The end of trekking

Hey kids,

Hope everyone's well. Back in Kathmandu now (well, have been for a couple of days but been mainly eating and sleeping). Ended up doing a second trek after the one week one (this one ended much nearer Kathmandu so we didn't need to take the world's scariest bus again), so it was nearly three weeks again...

Had a great time again but I was well trekked out by the end. Firstly because the monsoon had a much bigger effect in the area we've just been to - meaning it rained most days and we were constantly just walking through impenmetrable clouds. Every couple of days the cloud would clear for an hour or so (e.g. at 6am) and we'd look around and go, 'wow, this must be stunning any other time of year...'

Secondly because this meant it was frequently very cold (at least above 2,500m, which we were for most of the time). Not just cold, but damp and clammy, so you can't even seem to get warm, no matter how many extra blankets you get. And it looks like there's fog in your room. In fact there IS fog in your room. Also, most 'beds' are like a simple trestle table with a one inch thick 'mattress' on top. And none too clean into the bargain.

Thirdly, because the food is terrible. We thought it was pretty limited in Annapurna, but that was a gastronomic cavalcade compared to Langtang and Gosainkunda. The only vegetable available is 'greens' (which would appear to be random leaves picked as needed). This is accompanied by under-cooked potato and rice. I really hate undercooked potato. Basically it's the same rubbish Dal Bhat every night and it doesn't even taste of anything. At least in India they would vary the veg and put some spices in it.

We got to one place and ordered veg noodle soup for lunch (greens and packet noodle makes a nice change at lunchtime from the greens and rice at night) and were amazed that it came with BITS OF TOMATO IN IT!!! I was in rhapsodies. We hadn't had any veg but greens in over a week. I insisted we stay at this place for the night and carefully explained to the man that I must have tomatoes for tea!

By the end we'd be walking along endlessly discussing what wonderful food we would eat if we could. Like food porn.

Fourthly, because you just get a bit bored of walking every day when you've been doing it for six weeks.

Fifthly, especially when you get ill. We both got colds doing Langtang - what with the constant cold - which was OK, but annoying, but I think my body was just going on strike by this point. A couple of days later I woke up feeling a bit dodgy and had a bit of a runny toilet visit. I was starting to feel a bit rubbish, but we were at 3,500m, in a miserable, cold and dirty lodge with maliciously uninspiring food, a weird lodge-owner, his shouting angry wife and their gaggle of crying, snotty children. Only 3 hours downhill to lovely, warmer bigger, nicer place. I can do that.

After half an hour I felt dreadful and was playing games with myself about how frequently I could look at my watch. How can it only be 5 minutes since I last looked! At 1.5hrs we came to our first tea shop of the day - which should have been an hour's walk. And also reminded me of the sort of house that has 5 burnt out cars in the garden. Scared children, a defeated looking woman and wall-to-wall squalour. 'You want room?' said the woman. I would happily sleep in the middle of the motorway rather than walk another step. But I'm not stopping here even if you paid me. Even though while checking the book Chris mentioned that the next place was actually 3 hrs from where we were now, 'I must have misread it earlier!' You should have seen my face. Chris had never seen my serious face before and was somewhat chastened by the experience.

We carried on while I pondered JUST how dreadful it's possible to feel from a simple (and let's face it, non-serious) ailment. You know when you're thinking to yourself, 'It's only in my head, there's nothing wrong with my legs, I can lift them up' but it's actually a monumental effort to remain upright. It didn't help that the trail was a steeply eroded river gulley composed of large rocks and slippery clay, so we were constantly clambering, jumping, balancing and falling. I just got worse and worse, by the end I was vomitting by the side of the trail.

Happily the lovely place we got to was lovely and clean and nice and had comfy beds AND an indoor toilet. Which was handy. For me.

But anyway, this whole episode served to make me feel I'd probably had my fussy out of trekking. So now we're in a 'treat' nice hotel room in KTM, eating fresh fruit, chocolate and steak and lying around reading books. KTM is still too hot and busy. I now really do need to settle down to do some work. And apparently the article I wrote for Diva has already been published, which is exciting.

Hope you're all well. Personally I'm very pleased to have opted out of civilization for almost the entire World Cup AND Wimbledon. Vomitting on hillsides has been worth it after all!

Love you all lots, send me your news!