South Asia

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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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Long squashy ride

Getting the ticket (or not) Today I travel by bus from Kohima to Imphal.  This had been a concern because there was rumour of road blocks by insurgents. With the bus departing at 0730, I had been told to get the tickets around 0600 to 0630.  It seemed like an overkill to be there 1h30 […]

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Hornbill Festival again

Mr Gugu was the bearer of bad news this morning.  He had been to the bus station to enquire about bus tickets to Imphal.  There he got wind of a 48h road blockage by Manipuri insurgents.  That would be a real problem for me as I had a hotel booked in Imphal and also my […]

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Hornbill Festival

I woke around 0430 and lay in bed till 0630.  Perils of going to bed too early.  I had thought of getting going early but Mr Gugu said the programme at the Hornbill Festival today starts at 1000. Since the Israelis had been yesterday, I tagged along with them and walked downhill at 0830 and […]

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To my Naga homestay

I was booked on the 1000 sumo (jeep) from Mokokchung to Kohima which required a report at 0930.  With a 15 minute walk downhill to the departure point, breakfast, check-out etc, I had to wake at 0700. The sumo takes ten passengers plus the driver.  That’s two pax by the driver, and four pax for […]

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