Author archive
19 November 2022
Above: Inking is a relatively recent measure to minimise allegations of individuals voting more than once. Having lived outside of Malaysia since attaining adulthood, I’ve never voted here. Today, I exercise my constitutional rights by voting for the very first time in the Malaysian General Elections. My brother and I arrived at the nearby polling […]
15 November 2022
I spent about 1h30 in the Kathmandu airport lounge but ate little since we had eaten just before. As our flight had a 40 min delay, I headed to the gate around midnight and cleared security to enter the departure hall. We boarded the Malaysia Airlines B737-800 to Kuala Lumpur and pushed back around 0050. […]
14 November 2022
Killing the day in Kathmandu Without an alarm, we woke after 0700 but slowly readied ourselves for breakfast at 0845 at a nearby café. Straight after breakfast, the shops were open for us to get our last-minute shopping items. We both managed to find everything that we wanted at satisfactory prices. Santosh, the manager of […]
13 November 2022
Ride to Kathmandu We woke at 0530 for breakfast at 0630. Harry had ordered us a taxi for 0700 to take us to Pokhara’s bus station for our 0730 bus back to Kathmandu. At the station, our bus was nowhere to be seen. Locals are helpful and when they see the colour of our bus […]
12 November 2022
Sarangkot Viewpoint Today is our day of rest after the Mardi Himal hike. We slept in without an alarm and took a late breakfast. My calves were sorer than yesterday. [Edit: They remained discernibly sore until 17 November, ie. a week after the hike!] Harry suggested that we take a trip to the Sarangkot Viewpoint […]
11 November 2022
Ride to Pokhara We woke around 0630 after 8h sleep. I had a little soreness from the long downhill hike in my calf muscles. Today, we have no more hikes but only a ride to Pokhara, because of the long slog that we did yesterday all the way to Sidhing. After breakfast we set off […]
10 November 2022
High Camp to Viewpoint We woke at 0330 to prepare for our hike to Mardi Himal Viewpoint, departing at 0400. Unfortunately, Suzan was running late and we didn’t start our hike till 0420. During the wait outside our accommodation, we were treated to a view of the Annapurna range and Machhapuchre in the clear dark […]
9 November 2022
Low Camp to High Camp Today we reap the benefits of our extended hike yesterday by having a shortened hike at higher altitude from Low Camp (2970m) to High Camp (3540m). We commenced at 0820 and walked through forested areas of Rhododendron. I understand this area is gorgeous when in bloom in spring. But we […]
8 November 2022
Pitam Deurali to Forest Camp We took a look at the mountain behind our accommodation block around 0630. It was partly obscured by the clouds but we were assured that better views are yet to come. The breakfast at 0700 didn’t turn up till later due to the large number of guests and guide. We […]
7 November 2022
Above: In my sleeping gear of thermal polypropylene top, longjohns and socks, plus a pair of shorts for dinner. Setting off for our hike Our breakfast of banana pancake and banana and coffee came to USD2 per person, according to the menu. But it was included in the room price of USD8 which meant that […]