DAY 269 (Friday 27 April 2012)

Well today was a very quiet day in work as the majority of the people had gone a Valley Rim Walk which had been organised before my trek, naturally I declined the going on this walk.....well don’t you think 2 weeks pure walking is enough.....no, thought not, well I didn’t go and the upshot of not going on this walk was that I managed to knock of at lunch time, purely so that I can start packing some of my stuff up ready for our move on Monday...did I tell you I can’t wait......

Do you realise 6 weeks today I am on leave again.

DAY 268 (Thursday 26 April 2012)

First PT session since I got back but considering all the walking that I have done over the past 2 weeks I didn’t go out on the bike, I just stayed in the gym and it was a perfect opportunity to see if I had actually lost any weight whilst I am been doing all this walking and do you know what.......I did, almost half a stone.

This evening was fun, we had a games night, well I say games, it was one game in particular called CARROM board, (I think I have found my forte), I really enjoyed the game and what’s more it was a game of Officers v SNCOs and we won, yes us SNCOs actually won a game against the Officers, so the Cup is now firmly in our grasp and we will be doing our darnedest to hold on to at the next games night.

DAY 267 (Wednesday 25 April 2012)

Well first day back to work today and to be honest I am pleased that I didn’t have to come back to a load of crap.

DAY 266 (Tuesday 24 April 2012)

Still on leave.

DAY 265 (Monday 23 April 2012)

ST GEORGE’S DAY

I am still on leave today and to be honest there really isn’t much to say except that I have 1 week to push in this flat as we move into a house next Monday and I cannot wait.

DAY 264 (Sunday 22 April 2012)

Day 14 of Everest Trek – LUKLA to KATHMANDU

HAPPY 12^TH ANNIVERSARY TO ME & CHARLIE

Well we were up our usual time for this trip which was just as well as we had to go to the airstrip for 0700 hours to start the procedure of booking in, fortunately Kaji was with us by the time we got to the airport and he helped sort out our boarding pass and getting the hold baggage taken.

We eventually flew out of LUKLA a little late but not too late, however, we didn’t realise that when we got back to KATHMANDU that our Mov Det (movements people) were a little worried as they had kept checking with the Domestic Terminal if we were on a flight as our name didn’t seem to appear on the flight manifest, but never fear, we showed up at their building and they were happy to see us, but not as happy as I was to see them as it meant I was only about ¾ of an hour away from getting home.

We got home to sort ourselves out and get some washing in the machine (the basket was full) before we decided to head out for our lunch, well it is Sunday and more to the point it is our Anniversary, so we treated ourselves to a pizza at ROADHOUSE instead of going to LAZY GRINGO for Mexican fodder.  After we got back it was a case of chilling whilst the washing machine was doing it’s thing.....looks like I shall have a pile of ironing to keep me busy.

DAY 263 (Saturday 21 April 2012)

Day 13 of Everest Trek – Rest Day – LUKLA

After a fairly good night sleep (well I couldn’t get my legs comfortable) OK Charlie said I had no bother getting to sleep with the odd cough (something I picked up in DINGBOCHE thanks to some American) during the night, I was woken up by the helicopter starting its engine at about 0600 hours and not long after the helicopter had taken off the first flight into LUKLA had arrived.

Flights into LUKLA have to start really early due to the clouds as LUKLA is know as one of the most dangerous airports in the world, not because of where the airstrip is, but because of the hills that the plane has to navigate through to get to the airstrip. 

Coming into Lukla

We actually lazed around in our sleeping bags until 0730 hours before getting up for some breakfast (of which I had to give Charlie my sausages because they were hot dogs that had been fried.....yuk).  Once breakfast was done it was time to go for a slow mooch down the one road LUKLA had that lead out with some little shops and a few bars, cafes, restaurants on, would you believe that there is actually a STARBUCKS here in LUKLA!!!!!

We did happen to go into one place that had the most amazing chocolate cake......sorry it had to be done.  By the time that we got to the lodge after buy a few bits and pieces the clouds had come in so all planes had stopped flying into LUKLA (I just hope that we still get our flight on time tomorrow at 0830 hours as I am not sure if the backlog of people that didn’t get to fly today wil take priority or if they have to wait for a space to become available on a flight out.  We’ll just have to wait and see. 

Until then.....NAMASTE.

DAY 262 (Friday 20 April 2012)

Day 12 of Everest Trek – NAMCHE to LUKLA to MUSHI

Today we were up for our normal time as it was going to be a long day today walking as we were headin for MUSHI on the other side of LUKLA.  Most people with common sense would stay at PHAKDING (where we stayed on our way up from LUKLA) but no not us ‘the Browns’ we were going to motor straight on through. 

We left NAMCHE just about 0800 hours and started going down hill, which was good and bad as it played havoc with my knees with the amount of rocks that you had to climb over to get down.  On our way down from NAMCHE we got to our first major hanging bridge and on the other side you could see a man with a bloody long hammer smacking away at some rocks

Kaji had informed us that they were building a second bridge for the trekkers and the one that we were currently using was going to be for the SHOPKAs and YAKs carrying the loads.  Whilst we were there one of the monks appeared at the same site and we think he may have been there to bless the bridge making but we’re not entirely sure

 

On our way towards PHAKDING where we were going to stop for lunch (at the same place we stayed overnight at on our way up) we got caught up with a mule train waiting to cross the bridge that we had just come over but we couldn’t get past until they had started on their way.

Mule Train waiting to cross a bridge

We eventually got to PHAKDING just after 1300 hours (a proper lunch time) and by this time I really wished we were stopping there for the night, but no we still had a good few hours trekking to do to get to MUSHI.

We set off again just around 1400 hours but before we still had at least an our to go to get to LUKLA (by this time it was 1545 hours) we had to ask Kaji to book us into a lodge in LUKLA as we had decided that we would not be able to make it to his home before nightfall as by this time both my knees had swollen and my hips were playing up to compensate how I was walking (Charlie was in the same condition with his hips too, must be that we are getting old).  Kaji (bless his heart) understood and got us booked into PARARDISE Lodge and we finally arrived about 1730 hours, the whole day we had been literally on our feet walking nearly 9½ hours which was even longer than the day we climbed KALAPHATAR and back to LOBOCHE.  I was well and truly ready for some tea and then my bed.

I am grateful to Kaji as he is an understanding person and we said for him to go home and we shall see him on Sunday prior to flying back to KATHMANDU as all we were going to do tomorrow (knees permitting) was have a slow wonder around LUKLA (which incidentally isn’t big) and chill out.

So today was our final trekking day and boy I am glad of it.

DAY 261 (Thursday 19 April 2012)

Day 11 of Everest Trek – Rest Day – NAMCHE

Today was our rest day as we had got to NAMCHE a day early so we decided to have a little lie in prior to getting up for breakfast.

We met Kaji down in the dining room for breakfast and then we went off to the museum as that was also the view point area to see Everest on a clear day, not that it bothered us as we had already been closer than we were here in NAMCHE.  The museum was also quite an interesting place to go and have a look around even if it was situated at the Army Camp.

After we had been to the museum it was time to head down into NAMCHE town itself to have a look around the shops and most importantly not forgetting to go the bakery for a drink and a piece of chocolate cake that we had spotted last time we were in there on our acclimatisation day at the beginning of our trek.  Later it was back up to the lodge for a quiet afternoon (well as quiet as you can get with men chipping away at rocks the old fashion way (hammer and chisel).

Tomorrow we start to head to MUSHI Kaji’s home village which is about an hours walk out of LUKLA on the other side.

DAY 260 (Wednesday 18 April 2012)

Day 10 of Everest Trek – DEBOCHE to NAMCHE

Woohoo we had a lie in today as we were only heading back to NAMCHE for a 2 night stop.  The lodge at DEBOCHE was one of the best ones that we have stayed in and was certainly one of the warmest.  We eventually set off from the Rivendell lodge just around 0800 hours and the first part (as usual) was uphill towards TENGBOCHE, when we go to TENGBOCHE (about half an hour later) we visited the Monastery  and were able to actually go inside but only once you had taken off your shoes.

Entrance to Tengboche Monastery

Inside there were some monks that were praying and we also got to see the head Lama.  After spending about 15 minutes looking around and taking photo’s we started on the trek back to NAMCHE.  I was actually quite impressed as to how quick we were doing our walk as we got to our lunch stop PUNGECHANGA in pretty good time, yes the lunch stop was around 1000 hours but when hasn’t it been!!!!

It was nice to sit down and have a break after coming downhill but in most cases you go down to go back up.  The uphills for me are a killer as in most cases I prefer downhill but even going down was taking it’s toll on my old knees.

Eventually the hills stopped and we were basically back on the level and we knew we were close to NAMCHE, however we stopped for a short break and took in the view to find a woman coming up on to the main track from God only knows where, Charlie and Kaji had a look to see where she had come from but there was no plausible place other than goat tracks, she was on her own carrying one heck of a rucksack, but at least she headed back to NAMCHE.

We finally got to NAMCE just after 1300 hours, another good time; we got booked into our rooms, sorted ourselves out before heading for a nice hot shower and putting some of our clothing in for laundry as they could have walked to the laundry by themselves.

Tomorrow is a rest day for us so it’s a little bit of shopping (for me anyway) and hopefully we shall get to go and see the museum by the Army Camp.  Oh and the most important thing to do tomorrow will be to have chocolate cake at the bakery.

DAY 259 (Tuesday 17 April 2012)

Day 9 of Everest Trek – LOBOCHE to DEBOCHE

Well today was a first, me and Charlie were up before Kaji, I didn’t really have a good night sleep due tothe fact you could still smell the kerosene from the day before that was outside of our room.

Anyway, today we were setting off back down the mountain, we left LOBOCHE around 0640 hours as we were already up and Kaji said that we should get to DEBOCHE for about 1500 hours, as we weren’t having to go to DINGBOCHE we stayed down in the valley and passed through PHERICHE that place that we had done our acclimatisation day a couple of days before; we did however stop for a quick bite to eat and that was only around 0940 hours, too early to eat considering we had only had breakfast around 0600 hours, but there was this massive hill that we had to come down, now consider that when we went up the hill, climbing over the rocks and boulders it was at least an hours climb, well by the time that we left LOBOCHE, descended the hill and had got to PHERICHE it had taken us just over an hour to do so.

We had actually made pretty good timing as I didn’t realise we were that close to DEBOCHE until we could see TENGBOCHE on the hill in the distance, the reason I say this is because TENGBOCHE is the next place after DEBOCHE and DEBOCHE is down in the valley among some trees.  We actually made it to DEBOCHE just after 1300 hours, so Kaji had got his timing wrong or was just a complete beast master, we were also fortunate to get a room as we had arrived a day earlier than planned.

Today was the longest (time wise) that we had trekked but it was most worth it to get away from the cold of the mountains, tomorrow Kaji has said that we should be able to leave later (0900 hours) for NAMCHE as it should take too long to get there considering most of it will be downhill.  I just hope that my knees will hold out as they have been put through their paces today with all the downhill that we have done.

DAY 258 (Monday 16 April 2012)

Day 8 of Everest Trek – LOBOCHE to GOREK SHEP to KALAPHATAR to GOREK SHEP to LOBOCHE

Charlie had set his alarm for 0530 hours at eh direction of Kaji but at 0500 hours we were woken by Kaji knocking on the window saying we may as well get up as everyone else was.

Today we were going to KALAPHATAR and back but we had to go into GOREK SHEP first considering it was at the base of KALAPHATAR

Gorek Shep

After we had our breakfast at LOBOCHE we set off which was about 0600 hours (our normal time for the alarm to go off).  There was a little smattering of snow on the ground but not enough to hamper our trek and it was pretty cold as the sun hadn’t come over the mountains.  The actual trek to GOREK SHEP wasn’t too bad, it was steady going until you got near to GOREK SHEP and then it was like ‘up hill and down dale’ until we arrive around 0800 hour.  We stopped for a quick brew before staring out ascent on KALAPHATAR, that was not steady going, it was quite a steep start then it levelled out for a very short bit before you got into the rocks and boulders that you had to clamber over.  However, when we got to the top the views were amazing and we even got to see EVEREST BASE CAMP

Everest Base Camp from Kalaphatar

Kaji our guide took mine and Charlie’s picture with EVEREST in the background

Everest in the background

The one good thing about climbing KALAPHATAR is tat we were actually higher than EVEREST BASE CAMP and we cam in at about 5530 meters which is just about 3000 meters below EVEREST SUMMIT

Showing our height at Kalaphatar

We didn’t stay at the top too long as the winds had picked up as it was around midday so we started to head back down, which incidentally I preferred as it was quicker than going up and with the help of gravity it was a bonus.

On the way back down there was a bird (Snow Cock) that wasn’t bothered by people (but then most birds here weren’t bothered for you to get close) so I managed to get a good close picture of it

Snow Cock

Once we got back down to GOREK SHEP it was time for a bit of food before heading back to LOBOCHE, but whilst we were at GOREK SHEP we spoke with Kaji and change our itinerary for getting back to LUKLA; we are now leaving LOBOCHE in the morning and heading straight for DEBOCHE completely missing out DINGBOCHE, then we are heading straight for NAMCHE to spend 2 nights there before heading to LUKLA to spend 2 nights there completing missing staying out PHAKDING and so that Kaji can get back to his family a day early.

DAY 257 (Sunday 15 April 2012)

Day 7 of Everest Trek – DINGBOCHE to LOBOCHE

We set of for LOBOCHE just after breakfast but it was actually just after 0730 hours.  We had actually woken up to snow but fortunately it was only a slight smattering of snow, not much to get too worried about.  Our lunch stop was at a place called DHUKPA after which we had at least an hour’s steep climbing which was not fun

Climb from DHUKPA tea house

When we got to the top of the rock climb it was a steady walk, partly downhill into LOBOCHE, when we got to LOBOCHE it had started to snow but fortunately it wasn’t settling but if it does it could hamper our trek to KALAPHATAR tomorrow.

The room that we were given for our stay is actually made out of plywood so you could hear everything; it will no doubt be freezing during the night so I think more layers of clothing will be required to sleep in.

Lodge at Loboche

I hope that the weather doesn’t hamper our attempt to get to KALAPHATAR otherwise we will have to start heading down a day early.

The height that we have achieved today was 4930 meters.

DAY 256 (Saturday 14 April 2012)

DAY 6 of Everest Trek – Acclimatisation Day – DINGBOCHE to PHERICHE to DINGBOCHE

Today was relative a quiet day as it was only an acclimatisation day.  At least with today we didn’t get smothered by cloud and not get to see anything like our last acclimatisation day in NAMCHE.

We headed out for PHERICHE and to get there we had to go up before we went down into the valley.  PHERICHE really isn’t hat big but it is where the mountain rescue hut is and they have a small hospital to treat anyone with altitude related illnesses.

Pheriche

Whilst we were there the mountain rescue helicopter came in and dropped someone off and by the look of them they were suffering badly with altitude sickness.  We didn’t stay long in PHERICHE before we came back to our accommodation in DINGBOCHE where we had something to eat before heading back to bed as there really wasn’t anything to do.

Later Charlie had been speaking to a guide that had come back from EVEREST BASE CAMP with his trekker and it looks like our plans are going to have to change.  We are now going to stop in LOBOCHE for 2 nights and not 1 as we won’t be stopping in GOREK SHEP as there is apparently no room becsue teh weather has been hampering people in doing their next stage of their trek so it’s having a knock on effect.  Also it looks like we won’t do EVEREST BASE CAMP as it’s quite treacherous getting there due to rock slides and avalanches, so instead we will just head for KALAPHATAR where apparently you’ll get spectacular views from and it is also higher in meters than EVEREST BASE CAMP.

DAY 255 (Friday 13 April 2012)

DAY 5 of Everest Trek – Nepali New Year 2069 – DEBOCHE to DINGBOCHE

Today we set off just around 0800 hours for DINGBOCHE and then sun was out.  On our route we saw some runners, now we know that the EVEREST MARATHON was back in December 2011 and is not due to be held again until 2013 so unless these are really slow runners I think they may have had something to do with Nepali New Year.  There really wasn’t that many runners that passed us and there was only one female, well that I saw anyway.

We stopped for a little bit of at (yep you guessed it) 1000 hours, after lunch it was a steady climb to get to DINGBOCHE

Steady climb to Dingboche

We actually made good timing and got to our accommodation just before 1300 hours, we booked in and basically went to bed for a couple of hours as we were both absolutely chin strapped. 

Lodge at Dingboche

We got to about 4340 meters today.

DAY 254 (Thursday 12 April 2012)

Day 4 of Everest Trek – NAMCHE to TENGBOCHE to DEBOCHE

Well it was time to hit the road again (well maybe track), we left NAMCHE just around 0800 hours and Kaji said it would take us about 6 hours to get to our next overnight lodge which was going to be not at TENGBOCHE but another half an hour out of TENGBOCHE on the far side at a place called DEBOCHE.  Well my thinking was if it’s half an hour out of TENGBOCHE on the far side then I am half an hour closer to getting to DINGBOCHE the next day.

The weather today was absolutely amazing, there was hardly a cloud in the sky and what clough there was was soon burnt off by the sun, I even managed to get a picture of the National Bird of Nepal

Himalayan Monal

Kaji said today was going to be a steady climb, I must admit it wasn’t too bad when we first left NAMCHE but after we crossed the bridge after lunch (incidentally lunch always seems to be at 1000 hours) the climb began, however, if you take it slow you still get to where you are going even before nightfall as we actually made it to DEBOCHE just after 1300 hours, I think Kaji was quite amazed at how quick we got to DEBOCHE but no more surprised than me.

Rivendell Lodge at Deboche

Again though we managed to make it before the rains came which with NEPAL it was around 1400 hours, so technically you could set your watch by the rain at the moment.

The height that we got to today was around 3700 meters which is about 100 meters lower than yesterday, but if we had stayed in TENGBOCHE then we would have been about the same height as our acclimatisation day.

Well tomorrow we are going to head for DINGBOCHE where we will stay for 2 nights due to another bout of acclimatising.

DAY 253 (Wednesday 11 April 2012)

Day 3 of Everest Trek – Acclimatisation Day – NAMCHE to KHUMJUNG to KHUNDE to NAMCHE

Today we didn’t leave for our acclimatisation trek until after 0800 hours, we were headed to KHUMJUNG first but not before we had to climb up a goat track from hell to get to the top of the hill that we needed to get too.

Track climbed towards Khumjung

Khumjung

Whilst we were in KHUMJUNG we went to the Monastery there where they allegedly had a Yeti skull, however as it’s not been authenticated you can only believe it is.

Yeti Skull

After we left the Monastery we headed for KHUNDE which wasn’t that far from KHUMJUNG (but it felt like it after we had climbed a good few meters, we even passed on the way up towards KHUMJUNG what we believe to be the worlds highest airstrip, SYANGBUCHE airfield, we even got to see an aeroplane from TARA AIR take off after it bounced it’s way along the runway.

Khunde

On our way back into NAMCHE we took the same route down as we did going up but I managed to get a shot of NAMCHE prior to the clouds coming in.

Namche

By the time we got back to the lodge it was about 1400 hours and what’s more it had started raining, again, however, it didn’t stop us from going down into NAMCHE to have a look around with Kaji in tow.  Whilst we were there we stopped at a bakery for a bite to eat as our evening meal wasn’t due until around 1830 hours.

View from the Bakery in Namche

We got back to the lodge again just after 1630 hours and managed to get a lovely hot shower which I didn’t want to get out off, then it was downstairs to play chess where as usual Charlie checked mated me, but on one of the games I actually managed to give him a run for his money (but he still beat me).

Tomorrow we are due to head to TENGBOCHE but we won’t leave until 0800 hours as breakfast isn’t until 0700 hours and I want my porridge before I go anywhere.

DAY 252 (Tuesday 10 April 2012)

Day 2 of Everest Trek – PHAKDING to NAMCHE

Well we woke up to rain today, not overally happy that I’d have to trek in the rain but hey that is part and parcel of this place.  Anyhow, we got up at 0600 hours so that we could get our breakfast sorted before Kaji came to collect us for our trek today, he told us the night before that the trek would take us a good 7 hours even though we had only 700 meters to go to for our next location, it was basically up hill all the way, and boy he wasn’t wrong, but how can you complain when the scenery is amazing.

We did stop for lunch even though it was at 1000 hours because there was no other place to get any food until you reached NAMCHE.

We finally got to NAMCHE at around 1400 hours , as we got closer to our lodge that we were going to stay in for the next 2 nights the weather really came in but we made it before we got wet, however, no sooner had the rain came it went again.

Later after a few hours and before it got dark, Charlie popped outside and came back in quickly to tell me that something had appeared, I went out and there were 2 mountains that had appeared out of nowhere, well not exactly nowhere they had been there all along just hidden by the low lying clouds.

View of Tamserku behind the lodge

View of Kongde in front of the lodge

DAY 251 (Monday 09 April 2012)

Day 1 of Everest Trek – KATHMANDU to LUKLA to PHAKDING

We left camp at 0800 hours and when we got to the domestic terminal at Kathmandu Airport we didn’t have long to wait for our flight that for once actually left on time.

We got into LUKLA at around 1015 hours and met up with our trek guide ‘KAJI’, however, before we set off on our trek to PHAKDING we stopped in LUKLA to have a brew and sort out are flight tickets for our return journey and also for KAJI to pop home and get his bag for the next 13 days.

Kaji (our trek guide)

Finally we got underway about 1120 hours and with a stop about an hour out of PHAKDING for a few potato and cheese momos Kaji was up and off to get the to the lodge that we were staying at for the night.

Kalaphatar Lodge & Restaurant

After we booked in Charlie and I went for a little wander around then headed back to the lodge for a game of chess/ludo as we brought along our little travel board game to while away the evenings.

Kaji went and said he would be back around 1800/1900 hours and when he showed up at about 1830 hours it turned out that he had that he had gone all the way back home (an hour the other side of LUKLA) to change from his walking boots to his trainers.

We turned in pretty early, well early for us as we had to be up and off for about 0730 hours for our longish trek to NAMCHE.

DAY 250 (Sunday 08 April 2012)

No news to report.

DAY 249 (Saturday 07 April 2012)

Just sorted our kit out ready for our trek next week and got it all packed, so tomorrow there isn’t really any need for last minute panic packing.

DAY 248 (Friday 06 April 2012)

GOOD FRIDAY

Field Marshal Sir John Chapple came for a visit today, that was really exciting...ok maybe not but I thought if I said it it would feel like it was....besides, I can’t believe he had to visit us on Good Friday of all days, especially when we would have been off work and I could have started my leave a day early...damn these visitors.

DAY 247 (Thursday 05 April 2012)

No news to report.

DAY 246 (Wednesday 04 April 2012)

No news to report.

DAY 245 (Tuesday 03 April 2012)

No news to report.

DAY 244 (Monday 02 April 2012)

No news to report.

DAY 243 (Sunday 01 April 2012)

No news to report.

DAY 242 (Saturday 31 March 2012)

No news to report.

DAY 241 (Friday 30 March 2012)

Only one week left to push and then I shall be on leave for a couple of weeks and I really can’t wait, I am going trekking to EVEREST BASE CAMP and KALAPATAR with my hubby, it will be so good to get away from the hustle and bustle of this place and have some chilling out time just walking.

DAY 240 (Thursday 29 March 2012)

Today the mess and a small farewell for Karnasher Tamang who has been our Civilian Liaison Officer (CLO) for the past 13 years.  Tomorrow the Locally Employed Civilians (LECs) are having a big bash for him, but alas I shall not be attending, due to a couple of reasons for which I can tell you but I am not going to.

DAY 239 (Wednesday 28 March 2012)

No news to report.

DAY 238 (Tuesday 27 March 2012)

No news to report.

DAY 237 (Monday 26 March 2012)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my mom.  That is all I have to say about today.

DAY 236 (Sunday 25 March 2012)

OMG, I managed to get around the route I did with Charlie unscathed, but coming back in through the traffic this one idiot on a motorbike almost took me out with his back wheel, well there were some choice words from me, not that he could hear because he had a helmet on, but the pillion (incidentally they don’t wear helmets), by the way she was looking at me certainly go the gist of what I was saying.

DAY 235 (Saturday 24 March 2012)

Today was a lazy day for me, no hangover, but then I only had a couple of drinks, considering it was a free bar too I thought I did well.

Tomorrow is bike ride day, it’s only going to be a short one for me as I need to get back into the swing of things and the one thing I don’t relish is having to battle against the nutters who think they can drive, as far as the locals are concerned, it doesn’t really matter what side of the road they are supposed to be on, if there is an ounce of tarmac (if you are lucky) available they think it is their god given right to use it.

DAY 234 (Friday 23 March 2012)

Today was a good day for me as I actually had a day off which was ideal as it gave me chance to sort out any last minute ironing that I had to do for my Summer Mess dress that I was having to wear to the BGN Ball which was held tonight.

The Ball itself was actually alright, it was held at the Soaltee Crown Plaza HOTEL here in Kathmandu.  The food was really good, especially the desert station that had a Chocolate Fountain

There were 15 prizes for the raffle and the top prize was a free flight back to the UK from Ethiad Airlines (and their flights aren’t cheap), unfortunately I didn’t win any prizes but the top prize was won by the COS wife Sue (fix springs to mind).

Anyway a good night was had by all and the drinking ……….as far as I know carried on to the wee small hours of Saturday as it was Midnight when I left on the first transport (no I managed not to turn into a pumpkin).

DAY 233 (Thursday 22 March 2012)

No news to report.

DAY 232 (Wednesday 21 March 2012)

No news to report.

DAY 231 (Tuesday 20 March 2012)

The most exciting thing that I did today was to book my flights home to the UK for some leave during June and what is more I will be able to go and see the MOTO GP at Silverstone whilst I am home, good timing or what.

Charlie and me are dog sitting for my RAO (Maj Les McCulloch) whilst he and his wife go to Calcutta for a couple of days, he is working but Jackie has gone for a swan (shopping).  Bridie is a lovely little spaniel and all she wants is attention and to play ball.

Bridie

DAY 230 (Monday 19 March 2012)

No news to report.

DAY 229 (Sunday 18 March 2012)

MOTHER’S DAY

Nothing much happened today, we were supposed to be getting up and going for a bike ride but it never happened as I was still aching from the sports that I did on Thursday, so I just curled up back under the duvet for another hour or so.  I did however; get all my ironing done and a couple of letters written.

DAY 228 (Saturday 17 March 2012)

HAPPY ST PADDY’S DAY. 

Today the only thing that I did really was go into THAMEL with Charlie to go and get a rucksack for me ready for when we do our trek to EVEREST BASE CAMP in April.  The weather is getting hotter, on the way to THAMEL the temperature outside of the bank said 16^oC and on the way back it had got to 23^oC and we had only been gone just over an hour or so.

As tomorrow is Mother’s Day I asked my sister to give my mum a hug from me as I wouldn’t be there to do it myself this year.

DAY 227 (Friday 16 March 2012)

Well today was a normal working day, so I really don’t have much to say, just so glad that it is the weekend.

DAY 226 (Thursday 15 March 2012)

Today was the Commander’s Cup Competition; there were 2 main teams that were made up of all the personnel who came over from POKHARA, DHARAN and us from here in Kathmandu.  The events that were to make up the Commander’s Cup were Badminton (mens, ladies & mixed doubles), Basketball, Volleyball (mens & ladies, I played in this one and scored the winning point (yay me)) and finally the swimming (another event that I competed in), this was quite fun actually as there were 3 events to the swimming and it consisted of 3 relays races, the first one being swimming with a hard hat on (which was not allowed to be tied on), you also had to keep your had above water, so no back stroke swimming was allowed, which was a pity as backstroke is my strongest stroke, however, I did beat my opponent doing the front crawl, the second one was swimming with military boots on, that was such a hoot to watch, especially when the swimmer got back to the start to hand over as they literally got dragged out of the water (as per the picture below), the final event was swimming for as long as you can under water, although my team of swimmers (not me this time), did well, it wasn’t well enough as the other team pipped us on the distance, saying that though they did have Capt Guy Norton swimming for them and he is over 6 feet, so he had height / length on his side and the pool isn’t the biggest of pools.

Changing over of the boots

After all the events for the day, the final event was in the evening to see who the winning team would be and the event was entertainment, there were 3 judges, the Comd (Colonel Andrew Mills), COS (Lt Col Elton Davis) and the GM (Maj Hitman Gurung), each team had to provide at least 4 bits of entertainment, these mainly consisted of the girls doing a dance, and the blokes singing.  I am pleased to say that we think it was because of Capt Frances Fox that we won (for a number of reasons), and overall our team one the Commander’s Cup.

Frances (Capt Fox)

Overall the whole day was a lot of fun and it was good to get out of the office for some fun and relaxation after the rest of the week that we had. 

Roll on to the next Commander’s Cup next year.

I was also given this morning my passes and permits that are required for when we get to LUKLA to start our EVEREST Trek and I have paid for my flights too.  So it’s official, I am going to EVEREST BASE CAMP trekking with my hubby.

DAY 225 (Wednesday 14 March 2012)

Well I made it back into the Families Reception Centre for 0545hrs, which was to be the start of a long morning as we were not due to finish the exercise until 1330hrs.  After a few more scenarios, which my section weren’t really involved in ENDEX was finally called at 0900hrs, this made quite a few people happy, we all had to close down our various sections then it was back to work for us for the rest of the day, but as it was a Wednesday (sports afternoon day), most people sacked it for the afternoon come lunch time.  Unfortunately not for this call sign as I had a few emails come in that needed to be actioned.

DAY 224 (Tuesday 13 March 2012)

Well today was certainly interesting, we had briefings all morning before the main Exercise started after lunch, it is supposed to be a 24 hour exercise but we were told that we would get stood down at midnight for 6 hours to get some rest.

The briefings consisted having a medical briefing in what to do to help the injured in the event of an quake taking place, briefing from NST (Nepal Signal Troop) on what our communications will be and a briefing from BK (Maj Kelsall) in what to do and how we should be prepared if a big quake should hit, that last briefing actually brought it home to some people to the intensity of what could happen and where the safest places were to be when a quake hits. 

After lunch some of us heard the tannoy system calling the start of the exercise, we had to meet up by the CHAUTARA to be briefed as to what the situation is and who was going to be running with what cell and who were going to be casualties.  There was me, the GM, Mandy Childs, Prakash and Uttam working within the Families Reception Centre, here we were to process any family within the Brigade of Gurkhas that were working here in Nepal and account for them, some of the families were taking part in the exercise but not all of them, which I thought was a bit nuts, but hey that was their choice, anyway, poor Jackie McCulloch had scenario where her house had cracks in the walls, the gas and water couldn’t be shut off (to avoid any further damage if an explosion occurred), she left her dog behind (which she really didn’t want to do), she was fine in herself as she had no injuries.  As she was one of the first to reach the Families Reception Centre and was processed, we actually were able to put her to work by helping us with any of the other families that came in.

 

Throughout the day things happened as a result of the earthquake but later on there was an aftershock and in the event of the aftershock Jackie’s dog had been killed (she is well and fine really, it’s all play acting so don’t panic).  Another wife also died in the incident.  It does bring it home to you as to what can happen during these events.

Anyway, the civilians were stood down at around 2000hrs and the rest of us military people had to battle it through until much later, but we were eventually stood down for the night at around 2330hrs, we were all supposed to stay on camp in the transit accommodation as we were allowed to leave camp, however, as my house is actually on camp I snuck back to my own bed but I have to make sure that I am back before 0600hrs.

DAY 223 (Monday 12 March 2012)

Well this week is the start of Exercise BHUKAMAP AYO, which basically means Earthquake.  After the earthquake that we had last September the top knobs had decided it would be best if we did a mini exercise to see how we would actually cope in the event of a bigger quake.  The main part of the exercise will start tomorrow as we had to wait for the personnel to arrive from DHARAN and POKHARA.

Other than that it was mainly a normal working day for most of us.

DAY 222 (Sunday 11 March 2012)

All today consisted on was getting the washing done from our holiday clothes and chilling out.  Poor washing machine didn’t know what had hit it as it normally has Sundays off.

DAY 221 (Saturday 10 March 2012)

Today was our last morning as we head back to camp after breakfast; we didn’t have anything down on the itinerary for the morning so we had a bit of lie in, I still got up early though so that I could go to the watering hole to see if there was anything there.  I was stood there for a short while when I took a photo of what I thought was the Jackal heading back out for the day but when I looked at the picture that I had taken it was actually a Jungle Cat that I saw the other day but didn’t stick around long enough for me to get a picture, but this time I had been able to without realising it.

Jungle Cat

After breakfast it was time to pack up and head back to KATHMANDU, it took just about 6 hours with a stop for lunch at RIVERSIDE to get back and this time going back didn’t feel like I was on a theme park ride that I wanted to get off because as the roads had been laid with tarmac making the journey a little bit more pleasant.

DAY 220 (Friday 09 March 2012)

The morning was really misty, but I got up and after our drink of coffee and tea, we headed out for a nature walk, but first I went to the watering hole to see if there was anything there and this is what I saw.

Our guide took both me and Charlie all around the jungle, but we didn’t get to see much other than the spotted deer, monkey’s and the ever present peacock.

Spotted Deer

After we got back it was time for breakfast then, later that morning it was out again to do a bit of bird watching, unfortunately as it was late morning it was quite hot so other than the smaller birds there weren’t that many to see, however I did get to take a picture of a BLACK DONGLE that stayed sat in a tree long enough.

Black Dongle

We did get to see a couple of different varieties of Woodpecker, Peacocks and the oh so brightly coloured Kingfisher.  Not only did I see a Jackal heading out in the morning I actually saw it coming back in from its day out as it crossed over the bridge by the watering hole.

Jackal

As the program at MACHAN is rotated every 2 days our evening consisted of the Local Farmers Dance followed by a BBQ again consisting of pork and chicken.