Category Archives: Nepal

I always feel like I’m finally getting into the rhythm of a walk when it is about to finish! I suspect that this is an illusion, as it doesn’t matter if the walk takes four hours or four days. It was the final leg of an “easy” four-day trek around the Eastern Rim of the […]

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The dramatic landscapes of Nepal are stunning. Even so, it is the people that make Nepalese trekking such a joy! Everywhere I have been in the country, people have have been friendly and welcoming, and most amenable to having their pictures taken. A friend and I were hiking around the Eastern Rim of the Kathmandu […]

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They say every journey begins with a single step. Even so, when I heard that the penultimate leg of our walk for the day was the ominously named “1000 steps”, I worried. In Nepal, “steps” always means up, not just forward! I can outstrip a lot of people on the flat, but present me the slightest […]

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Prayers and dal bhat for breakfast. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. An overnight stay at the guesthouse at the Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery, some 40 kilometres from Kathmandu, Nepal, is like stepping into another world: a timeless space where the drone of Tibetan Buddhist chanting – punctuated by gongs and cymbals – resonates through the crisp, crystal […]

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The smiles from the windows and doorways along the trekking trail between Panauti and Namo Buddha in Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley, are as warm as the bright sun overhead. I was walking with a friend and local guide Angfula Sherpa (our porter had long since left us behind!) towards the sacred pilgrimage site of Namo Buddha, where […]

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