End of the Road

Well, time's up. Three months has, as expected, gone very quickly and tomorrow I'll board the plane home. Not really sure how I feel about that; pleased obviously to be catching up with friends and family again, but sad to be leaving the guys here who have been such a bunch of heroes. It is also strange to be coming back to the UK without a ticket out again already booked, I realised today that hasn't happened since some time in 2007!

I'll do a final post on my feelings about my time here when I'm back home, for now I guess I should update you on my final few days here.

Pokhara was hot as hell and particularly cloudy, honest to God I was afraid to go outside from about 7:30am for the next 12 hours so severe was it. I did of course, and got sunburnt repeatedly as well as running through a lot of t-shirts. I went up to a place called Sarangkot for a night which despite the clouds was very much worthwhile. This is one of the places that offers cracking views of the mountains, especially at sunrise and sunset, and thankfully I did catch a glimpse just as I was walking out the following morning at about 10:30, which made my early start of 5am seem really rather unnecessary.

The bus journey home was going along rather smoothly until a particularly unwise overtaking move led to a truck hitting us. Thankfully it was nothing more than a glancing blow and as we skidded off to the side of the road in the pouring rain I was thankful that I had moved seats about ten minutes earlier as the impact was exactly where I had been sat. We were travelling pretty slowly and the damage was minimal and nobody was hurt but I think I've had enough of Nepali bus journeys and the heart palpitations they generally cause, I'll take a plane next time!

Last night Dan and I went out on the smash in Tom & Jerrys before the traditional rickshaw race through town and stealing of hats from official looking people. Kathmandu is pretty empty right now though, so it really did feel like we were the only people around.
Tonight is a quiet affair, I had lunch with Aamir earlier and he once again tried to persuade me to come back in the future - we shall see about that! I've got to head home shortly and do one of my least favourite things in the world - pack. I hate packing, I really do. I also have a considerable amount of crap, so think Nir will be benefitting from a few donations.

Anyway, it'll be a busy few days with the family when I get back but I'll be going to Glen and Chloes engagement drinks on Saturday at the Avalon in Balham should anyone be around. Look forward to catching up with you all before too long.

Cheers.