon if the pilots get poisoned by the fish dinner though, as always happens in airliner disater movies, I will be ready to take over and land at Perth! Hold on tight, it might be a bumpy landing!
Perth is six hours ahead of South Africa, and I have been struggling a little with jetlag. I was wide awake most of the night on my first evening back here, and eventually fell asleep at around 5am, sleeping almost until midday. I am still up late each evening, but forced myself out of bed at 7am this morning in hopes of getting at last onto Perth time today. I have cycled and swum today, so hope I will be tired by a reasonable time, and get a good night's sleep. I have had to cycle a bit over the last two days, as when I went to collect my motorbike, ten months standing has not done it much good, and I couldn't get it started. The battery went flat while cranking it over, and even trying to jump-start it with a car wouldn't pull the petrol through. A fantastic Aussie product came to the rescue this morning. I knew it was somewhere in the garage among all my junk, but hadn't been able to find it until I had a big tidy-up this morning. A tin of "Start Ya Bastard" is a must in every garage toolbox!!    With the bike now running again I am much more mobile, and can get out and about to catch up with other friends, try to arrange some more goal stuff, and try to sort out my junk. I really wish it had all sold as part of ALife4Sale, and I wouldn't have to deal with it now. I am going to try once again over the next couple of weeks to try to sell most of the remaining bulky items, and find somewhere to store the rest of the stuff I can't get rid of!
At around 100 jumps many people try a nude skydive. I am not really sure why, other than the usual "because it's there" sort of reason. It is something that has been on a mental to-do list somewhere in the back of my mind, and somehow it got added to the list of 100 goals as it was first written out. And so as I am back in Perth for a while, and my own skydive gear is here, I decided to make a concerted effort to get another goal ticked off. I rode the motorbike over to the dropzone at York yesterday evening, and over a few beers with a couple of the other early arrivals, tried to recruit a few others to my cause. I put up an open invite on the cafe door, suggesting anytime mid to late-afternoon on Saturday might be the best time for the jump, hopefully the warmest part of the day. I did a couple of refresher jumps in the morning and early afternoon, and late in the afternoon, as the last of the tandem skydive customers headed home, four of us gathered to plan our jump. Joining me would be Skydive Express staff members (no pun intended!) Split and Thommo, and parachute packer Crumb. As is often the case at skydive clubs, I have known a couple of these guys for several years, and have no idea what their real names are! Our jump was going to be the last of the day, and I was extremely grateful to business owner and pilot John for flying the extra load. We geared up, and to avoid any offense to any remaining customers and their families we wore shorts to get down to the plane. There were only the four of us aboard, and we quickly got to 14,000 feet, and when we got the orange light, and opened the door, it was pretty chilly. We had all sorts of grand plans for our exit and jump routine, but with no jumpsuit, control in the air is very tricky, and we messed the exit up badly. When we all let go to try to sort it out the two bigger guys (and by that I mean body mass, nothing else!) fell away quickly, and the new slim, lightweight me could simply not catch up to them at all. Eventually we all had to separate and open our 'chutes, and fly down to land. Beer was already waiting for us, from the carton I would be required to put on at the bar, as is customary for any new first skydive achievement or event.    Here's a video of the whole sordid, messy affair.... So thanks to the others who took part, Thommo, Split and Crumb, to Camilla on camera duty, and to Johno and the rest of the fantastic team at Skydive Express. Time to go and celebrate with a beer or two, as there is a carton of beer waiting on the bar. Cheers!! 
When I was in Rio for Carnival, I had no further flights booked, and plans were somewhat vague as to where I would go next, and in what order I would try to tackle my remaining goals. So I spent a day or so doing some research, comparing flight costs and possibilities, contacting people, and trying to factor in the last 21 unachieved goals. The first thing I wanted to do was return to South Africa, where there was the offer of some bargain flying lessons. At some point I also needed to return through Perth in Australia to sort out some personal issues, including at least one long-overdue tax return! So after quite a bit of thought, research and planning, I booked a flight from Rio to Port Elizabeth, and a further flight a week later from there to Perth. I did my flying lessons, and managed a solo flight in South Africa, and back in Perth, I have managed to achieve goal #81 - a nude skydive. And so now my final few months look something like this:- I plan to stay in Perth for a while, perhaps until the end of the month, or into early April. The goals I hope to address here include a night skydive, again back at my old skydive club in York if I can get things organised - full moon is on 30th March, so Sat 27th is looking like the best option. I have also managed to borrow a unicycle from a friend, and am trying to avoid hurting myself too badly with that! Maybe there might be a chance to see a baby being born, and with some spare time on my hands, I hope to get back to working on my lucid dreaming. Also, at the end of March, if I can keep off the beer, wine and pizzas in Perth, I should be able to tick off my "maintain my weight at 70kg" goal. At the end of March I plan to fly to India to see the Taj Mahal, seeing the only remaining "New 7 Wonder" that I haven't yet seen, and from there I will move on to Nepal to see Everest. Russia is next on the list, where I hope to fly in a MIG fighter jet, and go on a weightlessness flight. From there a last stopover in the UK will hopefully allow me to finally gather 5 Ian Ushers in one place, and perhaps drive a car off a jetty, and then it's over to the States again for the last month or two, where I plan to finish in style in New York on the 4th July. Final goals still to be addressed before the end of the journey will be:- Sign a book deal Have a workplace romance Learn the harmonica Develop a 6-pack stomach Dive to see the Titanic Join the Mile High Club Set up the Blindsided Network website and Complete my $50,000 fundraising goal With most of these I have been making some progress, and if all goes well I can now see it being really possible to fulfill the whole list of 100 goals, which is quite incredible. Although quite a few things still have to work out just right for everything to fall into place. For example, to have a workplace romance, I need to be working, and to do this I need to sign a book deal. If that happens, I can consider the remainder of my adventure to be work, and a workplace romance will become a real possibility - just need to find my romantic partner! A willing partner, plus opportunity is also required for my Mile High Club goal!! Seeing the Titanic may also depend on the book deal, as it is outrageously expensive! Without either some sponsorship, or a fantastic offer from a publisher, this one is a big challenge! This is also the case to a lesser degree with the MIG flight and weightlessness flight too. I am progressing slowly with harmonica and 6-pack, and hope I have enough time left to get there with both of these! The BlindsidedNetwork.com website shouldn't be too much trouble, I hope. My biggest challenge will be to raise my $50,000 charity fundraising target, and I will have to put quite a bit of time and effort into this one. My full set of 50 photos from my travels will be complete by the end of week 90, and all will be printed and individually signed and numbered. If I can receive a $20 (Australian $) donation for each one I will reach my target. I do have a couple of ideas on how I might progress with this, but any ideas, suggestions, or publicity about what I am trying to do is much appreciated. For full details of my fundraising goal, or to support me by ordering a unique, signed, numbered photo from my adventures, see here:- $50,000 Fundraising goal As always, the offer to join in with any of the final goals is open to anyone who wishes to, see the "Join In" page. Similarly, if you can help out in any way there are further details at the "Help Out" page. In either case, you can get in touch with me through the "Contact Me" page. Finally, as mentioned before, there is an open invite to come and join me in New York on the 4th July to celebrate the end of my journey. Full details here:- 100goals New York 4th July 2010 Invite
Martin and I have always got on pretty well, but with me living in Australia, and him and Rachel in London, opportunity to hang out together over the past eight years or so has been somewhat limited. However, Martin and Rachel are keen travellers to, and in the first five years that I lived down under, they came to visit four times! I also headed back to the UK a couple of times during those years too, so we saw each other about once a year. But since I began my 100 weeks adventure, I have seen quite a bit more of my brother. Martin, and his girlfriend Rachel too, have been a big part of my 100goals journey. He and Rachel live in Ealing, fairly close to Heathrow airport in West London. And so each time I pass through the UK I drop in there. It's only a short ride on the Underground from the airport to their house. I also spent Christmas with them up at mum's house in Darlington just recently, and after New Year, once again met up with them both down in South Africa, where they joined in with a few of the goals scheduled for my time down there. On the "Join In" page, I have started a "100goals Fantasy League Joining In" table, and have listed on it anyone who has joined me for two or more goals. It is down at the bottom of the page, below the long list of goals, detailing who has joined me on each one. For a long time my friend Mel here in Perth was leading the field, having joined me on six goals, but Martin, who had joined in with three previous goals, added another three while in South Africa, bringing him level with Mel in first place. My friend Val, who had joined me in two goals in Colorado, joined me for a few weeks in South America, and added four more goals to his total, putting him in first place too, alongside Mel and Martin. Rachel is in fourth place, behind these three, as she didn't come along in London when Martin and I went to meet Richard Branson, and she also missed out on diving with the Great White Sharks in South Africa. I only have 19 goals left to achieve now, so if anyone wants to beat the league table leaders, it's going to be pretty tough!! Anyway, I just wanted to say a BIG happy birthday to my brother, and a BIG "thank you" too to both him and Rachel for their help and support through my adventures. Hope you both have a wonderful day.       Happy Birthday Martin!!!
I packed my skydive stuff for the weekend, and on Thursday headed southwards. I called in first to see my former employers at Jenny Jones Rugs. Jenny was kind enough a couple of years ago to encourage me to include my job as one of the items on offer in my "ALife$Sale" auction. It was good to catch up, and it was great to see Andy and Karen again, and their kids Layla and Louie too. They have both grown since I last saw them - the kids, that is! It wasn't long before Andy proudly wheeled his new toy out of the shed, and we were soon thrashing it along the forest tracks! "Now that's exactly what the rangers don't want you doing!" said Andy as I slid the machine around in the dust when I got my hands on the controls! The next day I hung out at their house, and in the evening we went to Rockingham for a swim at the beach, and fish and chips on the grass for dinner. It was really nice to just relax and have some fun at the beach again. I certainly miss the easy-going Perth lifestyle when I am away! On Saturday morning I rode out to Skydive Express again. I am getting a bit hooked once again on jumping, and have found the new thrill of freefly. I am now able to freefall in a reasonably stable sitting position, which is so much faster than falling in a flat position, as there is the same weight, but alot less drag. I managed to borrow a freefly suit off parachute packer Anna for the day, and made some great progress. Sunday was also fun, when I chose to do a couple of 14,000 feet "hop-n-pops", when you jump out of the plane and deploy the parachute almost immediately. It is quite noticably colder when you are under canopy at 13,000 feet, but the view and the long flight down are absolutely awesome!    I'll be back jumping again next weekend, as I have to be in practice for the night jump, hopefully taking place the weekend after that!
However, I am making slow but steady progress with several other goals, and despite it now being week 85, and only 81 goals achieved, I am doing the groundwork for several other goals. In skydiving terms, I have been jumping regularly, and feel I am as ready as I can be for my night jump on the 27th of this month, so long as the weather is suitable. My goal of getting down to 70kg (154lb) and maintaining that weight is going well, and when I weighed myself this morning I was a slimline 68.4 kilos. This goal also goes hand-in-hand with my desire to develop a bit of a six-pack stomach. This too is showing small signs of promise, and exchanging a bit of fat for a bit more muscle should get me somewhere near my target. The unicycle progress has been halted temporarily, however. I borrowed my friend Mel's unicycle, but the threads in the pedal cranks have stripped out, which means the pedals just slip out when any pressure is applied to them. I am now waiting for the cycle shop to locate some more cranks. I have treated myself to a new harmonica. The one I was travelling with was a $10 cheapie, and the low and high notes didn't play too well, and it frustrated me to try to use it. So with a lesson coming up at the weekend I went out and bought a Hohner Blues Harp, which is really nice to play. I have also signed up for some online lessons here, and am really enjoying the progress I am now making. I try to practice a little bit each day.    I have also been making enquiries into some of the other, as yet unplanned goals, and have made some steps forward, so am hopeful for more progress towards some of them too in the near future.
On St. Patrick's Day I headed out early on the motorbike, and met an old friend Ed at the coffee shop in Leederville. I haven't seen Ed for about four years, and we caught up on each others news for two hours or so over a couple of coffees. It was going to be a big coffee day - ideally, it should really be Guinness, to celebrate the Irish National Day, but that wouldn't help with either the weight goal, or with riding the motorbike! From there I rode out to the coast for lunch and more coffee at Scarborough, where my friend Bek now lives. Bek recently lived and worked in South America for a couple of years, and we had spent a bit of time in the same places, and have got plenty of notes to compare. Bek now owns and runs an indiginous tour company here in Perth, and I have booked in for her tour sometime next week - not sure of the day yet. After lunch I rode up to Innaloo where I met Glennys for more coffee. I have only met Glennys once before, after she contacted me via the 100goals website, but we got on pretty-well, and found that we had alot in common. I had many questions for her about her self-published book, "50 Ways To Grieve Your Lover". I hoped that I may have had a book deal signed, sealed and delivered by now, but as yet I am still hopefully waiting. Self-publishing is an alternative that I am considering is if nothing concrete presents itself in the next month or two. I am really struggling with the goal to "see a baby being born". Obviously this is an intensely personal moment, and I have to find someone who is happy to have me there at such a private event. I have had a couple of offers during my travels, but actually being in the right place at the right time is proving to be somewhat tricky. I am also having a few problems with some of the other, bigger goals too, and am waiting for further information before deciding how to try to make progress towards them. Finding a spot where I can drive a car into water off a jetty without getting into legal trouble is proving to be much harder than I thought. And the Russian plane which runs weightlessness flights has technical issues, and won't be flying until much later in the year, well after my 100 weeks period finishes! Oh dear! Back to the drawing board again!!
And so I looked online to see where the local games are now played, and found a pub not too far away that has a game on a Thursday night. I rode up there, and entered the competition, and sat down at 7pm to play poker for the first time since my last game at the tables in The Wynn in Vegas. Again, it is hard to believe that so much time has passed since I played, but life has been so full with new experiences and challenges. I took a while to get back into the game, and saw a few hands go by that I could have been involved in, or possibly have even won. However, I sat back and waited, and when the time came I bet well, and won some good hands, ending as chip-leader on our table for a while. I did pretty well until the break, but a couple of tricky hands, and a marginal "all-in" call put me out of the game. I was pretty pleased however, to have made the top 16 on my first game for a long time. On Friday I managed to catch up with some emails, but later in the day kept getting distracted by the ever-entertaining Maxine at my current "home" at Marty, Carol and Bella's house. On Saturday morning I was booked in for an Introductory Blues Harmonica class, and learned alot in the four hour lesson from amazing harmonica player and teacher Brad Capper.   I was back onto the motorbike immediately afterwards for the one-and-a-half hour drive out to York, and by 3pm I was manifested for my first skydive of the day. I somehow managed to volunteer myself as a tandem "customer" for a potential instructor from the States, who was being assessed. I was so much more nervous than when I jump myself, as all control is handed over to somebody else. It is like being the passenger on somebody elses motorbike - I really don't like it! But the jump was brilliant once we were out of the door. And without having to do any sort of planning for landing it was amazing how many other things you see that you don't usually notice as you descend under canopy. I did another couple of jumps on Sunday, then headed "home" again. What a brilliant weekend once again!
My friend Bek runs Urban Indigenous Tours here in Perth, and she had a booking for Monday morning, so I opted to join her and her customer Ricard from Sweden, along with one of Bek's English tour guide friends, Kim. We set off in the tour bus, complete with genuine kangaroo skins on each of the seats, and once we had collected Ricard, headed to the home of Sheila, a renowned aboriginal artist. Here we were given an introduction to the traditional symbols used in aboriginal art, and were set loose to create our own timeless masterpieces. Mine involved alot of travelling and crossing water! Sheila was fascinating to chat to, and had some incredible stories. She was one of the "Stolen Generation", taken from her family at the age of eleven, and housed in horrendous conditions in a convent for the rest of her childhood. The "Stolen Generation" is one of the darker parts of recent Australian history, and is movingly portrayed in the film Rabbit Proof Fence. Next stop was at a wonderful art gallery, where we tried many types of bush tucker, both traditional and contemporary foods made from plants, fruits and seeds found in the outback. My favourite was the delicious quandong jam. Lunch was in an aboriginal cafe in Northbridge, in the oldest aboriginal-owned building in Australia. The hangaroo meatballs were fantastic, and after the heavy damper (bread), and a huge dessert, we were all stuffed. The final stop on the tour was at Didgeridoo Breath in Fremantle. This is where I did my didg course about a year ago. And when I thought about it, I realised that since I left Australia last year in May, I haven't once played a didgeridoo. I didn't get the chance to say that I had done a couple of lessons before, and we began our 45 minute lesson with our instructor, Sanshi. We all did pretty-wel, and at the end of the lesson Sanshi explained the principal of circular breathing. I had mastered it last time around, and was pleased to be able to still do it successfully. Sanshi was very impressed with his teaching abilities!!    The journey back to the city was pretty eventful too, as the predicted afternoon storm arrived, the first rain that many parts of Perth has seen for over 120 days! The downpour was torrential, and hailstones started hitting the van pretty hard. Eventually Bek pulled up under a tree as many other drivers had done, afraid that the van was going to be damaged. I jumped out and grabbed a hailstone about half the size of a golf ball. The flooding was incredible, and lightening caused much of the city's electic supply to fail. Traffic lights weren't working, roads were flooded, cars had broken down here and there, and the traffic was chaos. It took to hours to get into the city to drop Ricard off then get back to Bek's flat. This morning, the storm was declared a natural disaster, the worst Perth has seen for fifty years, and estimates of damage done are up to around $100 million. One car sales yard had hundreds of vehicles damaged by tennis-ball-sized chunks of ice. Marty's car, parked outside at work now has loads of dents, and looks a bit like a golf ball. Check out some of the amazing images here: Facebook "I survived the Great Storm of Perth 22/03/2010" page and my short video clip from the Urban Indigenous Tours van.
From then onwards, my life was turned upside down, and the next couple of weeks became a crazy whirl of TV interviews, radio and newspaper interviews, and phone calls from around the world. I even had several movie producers from Hollywood contact me to ask about the movie rights to the story. I had picked the 22nd of June 2008 as the day the week-long auction would start on eBay, and then simply counted back 100 days from then, and picked the 14th March as the day to launch the website. From that day on, I wrote a blog every day, as I counted down to the auction start. The blog is still available online here: ALife4Sale Blog At the time 100 days seemed like a long time, but the weeks just flew by. It was such fun being interviewed about what I was doing and why, and writing blogs about how crazy my life had become. For a while I had a TV documentary crew following me around too, which was a pretty unique experience. And so just over a week ago, as March 14th went by again, I wondered when it would be 100 days until my 100 weeks comes to an end. And today, Friday 26th March 2010 is that day! I can't believe it has now been two years since I started this whole crazy adventure. The time has gone so quickly, as I guess it always does when you fill your life with interesting and exciting activities. And I know that although 100 days still sounds like a long time, it will pass incredibly quickly, especially with some of the plans I am looking forward to completing in that time. I am a little ambivalent now about the fast-approaching end of my journey. Money is getting a little tight, and I am looking forward to stopping the endless spending. I am also looking forward to actually settling in one place for a while, and simply taking a bit of a break. My stop here in Australia for a month has been a lovely, but brief respite from the constant movement. However, I have still had to plan new travels, make new bookings, contact people and make arrangements, sort out accomodations, plan for tricky goals, and write about what I have been up to. But I am incredibly grateful to Marty and Carol for offering this small oasis of calm for these few weeks. But the other side of the coin which I must consider as the last 100 days begin to disappear, is what the future may hold for me. Where do I want to live? What do I want to do? How will I ever settle anywhere after two years of endless travel? What does life have in store for me next? I was asked many times, in many interviews in the run-up to the ALife4Sale auction what I was going to do next. Initially I didn't really know, and it was only mid-way through the 100 days countdown that the idea of 100 goals in 100 weeks really crystallised. I think this time, I am not quite as vague about what may come next, but after July 4th, life still offers something of a blank canvas, upon which I am now doodlng, playing with ideas and possibilities. I have some hopes, and potential plans, but can I manage to turn these ideas into reality? I sincerely hope so! I have my work cut out, but if I can get everything to come together as I hope it might, I am very excited about where life might take me next. I will be writing more over the coming days about what I hope to do next. That's if I can find the time, of course, somewhere between night skydiving, harmonica playing, excercising, trekking to Everest Base Camp, visiting the Taj Mahal, and much much more!
Without kids of my own I don't get to see such events very often, and the enthusiasm of the kids certainly put a smile on my face.    On Saturday morning I headed out once again to Skydive Express at York, for the fourth weekend in a row, which is a bit of a personal record for me. I have done more jumps in the past four weekends than in the previous two years, I think! With full moon being on the 30th March, Saturday night was going to be the best opportunity for night jumps. I have been building up to this weekend for the past month, getting in the necessary amount of jumps, and practicing my landing accuracy, as there is only a small lit area to land in at night. The winds were fairly strong and steady all day, and it was a great day for jumping. The last jump of the day was a new one for me, as I managed to borrow a set of "camera wings" - a type of jacket that camera flyers use to be able to adjust their body position in order to capture better angles for videos. The last load had been delayed, and as we reached 14,000 feet the sun was just setting, and the sky was lit a stunning orange. The view from height was awesome. By the time we jumped and eventually landed it was a half-night-jump already! The winds dropped a little as darkness fell, but were in the wrong direction to be able to land in front of the main building, where the spot lights are set up. As the day's jumping came to an end, sixteen of us who had signed up for night jumps waited tensely for the Chief Instructor's decision. Unfortunately, with some cloud cover, the direction of the winds on the ground, and the still strong upper winds, the CI eventually decided the conditions were a little too marginal, and informed us over the speaker system that night jumps were cancelled! There was disappointment all round, followed by a headlong rush to the bar as an alternative evening's entertainment. Things got a little lively towards the end of the night, and the strip-foozball competition ended predictably!    I got a pretty late start for jumping on Sunday morning, nursing a bit of a hangover for the first part of the morning. Once again, a great weekend of skydiving, although I am very disappointed not to have achieved the goal. It really is a pretty hard one to get done, as I have to be in the right place at the right time, when night jumps are being done, and need to have all my gear with me. I really don't know if I'll get another opportunity to try this one again before July 4th! Oh dear!
And my wonderful friend Mel came to the rescue, allowing me to use half of her garage to store the huge pile of stuff that I still had left. I have never really been quite sure what to do with all of this household bric-a-brac, and have taken a bit of an ostrich head-in-the-sand approach for over a year and a half now. But Mel needs her garage space again, and my stuff has to find a new home! And therefore my return to Perth for this month has to a large degree been to sort out my left-over life that didn't sell. I think it would have been so much easier if someone had bought the whole life, and everything had gone at one time. But bit by bit, I look at the stuff I still have, and think, "That might be useful one day!" I don't really know where I will end up after the 100weeks adventure comes to an end, but do have some plans which I hope will keep me in the States for a while - more details coming in a blog very soon! However, I do still love Australia, and maybe one day I will be back here to live. And all of this stuff would be handy to have then to set up a new home. I have looked at a storage unit as an option, but they are pretty expensive. So I have eventually decided to trim down the belongings, get rid of all the big items, and store the remainder. Marty and Carol have a big garden, with loads of room at the back, and they very kindly suggested that I could erect a shed there and use it as a store room. So on Sunday evening I went to local hardware store Bunnings, and bought a smallish shed, and yesterday got to work on assembling it. The initial estimate of a couple of hours proved to be wildly optimistic, and I just got it completed this morning, having only sliced fingers twice on the sharp metal edges. Good work! I am very pleased with the results. Now all I have to do is get all my stuff from Mel's to here, sort it out, fit in what I am keeping, and get rid of the rest! So Sunday morning will be a bit of a garage sale and giveaway. There is heaps of stuff, so if anyone in Perth wants a jet ski, rug and sofa, BBQ, coffee table, computer, kitchen chairs, fans, or smaller stuff like CDs, DVDs, kitchen stuff, etc. then contact me through the "Contact Me" page for the address, and come and see me on Saturday evening or Sunday morning. It all has to go!!  
After college I spent several years teaching outdoor activities, such as climbing, canoeing, caving, and mountaineering. Later I ran a jet ski business, which involved alot of time working hard on the beach. When I moved to Australia, I worked for Jenny Jones Rugs, and for the first year or so there I did quite alot of manual work there, lifting and shifting rugs and furniture. But when I became duty manager there my role at work became much more sedentry. Continuing to eat as I used to when I worked much more physically, coupled with moving into my forties, and an appreciation for beer, meant that slowly the weight started to increace. Not by much, but enough to be noticeable. In my twenties, and well into my thirties, I always used to weigh around 11 stone (154lb or 70kg). But in my early forties, at the worst point I was around 12 and a half stones (175lb, or 80kg)! After my separation I started to be much more active again, swimming and running on the beach each morning. When I moved to Kalgoorlie to become a mining dump truck driver, I made a conscious decision to join the social crowd that went to the gym or squash court more often than they went to the pub. And I soon got back to around 70 kilos. Back in Perth after six months out in the desert, I worked up north in another mine, and kept fit by swimming alot and using the gym there, again avoiding the pub crowd to a large extent. But it is easy to let the good habits slip, and after a year at the mine I resigned, went back to the rug shop briefly, and put my life up for sale on eBay. Alot of time in front of the computer, too many pizzas, and too much wine meant I got back up to around 75kg. And so when I started my list of 100 goals, I set myself the target of getting back down to my ideal weight, and maintaining it - 70kg - which was my weight at the age of thirty. It hasn't been easy, as it can be tricky when travelling to eat healthily all the time. Fitting in enough excercise can be a challenge too. But since August last year, and even before, when I began preparing for my "7 Peaks in 7 Days" Colorado-based mountaineering challenge, I have been doing pretty well. Since then I have been pretty active, and tried to be very conscious of what I eat. When I weighed myself just before Christmas, I had just reached the 70kg mark, and decided that if I could maintain healthy habits for the next three months, and maintain my weight, I think I should be able to do so continuously. Staying with Marty and Carol for a month hasn't made things any easier, as they are both great cooks, but I have done very well overall, and am still a healthy, trim, and fit 69kg. Goal achieved! Unlike some goals that once done, I haven't really returned to at all (such as didgeridoo playing (until last week) or kitesurfing), I intend to keep on top of this one. In fact I need to, as still ahead is the challenge to develop some sort of six-pack stomach. This is going fairly well, but I still have that last bit of fat to lose, and a bit more muscle to build. But progress is certainly encouraging! 
I fly tomorrow morning, Easter Monday, to India, then onward on Tuesday to Kathmandu in Nepal. I have a couple of days there, then fly on Thursday to Lukla, and begin a 17-day trek in the Himalayas to see Everest, hoping to visit Everest Base Camp. Obviously, spending a total of three weeks on one goal is not really going to help me to catch up, but this is something I have really looking forward to doing for a long, long time. I could take the easy, quick option of a scenic flight from Kathmandu around some of the peaks, snap a couple of pictures of Everest, and then charge onwards, the goal of seeing Everest achieved in one day. But that's not how I want to do this one, and that would just be ticking a box on a list, not achieving what it is that I really want to achieve. Ultimately, I think, the journey is all about the adventure and experience, not just ticking things off for the sake of it! This morning I was up early, with a huge list of stuff that I need to do. The first job was to get some laundry out, just as it was getting light, and then prepare the garage for the big sale I had planned. I had an advert in the Sunday paper, and signs made to put out at the junctions close to the house. Things went well, and although it is hard sometimes to see stuff go at such low prices, I kept reminding myself that this was all stuff I was never going to see again anyway, if it had all sold on eBay as planned originally. The first couple of hours were pretty busy, and when I got the chance I packed more stuff into the shed. By lunchtime I had sold over $450 worth of stuff. Marvellous! I spent the rest of the day sorting and packing, and in the evening dropped the remainder of the stuff I didn't want to keep at the local charity shop. I packed the rucsac again, and was ready for off first thing in the morning. Next stop Nepal. I have had a wonderful time here with Marty, Carol, Bella and Maxine, and can't thank them enough for their hospitality and support. It is with a little sadness that I leave Perth again, unsure now when I will be back, and even if I will ever call this place "home" again. But I am also excited about the possibilities that the future holds for me. To quote from the final lines of one of my favourite all-action movies: "The unknown future rolls toward us. I face it, for the first time, with a sense of hope." (Although this isn't really the first time I have felt a sense of hope!! I just like the quote!)   
I set off from Australia yesterday morning, after some hurried early-morning bag-packing, when Paula picked me up from Marty and Carol's house, and very kindly took me to the airport. I had had a couple of days on my own there, as everyone was away over the Easter weekend, and the familiar old trepidation had crept back a little, as I prepared to step out of my Perth comfort zone once again. Maybe not quite as much as on previous occasions, because this is now the third time I have done this, but it was increaced again by the fact that this time I have no idea how things will work out at the end of the journey. My first flight took me to Singapore, which has to be my favourite airport. The facilities there are brilliant. Free internet, international electric outlets, free movies, a butterfly sanctuary, free games, and I believe a pool and gym too. One of the nicer airport to transit through.    My next stop was at Mumbai, nowhere near as nice or as clean as Singapore, and I found a relatively quiet corner to doss down for the night. I took a photo of the cardboard box I had found as my mattress, and the pillow I had brought, planning ahead for this night. From comfy guest bedroom to cardboard box airport hobo in less than a day! I left the pillow and box for the next overnighter to find. This morning I flew into Kathmandu, and on the descent into Nepal I got my first view of the towering white peaks of the Himalayas in the distance. I caught a taxi through the manic traffic to the Kathmandu Guest House, where I had been booked in by tour company Himalayan Encounters. I had had a very lucky meeting in Perth with my friend Bek's tour guide companion Kim, who takes groups from the UK to Australia, stopping in Kathmandu on the way. She put me in touch with Niraj, owner of Himalayan Encounters, who is helping me out with the logistics of the trek to Everest Base camp.    I meet tomorrow with my guide, and fly on Thursday morning to Lukla, and begin my 17-day trek, so have been making some purchases and preparations this afternoon. I am really looking forward to tackling this challenging goal now.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM! See you soon. I spent today making some final preparations for my Everest Base Camp expedition, which starts early tomorrow morning with a flight to Lukla, high in the Himalayas. My first job was to repack both rucsacs with my requirements for the next two weeks or so, and bag up all the stuff I didn't want to take with me, to leave here in Kathmandu. The guys at Himalayan Encounters have organised a guide and porter, so the larger rucsac will be carried for me, and I plan to take my smaller, lighter day bag myself. Next I decided to move out of the Kathmandu Guest House to a much cheaper hotel I had found on my wander around last night. Instead of $25 for my second night in Kathmandu, I am now paying $5. I have already spent the money I have saved on an Everest trekking map, some light waterproof trekking trousers, and a book to take for the evenings. Earlier this evening I met a fellow trekker Henry from Colorado, who is on the same trek as me, and we met our guide too. I also had to go and rent a decent sleeping bag and down jacket for the cold weather ahead. These were incredibly cheap to rent, at less than a dollar each per day. Marvellous! Internet access is a bit tricky at the moment here in Kathmandu. There is good access at both of the hotels I have used, better at Hotel Nana, tonight's $5 cheapie, as it's free, but electricity is the problem! Well, apparently water is the real problem. Much of Nepal is powered by hydro-electric power, and water levels in the power-producing dams are very low, so electricity production is limited. Power shutdowns are scheduled each day, and last night the power was off from 6pm until midnight. I didn't know in advance, and hadn't charged the laptop battery. This morning the power was off again, and although the internet at the hotel was still working, running off a generator, from 10am to 4pm it was impossible to recharge the computer again. Very frustrating! Tonight it goes off again at 9pm so I'm trying to get all my batteries charged, and everything I need to do online done before then. I am still planning to take the laptop with me on my trek, and will try to write up the journey as regularly as I can, along with photos each day, but I have no idea when, or even if I will be able to upload anything. I suspect I may be able to do so at Namche Bazaar, sherpa capital of the Himalayas, when we stop over there for a day of altitude acclimatisation, but that may be the last chance for the next two weeks or so. So I'm afraid you may just have to wait to see how the whole trek works out. Here is a link to the actual itinerary of the trek I am going on. There is also a map of the route too, either click the link, or click the low-res map below for a much clearer overview of the route:- Everest in Close-Up itinerary Everest in Close-Up trek map 
It was an early start, up at 4am and back across to the Kathmandu Guest House for 5am to meet fellow trekker Henry, and our guide Deepak. We drove through the dark streets to the airport, which was already thronging with others flying to various destinations. After the usual formalities we were bused out to our plane, a Twin Otter, the smallest commercial plane I have been on, with one seat on either side of the aisle. The flight was quite spectacular as we flew low over hills and valleys, and off to the left huge mountains could be seen looming out of the very hazy conditions. It must be an incredible flight in clear weather. Incredible would also be a good word to describe the runway at Lukla, which is very short, and runs quite steeply uphill after touchdown. The plane has to stop quicky before it reaches the solid rock wall at the top end. We watched our plane take off again with it's fresh load of passengers returning to Kathmandu. A swift acceleration down the hill, and take off before the end of the runway, where the land simply drops away into the valley far below. No margin for error here!    We started our first day of the trek at an easy pace, stopping often at temples, or spectacular views of the Dudh Koshi river winding through the valley below. In the hazy conditions the huge mountains looming around us were just vague shapes, a suggestion of the towering majesty that must surround us. Three hours of easy walking on a relatively flat track took us to Phakding, where we ate lunch and booked in to our accomodation for the evening. Henry took an extra side trip to a small monastery way up on the hill in the afternoon, and I spent some time re-organising my hastily packed bags, and reading in the afternoon sun.    An easy and pleasant start to the adventure. Day 2 - Phakding (8,563 ft) to Namche Bazar (11,286 ft) After an early night last night both Henry and I were asleep by 9pm, and awake again at 5.30 in the morning. After a slightly earlier breakfast then planned we were on the track again before 8am. Another three hours or so took us to the Sagamatha Park Entrance, and after a bite to eat we began the steep toil upwards to Namche Bazar. The route was busy, with trekkers both heading up and coming down, porters, horses and yaks. Apparently the yaks can be a bit bad tempered, and when they go past you need to stand on the uphill side of them, as every guide seems to have a tale of a trekker being pushed over a steep edge by a grumpy yak.    We arrived in Namche ahead of schedule, as I think both Henry and I are making pretty good, steady progress. I have been taking the remainder of my anti-altitude sickness tablets left over from Peru, and so far I have been doing fine. I may have been helped by the fact that it has been a much steadier climb from sea-level to 11,000 feet than the flight into Cusco was. Namche is a bustling place, and after a coffee I wandered around the market place and shops stocked with mountaineering goods, food, and Nepalese trinkets. It's all outrageously expensive, as it has all been carried up by the amazing porters, who often carry loads of up to 100kg, or over 200 lbs. It shames you a little when they come charging past with a monster load, wearing flip-flops, as we struggle upwards with a tiny rucsac and proper hiking boots! Day 3 - acclimatisation day in Namche After a later breakfast we headed up the hill to a viewpoint from which we got our first clear view of Everest towering in the background. We took a look around the sherpa museum, and then headed further uphill, past an amazing little dirt-strip airfield, on to a tea shop high on the ridge, at over twelve and a half thousand feet, where we sat enjoying spectacular Everest views in the sun.    We were back in Namche by lunchtime, and took the rest of the afternoon to relax. Today is just a day to acclimatise to the higher altitude, before pushing on higher into the spectacular mountains. This is probably the last opportunity for access to both electricity and internet, so I suspect this will be the last blog entry for a while. 
After a day to acclimatise in Namche Bazar, during which I had only the slightest of headaches, we had a bit of a lie in the next morning, and I woke feeling great, all signs of my headache gone. After breakfast, which I self-catered with bread, tomatoes and yak cheese bought from the market, we got a leisurely 8am start. Steady progress took us higher up easy gradients, and at morning tea-break, we saw the other group that we now knew pretty well from two days in Namche Bazar. Our routes separated, their route taking them more directly to Everest Base Camp, ours taking us on the more westerly approach via Gokyo. We said our goodbyes, and started climbing more steeply up the side of the Dudh Koshi valley. We took things at a slow, regular pace, and Henry and I seem very well matched. We are both happy to keep plodding slowly uphill without too many breaks. I was feeling very healthy and strong, and we arrived at Dole at around 2.30pm in the afternoon. Our guide Deepak was pretty impressed, as 4pm is the more usual time to arrive there.    Dole is a lovely place, nestled in a side valley, with some incredible views of the snow-capped mountains towering on all sides. As the afternoon drew on it became quite cold, but the fire was lit in the main room in the tea-house we were staying in, and it was very cosy and warm. I spent several happy hours reading my current book, the wonderfully appropriate View From The Summit by Sir Edmund Hillary, who was of course, the first man, along with Sherpa Tensing, to climb Everest back in 1953. Day 5 - Dole (13,288 ft) - Machhermo - Gokyo (15,750 ft) The fifth day of the trek was planned to be a short one, climbing from Dole to Machhermo by around lunchtime. However, despite another leisurely 8am start we arrived in Machhermo before 11am, and both Henry and I were keen to press on further. After discussion with Deepak, and consideration for how our porter was doing, we decided to have an early lunch, and then press on for Gokyo. This section was scheduled for Day 6, and was estimated to be around four hours, and the two days are planned as further slow and steady altitude acclimatisation. Both Henry and I seem to be doing very well, and we continued our steady upward progress, and once again surprised our guide by arriving at our final destination before 3pm. The second half of the journey was spectacular, and we passed three high lakes on the way to Gokyo. The top two are still iced over with a fairly thick ice layer.    What a fantastic day! Two days trek covered in one day - marvellous! The weather continues to be sunny and warm, and it's been shorts and t-shirt again almost all day today. At 15,750 feet I am now at my highest point ever outside the confines of a pressurised aeroplane! I have a very slight altitude headache at the end of a tough day, but am pretty confident that I will be fine again for tomorrow, which takes us even higher up the impressively steep Gokyo Ri. If the day is clear the peak of Gokyo Ri should offer some spectacular views of Everest.
After a long day the previous day, and a bit of a re-think in the evening, we decided to put the extra day we had created to good use. Rather than attempting the steep Gokyo Ri climb, which involved a 5.30am start, Henry suggested an easier trek further up the Gokyo Valley, to the fourth and fifth lakes, where the guidebook suggested that there were some impressive views of Everest. I didn't sleep too well overnight, and woke in the morning with a headache, and feeling a bit of the familiar altitude sickness. I had an altitude tablet, and a couple of headache pills, and felt a bit better after breakfast. It had snowed overnight, and the walk up the valley was beautiful. We walked at over 16,000 feet for a couple of hours and the views at the end were well worth it.   
We we took many photos of Everest rising magnificently in the distance. In this panorama of three pictures below, Everest is in the picture on the right, haloed by cloud, second peak from the right-hand edge.   
On the way back down though, fatigue kicked in, and I started feeling pretty rough. It was a long, tiring slog back to Gokyo, and by the time we reached our accomodation we had spent around 5 hours at over 16,000 feet. After a bowl of soup I fell asleep for a couple of hours in the afternoon. I was pretty certain that I would be fine the next day, and just had the last bit of acclimatisation to do, as well as needing a good night's rest. I felt much better by dinnertime, and ate well, followed by a lively game of cards with our guides. I still got a pretty early night as we planned to be up at 5am in the morning for the challenging climb up Gokyo Ri. 
Day 7 - Gokyo Ri (17,584 ft) and Gokyo (15,750 ft) - Thagnak (15,560 ft) Once again it snowed overnight, but dawned crystal clear in the morning. We were up at 5am, and on the path by 5.30. The start of the climb up Gokyo Ri was only a few minutes from the door of our accomodation, and before long we were labouring up a two-hour long trudge to the top of the steep hill. I always find it easier to go very slow and steady, and not stop at all, and our group of four made good progress. We passed a couple of others who had started before us, and about two-thirds of the way up I was feeling great. I had slept well, had no sign of altitude problems, and was feeling strong again. I maintained my steady pace, and was surprised to be the first of our group to the top - very much different to the previous day, when I had been the one struggling badly. a href="http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp114/100goals100weeks/100goals4/EverestTrek_large27.jpg" target="_blank">   
The view was incredible! Far below you could see Gokyo on the edge of the third lake, with the huge Ngozumpa Glacier running just behind the tiny settlement. Beyond that mountains towered, and in the background Everest itself was highlighted in a halo of cloud.   
The summit of Gokyo Ri was strung with Buddhist prayer flags, and there was hardly a breath of wind. It really was a magnificent location, and well worth the two hours of effort to get there. The journey down only took an hour or so, and back at the tea-house Henry and I prepared to do something that our guides were convinced we had only been joking about. In our swimming shorts, towels slung over our shoulders, we headed down to the lake, and in the only way I imagine it is possible to do, we plunged in. It was shockingly cold, but I swam out a little before returning to shore. Henry was already back out, but to my amazement dived in for a second dip. Hot coffee and a big breakfast slowly warmed us afterwards. The locals were amazed - I don't think they had ever seen anything like it!!   
Once warmed and fed, we packed our bags, and set off on what was supposed to be the next day's itinerary, trekking out the back of Gokyo and onto the glacier itself. This was quite surreal, as it is mainly rock-covered, but every now-and-then you can see walls of ice and frozen pools. All around there are rocks rolling, and sounds of movement. Quite incredible. Two hours took us across the glacier, and to the tiny collection of buildings at Thagnak, where we settled in for the remainder of the afternoon. Despite fitting in the extra day's side trip to Gokyo Lakes, we are still a day ahead of schedule! I washed some clothes in a little stream nearby, surrounded by five or six completely uninterested yak. The sun was still out, and I was looking forward to fresh socks for the next day's challenging trek over the Cho La Pass.   
Day 8 - Thagnak (15,560 ft) - Cho La Pass (17,486 ft) - Dzonglha (15,846 ft) - Labouche (16,108 ft) Another 5am start meant we were on the trail by 6am, on what was going to be one of the tougher days for me again. It was a long slow haul up the climb towards the pass leading over to the Khumbu Valley, but we seemed to do well, and passed a few groups on the way that had started before us. It took about three hours to reach the pass itself, and the view was well worth the effort. A huge wall of snow lead upwards to a peak on our right, and ahead was a magnificent ice fall.   
We had a bit to eat in the sun, and then headed down over ice fields, and then rocky paths, arriving at Dhzonglha another two hours later. Accomodation there was limited, but we would be able to get a room, Deepak told us. Henry, however, was keen to push on, and in spirit I agreed, but my body would have been quite happy to settle there for the rest of the afternoon.   
However, push on we did, finally making it to Labouche by mid-afternoon. I found the last part of the day a real slog, and was glad to finally arrive and take a much needed break. The tea-house at Labouche was fairly basic, and Henry and I had to take turns in the tiny room to organise our gear. Once again we had completed two days planned trekking in one day, and were now two days ahead of schedule. An early dinner, a few games of cards and an early night were the order of the day, as once again we faced an early start in the morning, and a big day ahead.
Breakfast was delayed slightly, so we didn't get away until 6.30am, and arrived at Gorak Shep a couple of hours later. This really is the last settlement before Base Camp, and I have read about this place in so many mountaineering books. There was an air of unreality about finally reaching this place. On the walk I thought of all the famous footsteps that I was following. Mallory and Irvine came this way, as did Hillary and Tensing, and hundreds of other climbing greats since then.   
We left as much gear as we could at the Snowland Highest Inn, which would be our accomodation for the night, at almost 17,000 feet. With much lighter packs for the rest of the day we set off for our ultimate goal, Everest Base Camp. It took less than two hours to reach, and I was feeling much fitter and healthier than the previous day. Unfortunately it was Henry's turn to be feeling a bit under-the-weather, and Surya and I waited by the Base Camp overlook area for Henry and Deepak to arrive. I was really keen to go down into the camp itself, and see the awesome Khumbu Icefall from it's base. Henry elected to stay on the "city limits" with Deepak, and Surya and I headed down into camp. The atmosphere was wonderful. There was a group of singing and dancing sherpas, a photo exhibition in one tent, and all sorts of preparations going on.   
I soaked up as much atmosphere as I could, and took many pictures of the stunning icefall. It all looks very imposing, and people up there just looked like tiny dots.    
Eventually we headed back to collect Henry and Deepak, and began the journey back to Gorak Shep.  
We had wondered about the possibility of climbing Kala Pathar, which offers some incredible views of the whole valley, but Henry wasn't feeling up to it. I was still feeling good, and decided I would tackle the climb, which ascends to well over 18,000 feet. Surya kindly volunteered to come along with me. It was a real slog, as we had already had a long six-hour day, but we climbed steadily and slowly. By the last third of the climb I was starting to fade a little, and was disappointed that the clouds were building fast. We really needed to be up there a couple of hours earlier. It got colder towards the summit, and I put on all the clothes I had with me as we finally reached the wind-swept peak. The view was clouded over, but we could see one gap in the clouds about to pass over, and with a few others at the summit, waited for five minutes, and were rewarded with a brief, stunning view of Everest. 
We headed down quickly, arriving back at Gorak Shep at around 3pm, after a nine-hour day, just as the snow began to fall. Luke warm coffee never tasted so good! This has been an absolutely incredible goal to achieve, and has probably been one of the most physically demanding things I have ever done. In terms of sustained effort it even beats the "7 Peaks in 7 Days" challenge in August last year. (Sorry Val!) I am incredibly proud of what I have achieved, and although I appreciate that thousands of other trekkers achieve the same thing each year, I am pretty sure they are all very proud too. My thanks for assistance on this goal go to Kim, who introduced me to Niraj at Himalayan Encounters
Surya woke us at ten past four in the morning, and we were out and climbing by 4.45am, just as it was beginning to get light. For Surya and I, this was our second slog up Kala Pathar in less than 24 hours. Once again we managed a steady pace, and passed a few people who had started before us. About half way up, Henry stopped to take some photos, and I continued my steady plod, increacing my pace as I approached the summit, keen to get there before the sun appeared from behind Everest. I climbed the last twenty minutes or so as hard as I could, puffing and panting hard in the thin air above 18,000 feet. I must have been going pretty well, as I had at least ten minutes on my own on the summit before anyone else arrived. I wrapped up warm, with everything that I had in my small rucsac, as it was well below freezing. The water in my bottle had started to turn to ice, and was painfully cold to drink, but I had worked up a bit of a thirst. I sat alone on the very top of Kala Pathar, and watched the sunny patch slowly creep down the mountain above me, towards where I sat shivering, as the sun rose slowly behind Everest to the east of me. Seeing the huge mountain so spectacularly silhouetted, and looking down on Base Camp far below was one of the most outstanding moments of my adventures over the past two years.   
Others arrived at the top, and finally the sun reached us and warmed us up quite quickly. The best photo opportunity was now gone once the sun appeared, so we headed down for breakfast at Gorak Shep, packed our bags, and began the long descent back to civilisation. We headed down the beautiful Khumbu Valley for about 5 hours, and stopped at a nice little tea-house all on it's own at a place called Orsho. The clouds had been building steadily throughout the day, and we were very lucky to make it to our accomodation just before the skies opened, and it poured down. Day 11 - Orsho (13,547 ft) - Tengboche (12,664 ft) - Namche Bazar (11,286 ft) For the first time in days we laid in until 7am, and I had the best night's sleep. The thin air at higher altitudes can make sleep difficult, and at more than 3,000 feet lower than Gorak Shep, the denser air in Orsho meant that I had an untroubled nine hours sleep. Henry did even better, asleep before me, and still asleep when I woke. Again the morning was bright and clear, despite the rain the day before, and we headed on down the spectacular valley. We arrived mid-morning at Tengboche, which is a beautiful little place with an amazing monastery. Apparently the original monastery burned down in the 1990's but was re-build with the help of Edmund Hillary's Himalaya Foundation.   
After lunch we decided to detour to Khumjung, where more of Sir Edmund's legacy can be found at the school he helped build, documented in his book "Schoolhouse in the Clouds". It was very atmospheric to visit, as once again by mid-afternoon the clouds had started to build again, and were swirling dramatically just above the school.   
We made a final stop at the impressive Everest View Hotel, where there was no view at all, unfortunately, because of the now thick cloud cover. A long downhill toil from there brought us back to Namche Bazar at last. Just one more day of trekking to get back to Lukla. The tea-house in Namche, which on the way up seemed so basic, now felt like The Ritz. It is such luxury to have modern toilet facilities, and water that comes out of a tap, not just scooped out of a bucket. And best of all... a shower, with real hot water! It's the first shower I have had since we left here over a week ago, and it was FANTASTIC! It is quite hard to explain how basic and difficult everything is on the long trek, how cold it can be every evening, and how little there is in the way of modern facilities that are so often taken for granted. We have pretty much been in the same clothes for most of the last week or so, washing socks and shirts when the chance presents itself, and hoping to get them dry again before they are needed too badly. But what a truly incredible experience the whole trip has been, I wouldn't change a minute of it.
The last day of walking was a bit of a long haul, taking around seven hours, including a long lunch break at Phakding. We had caught up again with the large group that we have met several times on our journey, and all had lunch together. After lunch it was a long uphill trudge, and we finally arrived in Lukla at around 3pm. The track was so much busier than we had been used to higher up in the mountains, and the bridges were often bottle-necked, with well laden porters and yak all trying to cross at once!   
I feel a little bit sad that the whole incredible adventure is almost over, but my legs are incredibly relieved that the most walking they have to do tomorrow is from the hotel to the airport for the flight back to Kathmandu! Day 13 - Lukla - Kathmandu After a few celebratory beers the night before, getting up was a bit of a struggle, but it was important to be at Lukla airport in reasonable time , as flights only tend to operate in the morning, when the weather is clear, and getting a seat back to Kathmandu can be a bit of a lottery if it's busy. It was going to be even more tricky, as we were trying to fly back four days ahead of our scheduled departure date. But with some help from Deepak it was all sorted out, and by 9am we had negotiated our way through the entertaining chaos of Lukla airport, and were on another Twin Otter, hurtling down the steep runway, and soaring into the mountains. The take-off is quite alarming, as the runway slopes down steeply, and just as the plane becomes airborne, the ground falls away to the valley floor far below.   
I do have some video of the take-off, as well as of some of the mountains, so will see if I can get it edited together soon. I'm now back in my cheapie hotel in Kathmandu, where internet access is free, but provision of an electricity supply is sporadic at best. I have a few spare days now, and plan to catch up on email, and get as much planning done as possible for the next few weeks. I seem to be developing a bit of a cold at the moment, which is unsurprising, considering the amount of time I have spent in cold conditions, surrounded by coughing, sneezing, sniffing companions. I just consider myself extremely lucky not to have had any of the stomach upsets that all trekkers are "guaranteed" to have at some point during their trip. I reckon that after all my travelling, and easy-going attitude to street food, I now have innards of cast-iron. I certainly hope so, it's off to India next, ultimate test of the digestive system!!
I have spent alot of time lounging around in bed, eating my leftover Mountain Man Trail Mix, dried fruit, and sultanas as a semi-luxurious breakfast-in-bed. I keep having to sweep the bed out though, as any spilled granola mix has a particularly gravelly texture, and isn't too comfortable to lie around in! I have ventured out every now and then for a coffee, to sort out my laundry, get a haircut, or do a bit of shopping. But I have finally managed to get around to editing the few random video clips taken from the two-week long Everest Trek. It's taken me a day or two to do this, as I have had alot of other stuff to catch up with on the computer, and only limited time with access to electricity! When the electric goes off, it's back to the book with the head torch until power comes back on, sometimes as much as six hours later. There is a timetable for electricity black-outs, but like many other things here in Nepal, it just seems to be a vague guideline rather than reliable information. I've learned my lesson, and keep the laptop connected to the charger all the time that the electric is on, so at least I have a full charge when the power suddenly goes off! I didn't bother with video too much on the trip, but I'm pleased with the 360 degree views of Base Camp, and the alarming take-off from Lukla airport. I tended to concentrate more on photos, and took hundreds of them. I am using a couple of the pix I took as part of my charity fundraising goal, more details here. My particular favourite is the view from Gokyo Ri summit with the tiny town of Gokyo far below by the lake in the snow, with the huge glacier behind it. To help out with my fundraising goal you can make a contribution and receive a signed copy of this print, or any other you would like, by visiting the Fundraising page here:- Bowel Cancer Fundraising Goal The music on the video is called "Om Mani Padme Hum" by Tibetan Incantations. The original piece of music is over 24 minutes long, and is extremely repetitive. In Namche Bazar it plays endlessly on repeat from every second shop doorway, and I've heard it in several shops here in Kathmandu too - it's like an awful, endless Tibetan version of Chinese water torture!! It is impossible to escape from it, and this music will be forever connected in my mind to this trip. For interest, here's great 360 degree view from Everest summit I found on the internet:- Panoramas.dk - amazing 360 views of many other places too. Below is a animation I made of our route, based upon the original map from Himalayan Encounters, but altered to reflect our somewat speedier journey!  Finally, here are a couple of recent news stories on Everest, thanks to Lorna for the links: Spring cleaning at Mount Everest's death zone 13-Year-Old Attempts To Climb Everest Quebec anniversary flag can't reach Everest summit
And once again today I found out how quickly things can go from being well planned, running smoothly on coutse, to all going horribly and disastrously wrong. I have been in Kathmandu for over four days now, and while I have enjoyed relaxing with little to do, other than work on upcoming plans, I can think of much nicer places to be stuck with little to do. With a permanent supply of electricity I could have managed to do so much more, and would have welcomed the time to get on with writing some of the book, or even watching a few movies, but long periods without electric mean either sleeping, or wandering the noisy, chaotic streets. I do enjoy this, but have been in Kathmandu long enough, and feel ready to move on now. I have been pretty tight with my money for these days, as I spent a little more on the trek that I originally budgeted for, and wanted to get through these final days, changing the least amount of extra money as possible. So it was with a feeling of relief that I finally headed for the airport, just four more days of third-world chaos in India, before looking foward to the calm oasis of a couple of weeks in England. I joined the line to check in at the Jet counter, and after half an hour, got to the front, only to be told, "No, you are booked on Jet Airways, that line over there. This line is for Jet flights." I looked up at the board above me. "Right, so Jet and Jet Airways are two different companies?" "Oh yes sir," I was happily told, and had to join the end of the most enormous check-in line I have ever seen. An hour later I made it to the front, and was asked "Where is your visa?" I pointed out my Nepal entry visa confidently, knowing I was leaving well inside the alloted 30 days. "No, your Indian visa, sir?" "I'll just get that at the border," I answered hopefully, my heart beginning to sink. Apparently that wasn't possible. I suggested I would simply use my UK passport rather than my Austalian one - after all, India used to be part of the Empire - surely a British passport still has some advantages there? Not at all, India, it would appear, requires that all visitors have a visa in advance. I was not going to be allowed on the plane at all. I tried expalining that I had an onward ticket from Delhi to London, and would simply transit through instead, hoping to resolve the issue on arrival there. But because my London ticket is booked for over four days away, I would be sent back to Kathmandu, as a transit departure has to be within 24 hours of arrival. What could I do, I asked, and was told my only option was to go to the Indian Embassy here in Kathmandu and get a visa first. What about my flight leaving in a couple of hours? All I got was the address of the Jet Airways (not Jet!) office in Kathmandu, and an uncaring "Good luck!" All very reminiscent of the LAN airlines fiasco in South America. Now I do appreciate that I have no one to blame but myself, and what is particularly frustrating is that I have had four empty days when I could so easily have resolved this. But in almost two years of travelling, only one other country has been awkward enough to require a visa sorted out at an embassy in advance - China. I have travelled through Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Africa, and in every place I have been, have either not needed a visa, or have paid the requisite amount of dollars, and simply got a visa at the border. Why would I expect India to be any different, especially with a British passport in my pocket? With the last dregs of Nepali rupees in my pocket I negotiated with the owner of the dodgiest looking taxi outside the airport. At the Jet Airways (not Jet!) counter, I had been informed that the embassy would be open until 5pm today, and from 9 'til 12 tomorrow. In the taxi, as we sped through dirty back streets I still harboured visions of a quick visa issue, and a dash back to the airport just in time to catch my flight At the embassy it was obvious that this was not how it was going to be. It doesn't open at all on Saturday or Sunday, so it will be almost two days until I can even get in there on Monday morning! This is going to make it extremely tight to get from Delhi to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, then back to Delhi to get my flight to London on Wednesday. Despondently, I got the taxi to take me to the Jet Airways (not Jet!) offices. Ah, but of course, it was Saturday afternoon and they had just closed at 2pm. Completely at a loss, and with no Nepali cash at all on me, I got the taxi driver to take me back to Thamel, where I changed one of my last US$10 notes and paid him his 100 Rupees. With my bags I wandered back to my cheapie hotel, and booked back in for the night, unsure of what to do next. I had a chat with the owner, who offered some helpful advice, but basically there is nothing at all I can do about a visa until Monday, and the process of issuing the visa can take some time. I have to sort out a new flight, but daren't do this until I have the visa in hand. Time is against me, and a goal as simple as seeing the Taj Mahal looks like it may now be slipping out of my reach. I went out for a cup off coffee, and then back at the hotel, found the electricity off again, considered brushing my teeth and decided against it, and simply crawled into bed, my mind shying away from trying to resolve the problems, and closed my eyes, just wishing for the world to go away for a while!   
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