Awesome Views, Amazing Forests And Aching Legs - Oct 15, 2009

Namaste everyone,

We have just returned from trekking, what a wonderful experience... it was really hard; steep climbs and even more difficult and scary coming down. It rained for the first three days, really heavy rain, we could have been at home, not cold, but we were soaked to the skin every day and ended up on the fourth day with no dry clothes, soaking wet,and smelly socks and boots. Picking leeches off our bodies was the worst part, but it was amazing how blasé we got about that. We wouldn’t have missed it for all the tea in china. The mountains, when we eventually saw them were indescribably beautiful and walking through the forests, seeing monkeys, hearing crickets and the birds was fabulous. I also met some wonderful people from Australia, France, Germany, Russia, U.K, China and New Zealand, not forgetting of course all those really special Nepalese mountain people who treated us like long lost family and made us so welcome.

One of my favourite moments was when I woke up about two in the morning and looked out the window.... pitch black sky, big creamola custard moon, bright stars and a panorama of snow covered mountains, one of those times when you feel a lump in your throat and your heart seems to stop beating... truly awesome.

We came back a few days earlier than intended due to the weather conditions, and lack of clean, dry clothes. I arrived in Pokhara smelling like a hog. Nothing a hot shower wouldn't fix, but I had such great feeling of achievement and inner peace and contentment. Would I do it again? I need to think about that!!

Now for the good news, I have mentioned all the wonderful people we met while trekking and thanks to some of them we have now purchased the lighting system…

We ordered and the man was there fitting it in twenty minutes, everyone was so happy as you can see from the huge smile on Krishna’s face.

The system arrived on the back of a motorcycle, a huge battery and all the other equipment needed for installation... and of course the driver and a passenger… amazing.

There a few people I need to thank, without their contribution it would have been impossible to achieve this much needed system.

My thanks to:

Colleen and friends from Australia, Christoph from Germany

Dorothy and Pierre from France, Karl from Lebanon,

my dear friend Mags and the remaining money from the children’s account which you all so generously donated.

My grateful thanks to one and all.

System installed, but would you believe it for the first time in weeks there was no power cut that night. There we were waiting with bated breath to ensure that all was well and …sod’s law.

I would also like to thank Eric for his advice and making sure we got the correct system.