... arrived at 12:30 at Kathmandu international airport, which is little more than a field and experienced that fastest customs check so far. We were expecting a barrage of taxi drivers offering lifts to there friends hotels. We were far from disappointed!!! Instantly we had around 20 taxi drivers swarming around us and pulling us in several directions. We dived back into the airport, so I could change some money, and had a word with the security guard about the best way to get a taxi to Thamel (the backpackers district of Kathmandu). 'No Problem I will get my friend' he said and led us out of the terminal beating all the taxi drivers with a stick to a waiting car (not sure if it was a taxi) which we pilled into and set off to Thamel. The drivers friend insisted that we stay at the Hotel Crown. I don't think we had much choice because they weren't going to drive us anywhere else. But we agreed to have a look. The hotel was great, very friendly, clean and cheap. We booked a room after Sarena negotiated an even cheaper rate and where offered Nepali tea (sweet and milky - just how I like it) given lots of advice on what to do in Kathmandu, Invited to the roof garden to consume loads of free Whisky and popamdoms and watch the many eagles circling the valley. We were given a great insight into the current (corrupt) politics of Nepal and and an emotional account of the recent tragedy within the Royal Family. We were told that a four day festival will start next week in Nepal and the Hotel Manager, 'Ram', Invited us to his home for one of the days.

I think I'm going to like Nepal!

We decided that we should be in Kathmandu for the Diwali festival so I immediately booked us on a 3 day white water rafting and camping trip that took us to Chitwan National Park in the jungles of southern Nepal for two nights camping with the wildlife. Sarena has always stated that she doesn't like camping, but seemed very happy about this trip. We spent the rest of the day walking the lively streets of Kathmandu, filled with colour, incense and con artists. Our first stop was Durbur Square which is the original place of the royal palace and is still full of religious buildings. Then we hiked to Swayambuthunath Stupa (Monkey Temple) and saw lots of monkeys and temples!

The guy who had sold us our trip offered to take us to a traditional Nepali restaurant that evening. The food was very good, a lot like Indian food although I think with less meat. We had to leave for our trip at 6:30 so went back to our hotel after our meal.

We left at 6:30 and stored most of our baggage at the hotel. I jumped on the back of a motorbike and Sarena had a rickshaw and we where taken to a waiting coach (via the jogging route of the Ghurka army much to Sarena's delight) and taken on a 3 hour trip out of the Kathmandu Valley to the Trishulli River to start our Rafting trek. We were joined by a very excitable, but funny American and Canadian who had just climbed Everest and two somewhat more subdued Germans.

We set of on our raft at about midday, The American was getting even more excited as he had been told that the rapids would be between grades 3 and 5. We were told between 2 and 3 so Sarena was getting a little nervous. The rapids weren't too bad at all but the American still whooped at every little ripple. The only real experience we had was of a dead body of a man left floating and bloated at the side of the river. He had either drowned or had been thrown in as the river eventually runs into the holy Ganges River in India were poor people are thrown into when they die. I don't think this guy would make it though as he was caught up on the rocks.

We got to our camp at about 4 and the American and Canadian got a bus back to Kathmandu. The camp was great just the 4 of us (the two Germans) and two tents on a beach next to rapids. Perfect!!!...

...Not for Sarena though. It wasn't until the morning that I was reminded of how she hates camping. u-ohh only 3 more nights in a tent.

We where joined on the river by a bus load of more rafters which swelled our group from 4 people to 16. We had two boats (8 in each) one was for sedate people and one was for the crazy people. We choose the Crazy boat. Along with the Germans, Two completely mad Dutch Men and a Canadian who was infinitely more annoying than the American yesterday.

Anyway the rapids were no more fierce than the day before. But our guide on the 'Crazy' boat. Was in for tipping us out at any opportunity (which he did quite successfully). It was great fun, but Sarena was looking a little uneasy at the prospect of falling in again at every section of Rapids we approached.

We got to our camp again at about 4 and some of the 16 went back home (including the Canadian - whopppeeee!!!!)

Sarena had had enough of the rafting (and so had I), and she was feeling pretty ill, but we were told that it was just a couple of hours paddling to Chitwan tomorrow, and no rapids So we made a campfire and sat on the beach for the evening.

Sarena was feeling even worse today, but she managed to get back on the raft and paddle the two hours to Chitwan. From Chitwan we caught a bus to the island Jungle Resort and where accidentally booked into a lodge rather than a tent - Bonus. Sarena rested and I went on a bird walk.

Didn't see many birds, only the sight of local farmers clambering up a tree to avoid a charging Rhino that they were previously thrown sticks at to try and keep it away from their village.

We spent the evening with the two mad Dutch men (Robert & Johan) from the rafting. These two were a right comedy duo who managed to relate every observation or passing comment to either a comic book story (Luck Luke or Asterix) that they have read or a really bad 70/80's guitar rock song.(Marrilion or Yngwie Malmsteen). Johan seemed most occupied with the Telly Tubbies and was forever singing the tune or randomly shouting out one of their names in a fit of giggles... 'Tinkwinky' would echo through the jungle... no wonder we didn't see much wildlife!. The camp is ran off a generator which got turned off at 9 pm... a perfect excuse for an early night.

Sarena was feeling a bit better in the morning, well enough to go for an elephant ride through the Jungle anyway. It was good fun but we didn't see much wildlife. Just one one-horned Rhino. After Breakfast Sarena went back to bed and I went for a canoe ride to the Crocodile infested part of the river. Infested? We managed to get a passing glimpse of one Croc which was cool as it was more than most people saw. Spent the evening with the mad Dutch Men again and Sarena made me dance with the local Tharu tribe who visited the camp to show us their stick dancing.

We left the camp at 9 and took the 6 hour journey back to Kathmandu. The Hotel had kept the same room free for us. So we just chilled for the rest of the day and checked our email. We were a little disappointed though as the post office was now shut until the end of the month due to the festival and we both wanted to pick up some parcels that Joy and Sylvia had sent to us.

Slept late. Nothing planned so just rested (I'm getting good at that). Spent most of the day updating this website. It takes bloody ages, so I hope you lot appreciate it ;-)

We had arranged to meet up with the Germans from Rafting in the evening for a meal as it was Ouve birthday. We waited at their Hotel at the time we agreed but they didn't show up so. We decided to celebrate ourselves and visited the popular backpackers drinking holes, starting at Sam's bar and then onto Tom & Jerry's. We weren't in the mood for beer so spent the night testing cocktails and ended up very merry. We met up with Eddy and Paul, Two London Geezers that were on holiday and we met briefly at the Jungle Park. Played some pool with them and Sarena got onto her favourite drunken pub topic; 'FACT: Men can't do more than one thing at the same time so they are crap', which a few of you maybe familiar with. between my drunken sniggers Paul actually put up some good arguments.

Its the second day of Nepal's four day festival. Kathmandu is very quite as everyone goes home to their families, or on the roof tops flying kites. Only the tourist shops are kept open.

We have been invited to Ram's house for dinner tonight and he had rushed around in the morning to buy a goat for a sacrifice and our dinner (nice!). I rushed round and bought some simply gifts for him and his family.

Luckily we did not have to witness the sacrifice. Ram said he wasn't very good at it so they performed it at the butchers who then prepared various parts for consumption. What an interesting meal we had. Ram showed us his Wedding video from 2052 (its now the year 2058 in Hindu Nepal) and feed us a mixture of various goats organs and skeleton. Some was actually quite nice until it went cold at which point every mouthful had me reaching inconspicuously behind a sip of whisky, which did not relieve me that much. I thought both Sarena and I did very well to clear most of the food in front of us. But after the wedding video Ram switched to a movie channel which was showing Entrapment with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones-Douglas and said 'Would you like to eat dinner now or later?'. Sarena and I looked at each other and we both mumbled as if a kind of madness had taken over us (maybe mad goats disease). I had no answer for this question but a timid 'Now' somehow left my lips. Dinner was the same as our starters except the meat was accompanied with Soup, Rice and some kind of spinach vegetable. I failed dismally at clearing this plate, constantly thinking of the state of my bowels in the morning. Sarena did very well, although I'm sure she slipped her food onto my plate when I wasn't looking. Then sarena , shaking, said I'm going to be sick, so I downed the rest of my Whisky and made the appropriate signals that we were ready to go home.

Ram very kindly got a taxi and rode with us to the hotel.We thanked him for his hospitality and kindness, and ran upstairs to the safety of our bathroom. Ram returned home in the same Taxi. I hope we didn't seem rude.

Spent all day doing laundry and updating this website.

lazy day, went to the postoffice but nothing was there and to the opticians to fix Sarena's glasses that she had sat on. Dumb ass!

Lazy day again. Went to the postoffice and picked up one parcel from our friend Joy - Thanks Joy. Met up with a friend called Ramesh who asked me if I would like to take 'Tika' (the red rice paint on the forehead) with him. I said yes so he bundled me on the back of his bike and took me to a family house where they fed me loads of food (no goat, thank god) and put a yellow 'Tika' on my head. Yellow meant that it was an anniversary of a family members death. And I got many sympathetic glances as I walked the streets of Kathmandu that evening. - A good way to stop the street sellers pestering you!

Sarena has noticed a poster at the hotel asking for help for an Orphanage. It has been my desire since travelling to get to Tibet. So she suggested that I go and maybe she could help at the Orphanage. Jaya Ram, the director of the home, met us at the hotel and took us to visit the 40 Orphans that he was caring for. The Orphanage is amazing and he has big plans for the future. His biggest problem at the moment is that the home is currently being rented and he has to find 6 months worth of rent to house the kids over winter. We made the suggestion that maybe we could get some sponsorship for a trek to Everest base camp. So that's it, our fate is now sealed. We returned to the hotel and I set about organising a trek and trying to raise some sponsorship.

Spent the day creating the sponsorship website and database for our trek to Everest in aid of the Orphanage, sending emails and trying to book a flight to Singapore (from Bombay). I also booked an 8 day trip to Tibet for just myself as Sarena said she would stay in Kathmandu for a week and help out at the orphanage. Unfortunately the Tibet trip doesn't leave until next Saturday. So I have arranged for the bus to pick me up at the Tibetan border as we can then both go to a full moon party in a few days in that direction

Starting to feel very lazy now. So I hired a mountain bike on my own why Sarena stayed at the Hotel and headed for the nearest high hill I could find. Once I had negotiated the awful traffic at the centre of Kathmandu the ride was very enjoyable if a bit steep. Kathmandu is at the centre of a Valley so every way out is uphill. I cycled through some very quaint little villages towards a hill called Shiva Puri. But near the bottom it got to steep and rough to climb (for someone as unfit as me) so I chained the bike to a pole and continued to the top on foot. The Top has been sealed of as a national park, they were charging a ridiculous amount to get in and claimed it would take another 3 hours to walk to the summit. It was already getting late So I turned around and freewheeled nearly all the way back to the Hotel.

Took Sarena out on the mountain bikes today. And found a really good route out of Kathmandu. Unfortunately the persistent uphill took its toll on Sarena after a few hours, So I left her at a Cafe will I continued out of the Valley for a desperate attempt of a good view of the Himalayas. No luck just more lush green foot hills and rice terraces. Picked Sarena up and freewheeled back into the town and to the postoffice.

Hooray, there where finally a load of parcels waiting for us that our dear friend Joy had sent from England. Sarena got very excited and immediately ripped into them. As did I because I suspected that one of the parcels contained a fresh pot of Marmite. It did. Thank you Joy and everyone that contributed to the contents of the parcels. I got a vampire mouse with a birthday cake in my Kinder Egg!

Another early start and bumpy bus ride! this time the bus was full of party go-ers all heading to the Tibetan border for 2 days of drinking, bungey jumping, canyoning and rafting in celebration of the full moon (well why not). We got to a place called 'The Last Resort' by about midday. It resembled a little bit of paradise, lush green mountainsides, waterfalls and wooden houses. The resort was built on old rice terraces and on the flat land they were busy putting up tents for the party go-ers

We had no intention of doing any of the activities although the 160m bungey jump was very tempting, just a little expensive.

We met a great couple from Nottingham, Gary and Michelle and as the night grew in and the party started we spent most of our time with them. There was a cool band 'Cadenza' who played blues/funk/Jazz/Indian stylee music, lots of alcohol, a bit of nudeness, and drunken attempts at fire eating. You could see that the organisers where attempting a more hedonistic feel for the party, but not quite succeeding. By the late evening I was starting to suffer with a bad stomach (again) and by midnight was forced to retire back to my tent and toilet, trusting that everybody else could keep themselves amused without me.

Managed to get some sleep and my stomach felt a lot better by the morning.Sarena, Gary , Michelle and I just chilled for the morning, reading. Then it was time to say good-bye to Sarena as she had to catch a bus back to Kathmandu. I was actually quite emotional as she drove off as I started to realise that this would be the longest time we have spent apart from each other in the last 4 years... back to my book!

Managed to get a free nights sleep and days food as I just camped out in a tent left over from the party. - Bonus!

Today's the day I finally get to Tibet. The bus was due to pick me up at 9:30am from the side of the road but didn't turn up until 10:45 (I was getting a bit worried). It took me up through the mountains winding around roads that have barely survived landfalls and are submerged in places by waterfalls. It finally stopped at the last village before the border, at which point we had to leave the bus and walk into Tibet. This gave me a good chance to meet the rest of the group who I would be travelling with for the next 8 days. There were 19 of us but two Australian women stood out straight away (Janice and Karen) as they were very kind and talkative.

After walking through the two checkpoints we had to jump into the back of a cattle truck for a very short and bumpy ride to waiting four-wheel drive trucks that where to be our home for the next 8 days. 5 in a truck I shared with two Welsh people (Susan and Steve) and two Austrian's (Christine and Wolfgang).

We then started our drive through Tibet...

...First stop was a tiny town called Nyram. We arrived in the dark and it was already pretty cold. The rooms were dorms so we stayed as the 5 from the truck and found a room to sleep in.

After a night spent in the loo, we left Nyram at first light for a long drive to Tingri. On the the way we drove over the highest 'road' pass in the world, 5,220 metres (17,122 ft) and got amazing views of the Himalayas

We arrived in Tingri my mid afternoon. It is a very windy one horse town and is pretty high (4,930 m) some people where being affected by the altitude. Janice from Australia was very sick. Our hotel was basic, just a courtyard of concrete rooms. I shared one with 'Crazy Knute' from Norway. The toilet, however, had the best view. It was built on stilts above the rooms so that you had a 360 degree view of thesurroundings; to the north was a range of mountains, to the east the long road ahead of us, to the south a view of the North face of Everest and to the West a decapitated Yaks head that someone had placed on the roof of one of the rooms. - nice!

It got cold here very quickly so I retreated to the hotels restaurant to find it crammed with Tibetans crouched around the VCD player watching 'Shanghai Noon'. Not what I expected!

I slept surprisingly well considering the concrete box I had to spend the night in and the altitude of Tingri (4,930m). a few others didn't fair so well as they had headaches and two spent the night vomiting.

It was an early start as we had a long drive to a town called Shigatse. This was our first major town and although it has been overrun by the Chinese, there are still so old Tibetan streets that a few us discovered in the dusk.

The Chinese have not yet introduced street lights to Tibet and as we walked back through Shigatse to our hotel we very nearly fell into a sewer canal running across the side of the road.

That morning we heard news of 2 girls form another group that had fallen into a sewage canal last night and had suspected broken arms and legs - ohh dear!

We visited one of the most famous Monasteries in Tibet, the Tashilhunpo Monastery. It was quite amazing and was just a like self contained village. After negotiating twisting corridors and halls I came upon the monks chanting hall. It was full of 'em all sitting, swaying and chanting. An amazing sight just a shame I couldn't video it.

Now it is off to Gyantse. The main road (if you could call it a road) between Shigatse and Gyanste was being repaired so we had to do the entire journey along river beds and decrepid tracks. Occasionally calling up 4 wheel drive to get over river banks. This was a hard drive as it was baking hot and we couldn't open the windows due to the dust. It was very bumpy and I seemed constantly in need of a pee.

Gyanste is an amazing town. It is separated into two halves by a hill with a fort on. One half (with the Monastery) is still entirely Tibetan, totally peaceful and beautiful. The other half has been overridden by Chinese and is ugly, dirty and extremely noisy. The monastery 'Pelko Chode' was also the best looking one I've seen, probably due to the lack of Chinese buildings around it. After exploring the monastery. Myself and a 7ft Slovenian called 'Rok' decided to climb up the hill to the fort. On the way Rok split his trousers and at the top we found a Chinese man trying to charge a ridiculous amount just to climb the turret. There was also a 'Museum of the Anti-British' there as a historical record of when the British tried to attack the fort (and I think failed). We walked an easier path back into the town. Rok was pleased to find the first building housed a tailor who fixed his trousers and the young occupants of the tailors house where very amused to see a 7ft Slovenian in his pants.

We ate at a really good restaurant - They best Chinese I have had so far (just like English Chinese)

Left early and made several more high mountain passes but as we got closer to Lhasa the road conditions got better until I could actually make out some Tarmac.

We passed a huge holy lake that was a magnificent turquoise colour and that I should of remembered the name of if these original diary entries hadn't of been deleted!

Eventually we arrived in Lhasa - the end of our epic road journey and were very pleasantly surprised to find that we had been booked into a very posh Chinese hotel that even had a bath. Cool, that will really cheese Sarena off! I took some time out on my own a wondered around Lhasa. Then bumped into Knute who explained that there was some kind of Tibetan protest against the Chinese going on. So with the two Germans (Toby & Mikhail) we went to investigate. The Tibetans where marching around a holy temple (Jokhang Temple) under the beady eye of Chinese police. We decided to join in the protest but after one lap decided we where hungry.

We ate at the 'Tashi Dele I' restaurant where 'Knute' from Norway got all excited over the 'Tibetian Girls' serving us and tried desperately to get them to sit on his knee.

Our first tourist visit of the day was... wait for it... can you guess?... A MONASTERY. I am sorry but I can't remember the names of the monasteries now - hopefully I will fill in the names later. I was actually feeling quite lethargic today and the altitude of Lhasa was affecting my breathing slightly. This was the largest Monastery in Tibet and looked just like all the others except it probably had more steps.

In the afternoon we got the official tour of Jokhang Temple. This is a small place and not a monastery but a place of pilgrimage, so actually pretty interesting. We where informed that if we returned back at 7 pm we could watch the monks chanting... So I did.

We ate at the 'Tashi Dele I' restaurant where 'Knute' from Norway got all excited over the 'Tibetian Girls' serving us and tried desperately to get them to sit on his knee.

Last day in Lhasa. First of all we visited the Potala Palace, home to the Dali Lama before he took up exile in India. This was an amazing place although most of it was monasteries again, the actually living quarters of the Lama's where very interesting.

After Lunch we visited another monastery!!! but this one was different as we visited during the Monks debating session. Its an amazing site to see 200 odd monks shouting, clapping and slapping each other in the monasteries courtyard. I was mesmerised for ages.

Nearly the whole group met up for dinner (at the 'Tashi Dele I') that evening. Janice from Australia gave me her address and invited Sarena and me for a Barbie sometime. - COOL! And 'Knute' from Norway got all excited over the 'Tibetian Girls' serving us and tried desperately to get them to sit on his knee.

Had to get up at 3:00am to drive to Lhasa airport back along the huge turquoise lake.The flight from Tibet flew right pass Mt Everest. It was a clear sky so we could see all along the Himalayan range - Amazing.

We landed in good time and I got back to the hotel to find Sarena blurry eyed and hungover. Not what I was expecting from a loyal and pinning girlfriend. Apparently she had disapprovingly spent a week on the tiles and had met a lovely couple called Brian and Gail who seemed very adept at feeding her alcohol. Although probably a skill that even a baby could learn!

After sorting some bits out to do with the Sponsored trek we were undertaking in a days time.I met up with these so called friends and discovered who funny they were and proceeded to get thoroughly drunk with them.

What a busy day today. Loads of stuff o sort out before we leave for Everest. Clothes to wash, supplies to buy and plane tickets to organise.

Spent the day rushing around Kathmandu whilst Sarena updated her diaries. Then we went to find Gail and Brian for the usual 'couple' of drinks. But they where too drunk from last night to remember that we had arranged to meet up. So we had a very pleasant Indian on our own.

We have to catch a plane (Yeti Airlines)- from Kathmandu to a place in the mountains called Lukla this morning at 6:40 am. Our Guide for the trek, 'Ganesh' picked us up from the hotel in a taxi at 5 am, but when we arrived at the airport Sarena realised that she had left her flight ticket at the hotel. This gave the taxi driver a perfect excuse to drive even more badly than he usually would. Needless to say he returned Sarena with her ticket to the airport by 6:15 (some driving).

The plane flight was fairly short (30 minutes) but pretty amazing. As we flew between mountains it seemed that the wing tips could scrap either side. The landing was the best though... Lukla's airport is positioned on the edge of a cliff top and heads straight towards a mountain, so there is no room for error. We had seats at the front of the plane, behind the pilots so we could watch the mountain getting closer and closer first hand.

Once we arrived we had breakfast at an alpine lodge, I was really buzzing after the landing and looking forward to the trek. Whilst we ate Ganesh went to find a Sherpa Porter to carry our rucksack (you didn't think I would let Sarena carry it all the way did you?) and returned with a tall skinny guy named Durga who was only 17.

We finished breakfast and started an easy days walk to 'Phakding' just 2 hours on from Lukla. This was where we would stay for the night. We met an Aussie called 'Wozzer' who had just returned from Everest. He had two useful phrases, 'F*#king cold, F*#king tired'. - My buzz was starting to fade a little. We also met an English couple, Tom and Sally, who didn't fly to lukla but had already walked 10 days from a place called Jiri - mad!

Our first full day of walking, and one of the steepest! The morning was fairly easy but after some noodle soup we approached a steep climb of about 1000m to a place called Namche Bazaar. It took about 2 hours to climb but once we arrived, with wobbly legs, we felt pretty relieved to find out that we where staying here for the night.

There's not much to do in the Himalayas at night!, Ganesh has banned alcohol whilst we are ascending to the base camp. and the sun disappears behind mountains by about 4 PM and it starts to get pretty cold. On top of that Ganesh seems to be a bit of a card shark, but we spent the night trying to beet him.

A day of rest already. We didn't think we needed it but Ganesh told us about the dangers of altitude sickness and that 5 people have already died on this trek this week (32 in the last 2 months!) from it. So we took his advice and spent the day exploring the Tibetan market and the Bakery and watching the Rescue Helicopters flying back and forth overhead.

That night Ganesh beat us at cards again.

Off to a place called Deboche today. Started off nice and easy again as the morning was spent descending into a valley. The problem was that by lunch time we were at the bottom and had to head back up again. We stopped at a lodge for lunch and met Tom and Sally again.

They both joined us for the slow walk back out of the valley to a place called Tengboche, where they stopped for the day. Tengboche had a great view and a monastery that opened to the public in the afternoons. I had had my fill of monasteries in Tibet so we headed on for another half an hour down again into a Rhododendron forest and to Deboche. I managed to get Sarena with the first snowball (well iceball!) and we played pool with some people at the lodge we where staying at on, apparently, the highest pool table in the world!

Didn't sleep very well that night as the girl in the room next door was screaming, fitting and vomiting in the early hours of the morning. It was an awful situation as we didn't know if she was suffering from the altitude or suffering some kind of fit. Her boyfriend was very good, remaining calm and slapping her every time she stopped breathing. Later on we discovered that she had taken a regular dose of cough medicine but the altitude had turned it into an overdose (no more strepsils for me).

We didn't find out how quickly she recovered as we were back on the trail again and heading for a place called Dingboche. We where getting pretty high now as the trees had stopped growing and it was getting noticeably colder at night. But both Sarena and I had no major symptoms from the altitude, just a bit harder to breathe and I didn't have much of an appetite.

On the way to Dinboche we bumped into Tom and Sally who had sneakily got ahead of us so we decided to do the rest of the trek together. Plus they knew more card games than us!

Another day of rest. Tom and Sally took a walk to the next village to look at a glacier while we walked up the nearest hill to about 5000m to help us acclimatise. On the way back I managed to get a glancing glimpse at what seemed to be a Tibetan Terrier which had so eluded me in Tibet - just as elusive as the yeti! It seemed a lot smaller than my mums dogs, maybe we should check the official pedigree regulations on the breed!!!

Off to Loboche today. Again the morning was pretty easy but another big hill be the afternoon. At the top of this though where loads of memorials to people who had died on this trek or whilst climbing Everest. It made me realise just how dangerous this is.

We got to Loboche at about 2pm so I went for a wonder over a glacier, Tom and Sally also went for a walk. But Sarena did the sensible thing and rested at the lodge as we have a very tough day tomorrow.

Didn't sleep very well that night because Sarena couldn't sleep and was intent on asking me irrelevant questions all night.

Bloody early start. We had to get up at 4am as today was the day we arrive at Everest. Ganesh and Tom and Sally's Guide, 'Andrew', wouldn't wake up though. They kept saying it was too windy. But as we where up dressed and packed we convinced them that it wasn't and managed to leave Loboche at 5 am.

It was very windy, and about -15 at that time in the morning. It was pitch black and we only had 1 torch between 6 of us as the cold had buggered everybody'sbatteries up. It started to get light by about 6:30 and we arrived at a place called Gorak Shep at about 9.

Gorak Shep is at the foot of a hill called Kali Patthar which we decided to climb as this was the place to get the best view of Everest and it overlooks the deserted base camp. There is also a sandy beach at Gorak Shep, which bizarrely everyone plays volley ball on, presumably when its not -15 and 50 mph winds!

I was really struggling today. Still no headache but was feeling pretty weak. Sarena, however, was annoyingly spritely and made it to the top of Kali Patthar singing.

We had made it, we were at the bottom of Everest and overlooked the base camp and a huge glacier that runs from the bottom of the mountain.- Photo time. It took about 30 minutes at the top of windy Kali Patthar before we where ready to start our walk all the way back to Lukla.

First we stopped back at Gorak Shep to try and eat some breakfast (and fail) then by 12pm we where back at Loboche for lunch and to Pick up Durga with our rucksack and then we walked another 4 hours to a place called Pheriche which wasn't too far from Dingboche which we had stayed at two nights previous.

'F*#king cold, F*#king tired' we where soon cheered up by the extremely Camp Sherpa who was running the lodge wearing a skirt apron thing. Andrew tried to explain in his best English that this Sherpa was half man, half woman. The Gay Sherpa the convinced the ever helpful Durga to put on a skirt apron thing and prance around the kitchen with him - very strange!

We parted ways with Tom and Sally as they have a day more than us before they fly from lukla and are going to take the walk back a bit more leisurely. We on the other hand have a 7 hour hike back to Namche ahead of us.

It actually seems a lot harder walking down than up, albeit quicker, as we constantly have to stop ourselves from slipping of the trail and down the side of some 2000 metre drop. Walking back though we seemed to be able to enjoy the amazing scenery more and a actually caught Sarena getting very emotional about the whole thing. We are very privileged to of been able to do this and experience this amazing landscape -ooooh I'm starting to well up too.

An easier day today. Just a leisurely walk back to Phakding and the same lodge that we stayed at on our first day. Its getting cloudy now, which is a bit of a shame as we have had perfect weather (a bit cold) for the whole of the trek so far - never mind.

We walked pretty fast in the morning and arrived back at Lukla at 11 am, which was pretty handy as we discovered that the flights had been abandoned for the last couple of days due to the runway being hidden in a cloud and no one could find it. All the lodges where getting full but we managed to get one of the last decent rooms.

Ganesh got absolutely pished and started to fight with his cousin!

A few flights made it in the morning, but ours was cancelled so we had to spend the day sitting around in Lukla. Fortunately Tom and Sally arrived for their flight tomorrow so we spent the evening trying to teach their guide, Andrew, how to play snooker. This was pretty amusing as he is only 4 ft tall (ish) and we where in constant fear of a ripped baize by his unotherdox method of striking the cue ball.

Clear day again today. Tom and Sally got their flight as scheduled but we had to wait until 3pm until the backlog was cleared and we where in the air on our way back to Kathmandu and a hot shower - our first wash for 2 weeks.

That evening we found our two friends, Brian and Gail, sitting in the same position that we had left them 2 weeks ago. They claimed to of hired a motorbike and explored Nepal whilst we where away. But I doughted this as they had managed to become the best customers of 5 different bars at the same time whilst we have been away, which must take some serious dedication.

They helped us celebrate our achievement with a juicy steak and a bottle of Vodka. Then we all fell fast asleep... A Job well Done!

Lots to do as we are off to India in a few days and we need to sort out Laundry, Post and the website which will now take ages to update as somebody has just deleted the last months worth of entries and it has to be retyped - Bugger, Bugger, Bugger.

We also have to sort out the sponsorship. So we met Jayaram and I agreed to pay the money into their bank account Tomorrow.

We have managed to raise £930.50 from donations form our friends in England on our Everest Trek, for an Orphanage in Kathmandu, 'Children's Welfare Home', Jayaram, the director of the orphanage met us in the morning to take me to his bank so that I could transfer the sponsorship money to him. Unfortunately the technology for this kind of transaction doesn't seem to exist in Nepal. So we spent the next 4 hours scouring for the sparse cash machines and finally we could present him with 100,000 Nepalese rupees (about £940). Sarena however has spent the day in the hotel room retyping the last months worth of diaries that somehow disappeared!!!

Thanks to everyone that has contributed Together we have provided the Orphanage with enough cash to pay the rent of the home for 40 children for the next 6 months. We alone can say that we will keep them all warm over the winter!

I have spent the rest of the day rushing around like a blue ass fly sorting everything out as we are finally of to India tomorrow morning (via Pokhara). and there is still lots to do on this web site

Caught the bus at 6:30. Not the one we were supposed to but we were told it was going to Pokhara anyway. It did. but due to 3 pretty major accidents along the so called highway it took 12 hours rather than 6! The road is pretty twisty and all three accidients where head on collisions between lorries racing around the corners. You would think that this would be some kind of warning to our bus driver but instead he speeded up to make time.

It was dark by the time we arrived in Pokhara, which was a shame as its situated along the edge of a lake shadowed by the Annapurna range of mountains. I had intended to treat sarena as I had pr booked a hotel room with a Bath! unfortunatley I didn't pre book any hot water, so it was all wasted.

Ate, then slept.

Due to the delay in yesterdays bus ride we only had until 7pm to explore Pokhara. I woke early to sort out emails to all our sponsors for the orphanage trek and failed in getting some hot water for Sarena's bath. We had a great breakfast then hired some Mountain bikes to cycle around the lake.

Pokhara is a very peaceful place, at least compared to Kathmandu. But very touristy as its a base to many treks around the Himalayas. The cycle ride was very pleasant as there are hardly any cars (or roads fro that matter) around the lake. All very picturesque.

We got back to the town around 3pm I had a luke warm bath and convinced Sarena to try it then we spent the rest of the day in a restaurant by the lake side as we weher told our overnight bus to the Indian border leaves at 7pm. Got back to the hotle at 6:20 pm and where bundled into a car as they where now saying the bus leaves at 6:35pm. It did, we only just made it. Supprisingly there where no other tourists on the bus. It was full of Nepalese and Indians and the seats were supprisingly comfy.

The bus stopped 4 km from the border at 5:30 am. I had managed to get some sleep on the journey so wasn't feeling too bad. We then had to catch a rickshaw in the pitch black and freezing cold for the next 4 km to the border town of Sonulai.

The bus to Varanassi in India was due to leave at 8:30am so we had breakfast. whilst we were eating I saw our friends Brian and Gail go past in a Taxi. They too had managed to tear themselves away from Kathmandu and were also heading for Varanassi. They joined us fro breakfast and then we crossed th border into India...

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