South Asia

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Day 5 of Mardi Himal Hike

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 […]

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Day 4 of Mardi Himal Hike

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 […]

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Day 3 of Mardi Himal Hike

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 […]

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Day 2 of Mardi Himal Hike

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 […]

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Day 1 of Mardi Himal Hike

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 […]

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Bus to Pokhara

Bus to Pokhara We woke at 0500 and lazed a bit, had a cup of coffee in our room before heading to the bus “station”.  We could have walked there but with our luggage, we took up an offer by a taxi driver. There wasn’t a station per se for the tourist buses to Pokhara.  […]

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Patan (Lalitpur) & Kathmandu

Going to Patan (Lalitpur) We woke around 0400 and dozed till a more reasonable time before going out for breakfast around 0700.  We chatted to some guides at breakfast and they said that our upcoming Mardi Himal hike was a good choice as it is more scenic than the Annapurna Base Camp hike with closer […]

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Flying to Kathmandu

Flying to Kathmandu I hadn’t slept well through the night knowing that we had to wake at 0630, despite the superbly comfortable bed at the Sama-Sama KLIA Hotel.  We walked to the airport and into the airside area, having been given our boarding passes yesterday and had our bags checked all the way through to […]

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Leaving India

With a 1520 flight from Imphal to Kolkata and then onward to Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne, the 1200 check-out was near perfect.  I delayed breakfast till around 0900; the hefty buffet at the hotel would mean that I can skip lunch. I lazed till checkout and killed 30 minutes in the lobby before taking a […]

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Sightseeing partial fail

I woke around 0300, which was a couple of hours earlier than I would have expected. Fortunately, after a snack, I managed to sleep again till around 0730.  Maintaining that first wake-up time would have been good adjustment for Melbourne coming up, but not very good for my night flight departing Kolkata at 0105 on […]

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