Robin is trying to dry out at a place called Lhuntsi near the border with China - they got soaked yesterday, and had thunderstorms all night, so stopped at about 11 this morning when they found a lovely dry grassy place by the monastery, and spread everything out to dry. Robin assures me that Pasang the cook is excellent, unlike the 2 horse boys who cannot tie a load to save themselves and have held them up rather badly. So it looks like some new horse boys will be recruited.
Unfortunately the sat phone is still a useless lump of plastic, and I am getting increasingly frustrated trying to explain to people in various countries what is and isn't happening as they keep asking me things like - does he know how to use it? If it doesn't work properly soon - and we are sure it is a problem their end not ours - it will be saved till the end of the trip and stuck where the sun don't shine!
Another quiet night in last night - especially as the cricket was rained out, then off to the pool this morning. Chatted with some friends in Nepal - I'm in no rush to go back there with all the Maoist protest hoo haa going on at the moment - why on earth would I go from Delhi, the shoppers paradise - to Kathmandu, shops open 2 hours a day and there probably isn't anything decent in there anyway. And there's not much electricity. Too boring. But the funniest thing about the Maoists luring people to Kathmandu to protest and gherao (blockade) the capital, is that many of them are getting the $hits from bad food and water - and frankly everyone is getting the $hits with them... karma.
This afternoon I whizzed off to Lajpath nagar in an attempt to locate a particular tablecloth I had my eye on, but when we arrived there were about 60 cops and a whole bunch of bomb squad around. I suggested to the driver that we should just 'go to home' and he, bless him, said 'but madam, SHOPPING!!'. I said it was OK, we would go 'today next' (tomorrow). He said that was a good idea as 'bomb make big problem for market. BOOM!'
Tonight I am going to paint the town beige (or puce) as I make a triumphant return to possibly not sing at karaoke. Depends what sort of mood I'm in.
And more signings for the Great Himalaya Trail trip next year - Julie @ World Expeditions tells me that Carlos Buhler has confirmed he'll guide for the Tilman Pass section - so anyone looking for a wild and exciting trek with one of the great mountaineers of modern time would do well to consider it.
to get you in the mood for trekking!
but some days it's all too much to bear!
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