Articles from this Category
4 April 2023
Background on Maldives tourism A bit of background is useful in order to understand tourism in Maldives and why it used to be so expensive (and still is for some people). It is a very low-lying conservative Islamic country consisting of 1190 small coral islands in 27 atolls. Its highest point is only 2.4 metres […]
4 April 2023
First things first With a 3h time difference, I woke early and was out by 0700 for a walk. My intention was to secure my ticket to Gulhi or work out options if there was no 1500 departure as per the schedule. I confirmed that there was a 1500 departure from the Hulhulmale Ferry Terminal, […]
3 April 2023
Above: My ride from the airport to Male on the dhoni. Travel begins in earnest It was a very quick 5 night but 4 full days in Kuching. The time was spent sorting some land title issues, seeing family and going to the gym everyday! Today my travel begins in earnest, flying from Kuching to […]
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 […]