At Delhi airport I was in good time to check-in, once again concerned that Jet Airways may have overbooked the flight to try to clear their backlog of stranded customers, but I needn’t have worried. The check-in area was refreshingly organised after the madness of Kathmandu, and I had no trouble getting my ticket. I […]
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Well, where do I start with this goal? What an unusual, and incredibly full day and a half. This has been one of the most trying and difficult goals to arrange, and I have had many problems to overcome, and ultimately the achievement was a long way from being satisfactory. But the experience of trying […]
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I have been feeling a bit like I imagine Martin Sheen’s character, Captain Willard, may have felt in one of the scenes from classic Vietnam war movie “Apocalypse Now”. For a while he is stuck for days in a hotel room in Saigon, “getting weaker, while Charlie crouches in the jungle, getting stronger”. Well, I […]
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After the literal and emotional high peaks reached in the past week, I discovered once again that when when the low points come, they are very low. I have often thought about how when travelling, life’s emotions seem amplified, and have sometimes described it to people, suggesying that it is “like living life with the […]
Continue readingI’ve had plenty of time on my hands here in Kathmandu, but not all of it has been completely productive, due to the dual challenges of feeling a bit under-the-weather with a post-Everest cold, and the electricity supply frustrations here in the city. I have spent a lot of time lounging around in bed, eating […]
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Day 12 – Namche Bazar (11,286 ft) – Phakding (8,563 ft) – Lukla (9,317 ft) 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 […]
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Day 10 – Gorak Shep (16,863 ft) – Kala Pathar (18,208 ft) – Orsho (13,547 ft) 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 […]
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Day 9 – Labouche (16,108 ft) – Gorak Shep (16,863 ft) – Everest Base Camp (17,650 ft) – Gorak Shep (16,863 ft) – Kala Pathar (18,208 ft) – Gorak Shep (16,863 ft) 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 […]
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Day 6 – Gokyo Lakes 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 […]
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Day 4 – Namche Bazar (11,286 ft) – Dole (13,288 ft) 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 […]
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Day 1 – Kathmandu – Lukla (9,317 ft) – Phakding (8,563 ft) 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 […]
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First things first – it’s my mum’s birthday today! 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 ruck sacks with my requirements for […]
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I have only been in Kathmandu for half a day, and have only explored about a hundred square yards of the place, but I love it here already! It is so busy and chaotic, and it feels like a million miles away from Perth, which I left only yesterday morning. You can buy anything you […]
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I’ve been in Australia for five weeks now, and the time has just flown by. In these weeks I have only managed to tick off two more goals, and am now somewhat behind schedule. Today is the end of week 87, and I have achieved 82 goals so far – five goals adrift! And in […]
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