Trevor's Photos

Now that Luke has taken over the blog (because China blocks blogger!) you now get a dose of better quality photos that Trevor took from a real digital camera! Ive looked through the first 200 photos. Dad uploaded 500 so far. Here are some good ones. You can click on them to make them bigger!

 

30 photos. Ill upload some more later. These ones are from the start of the trip until Everest hike. Looks like they had some awesome scenery.

Ni Hao

Ni hao,
Three days in Xi'an, China and really enjoying it so far. Had a great flight from Kathmandu with great views of Mt Everest popping up through the clouds on the way to Lhasa. Flight arrived in Xi'an at 10.15. Managed to get our bags, find  the right bus, about an hours drive, then a taxi to our hotel and got there just before midnight. A big day. The centre of the city is surrounded by an ancient battlement wall about 14 km around. And a moat. And gardens most of the way round. We walked half way round one day then went down to the big goose pagoda in the evening where there was this great fountain show on, all set to music. Lovely temperature in the evenings, about 25, but hot and humid in the day. Visited the terrocotta warriors yesterday, impressive and interesting. Wandered around the Muslim quarter last night & again tonight, a bazaar type atmosphere, heaps of places to buy food and stuff, busy, fun & cheap. The food here is so good after Nepal. Only $2-3 for a big plate of noodles or rice dish. 80 cents for bowl of noodles soup. Can't find a cup of tea anywhere yet... The language or lack if it is a bit of a challenge but no major issues so far. Have used tuk tuks , buses, taxis, used an ATM, made it to the museum and eaten well so all good. Our hotel/hostel is great and young people running it helpful and speak some English. Trevor seems to be a bit of a novelty with 3 random groups of people wanting to have their photo taken with him, it is pretty funny, they take the photo all laughing away, thank him and off they go... One lot, at the terrocotta warriors, bumped into us 10 minutes later and they had it printed out! Heading out to Hua Shan mountain tomorrow - there are five peaks to climb, lots of steps,  but also a gondola which sounds promising!

Arrival in China

Nee how!!
Arrived in X'Ian last night, flight got in at 10.15 pm, after all day traveling. Left Kathmandu at 9am. Fantastic flight to lhasa, great views of everest above the clouds. Lhasa to Chengdu, then xian. Managed to get our luggage, a bus. 1 hour,  into the city and then a taxi to our hotel, arrived at 11.45 pm, reception closed at 12!! A big day. Hotel/hostel good, central, inside the city walls and has air con, its over 30 degrees. Walked Round the city wall today, then found a place to eat, a guy was making the noodles out the front so we had a big plate, with vege etc only $2-3. Went out tonight to the big pagoda, got a tuk tuk both ways, an experience on It's own.  there was this awesome fountain display then we wandered around the square, people line dancing (heaps) and waltzing all around in the open, it was fun to watch. Had dinner about 10pm, well Trevor did, he was not convinced it was a chicken kebab he had...  It appears there is no  face book or blog here so Luke will update for us, Off to see the terrocotta warriors tomorrow, got to to some touristy things, it seems like a really lovely city, lots of parks and very civilized after Nepal.
Cheers Rosie

Namaste... Down memory lane

Muktinath to Pokhara trek down the kal daki valley was the one we did 26 years ago, some things we couldn't remember at all... Old age... But some we did. There is a road of sorts all the way now but still some of the old trails as well. Views of Dhalaguri and Machupuchre were great, a couple of photos below. Monsoon began on the way down and suddenly everyone was out planting rice, a communal effort to get it all done quickly. We did one 9 hour day, walking uphill for most of it up stone stairs, that I can remember!! Leeches starting to come out but not too bad on the trails. A Photo of our last tea house, we were forced to stop by heavy rain at a place that only had 2 pretty basic tea houses ( but a lovely lady)It bucketed down all night, - enjoy your ensuites ladies - I had to get up at 1am to go to the loo ... Imagine, heavy monsoon rain, put on some clothes, shoes, a head light, find the umbrella, carefully negotiate the step stairs, encounter a very LARGE slug on the railing, find the way to the outhouse without slipping over, then return, check for LEECHES by torch light (at least twice) before getting back into bed, quite a feat really!!
But a great last week and well worth the walk, we visited the same Tibetan refugee camp, ate dried apple at Marpha, visited the hot springs at Tatopani, wandered around the old mediaeval village of Kagbeni near the closed off Upper Mustang area and climbed up & down thousands of steps. Enjoyed a day chilling out in Pokhara then arrived Kathmandu yesterday. So this is it from Nepal, we have had a fantastic time. China today... We fly to X'Ian via lhasa and Chengdu, not sure if blog will work from there, we will c,