Again an uncomplicated journey to Chang Mai, however would have travelled by train were it possible but Chinese New Year meant all sleepers booked out and sitting for 15 hours on a train had little appeal.Before Andreen and Martin left for England they gave me a guided tour of the city and we enjoyed a number of excellent meals, usually in restaurants by the river, excepting their favourite bar 'The Gekko' managed by an ebullient American by the name of Rudi and situated downtown.
Photo 2 Andreen and Sue enjoying cocktails at The Riverside Restaurant, Chang Mai
Photo 1 Martin and a beer at same venue.

Arrived on the 21st following a punctual flight from Delhi. Stayed in Holiday Inn where stayed 10 years ago with colleagues on way to a conference in Melbourne. Was immediately struck with how much Bangkok has changed. It is now much cleaner with an efficient transport system, a metro and a skytrain and walkways (linked to the skytrain) that separate pedestrians from traffic. The hotel had a decent outdoor pool so swam twice a day, in my 2 day stay in Bangkok. A useful means of staying cool as the temperature was in the 30'sC and humid, though every building has airconditioning to compensate. Also used the river ferries to travel around and visited Wat Pho, the reclining buddha temple, very beautiful and also many elaborately decorated Stupas.Food was fairly cheap and Thai food as good as I remember, as long as you check the spicieness when ordering!
Flew from Bangkok to Changmai on the 23rd to meet Andreen and Martin from England and stay in their condminium when they return to England on 26th January.

To me a new city excepting the previously bad experience of the transit lounge on the way to Kathmandu. Good news, the hotel sent a car to collect me from the airport. Smarter hotel than previous cities with comfortable facilities which sadly did not include a swimming pool, but that would send it into a higher cost bracket and Delhi is very expensive these days.
Managed to visit the last day of the Faberge exhibition at the National Museum, very well displayed and accessible exhibits which were breathtakingly fine examples of jewellery and artifacts which naturally included the 'eggs'.
Second of the 2 full days in Delhi was able to find a travel agent who gave me a good deal to Agra and the Taj Mahal. Spent day being driven to Agra (400km round trip), and with a guide was shown round the Taj. Many predominantly Indians also visiting but managed to appreciate the beauty of this monument and the story behind it, spending 2 1/2 hours there. Resisted the temptation to buy momentoes of visit (an awful lot of tat)but guide took many photo's with my camera. On returning to Delhi had a pleasant dinner with the owner of the travel agency at a restaurant off the tourist beat. Delhi is on a parr with Kathmandu for being crowded and extremely dirty, which provided me with the perfect 'excuse' to stay in a decent hotel. The next day flew to Bangkok.

A brilliant 10 day trek and am now back in Pokhara for 3 days R&R before flying to Delhi on the 17th January. The trek was with an excellent guide, Hari, an ideal companion for a venture that took us up to 3,800m to Muktinath, through and above the alpine region to barren open landscapes with the most amazing rock formations I've ever seen. Across ex-glacial river valleys were you had clear views of some of the highest mountains (Dhailagiri, Nilgiri and Annapurna1,2,3,4 peaks) in the Himalayas. The whole area, previously a seabed, was very reminiscent of the Dorset Jurassic coast, and the stones lying everywhere were identical to Dorset. Most of the gift shops in the towns and (mainly) villages we passed through sold fossils collected from the surrounding hills and river beds. Hand made scarves from sheep and wool were sold directly from the wooden looms, often placed outside the houses, so you were able to watch the scarves being woven as well as the wool being 'carded' at the beginning of the process.
I purchased one such scarf and wore it round my waist to keep warm, particularly in the mornings, which were often below freezing at the beginning of the days trek. This trek forms part of the Annapurna circuit trek as you would often see trekkers going up or down from Muktinath to Jomsom or Beni. Sadly people were not trekking on this section as much as going by jeep on very basic roads to start trekking higher up from Muktinath. The local villages were adversely effected, economically, by this change and many of the tea/guest houses were seeing significant falls in the number of trekkers/tourists staying overnight. Muktinath is a destination for Hindu pilgrims, rather akin to Mecca for Muslims. A very large and impressive shrine rivalled only by the Buddhist shrine and monastery next door. Muktinath as a place was disappointing and Kagbeni, the next town down, far more memorable and I took many photo's of this town with it's ancient mud walled fort. It also snowed in Muktinath so we beat a hasty retreat the next morning before the paths became icy. We spent 2 days staying at Tatopani on the way down, spending as much time as possible in the hot springs, this time I remembered a swimming costume!
Given that the general recommendation is not to eat meat the higher the altitude as it is not very fresh, arriving back in Pokhara was celebrated by a large meal of meat and much fresh salad.
Photo 1 Hari My excellent guide on trek. Sitting on a rooftop while waiting for lunch. The roof is used to store wood for the winter - the more wood the richer you are seen to be.
Photo 2 In Marpha, the center of apple growing in Nepal. They make an excellent cider and an apple brandy (very potent)
View of Mount Dhailagiri about 7th or 8th highest in world.
Photo 3 Sandstone rock with many caves, some occupied until 16th Century.
Photo 4 Local weaver in village on way to final stop at Muktinath. Many women weave out in the open as even in ainter the afternoons are warm, with temperatures reaching the low 20C. Bought a yak and sheep wool scarf from her.
Photo 5 & 6 Views sown the valley from Kagbeni with Nilgiri on the left (no 5)

Back in Pokhara today and will be flying to Jomsom for a final 10 day trek in Nepal before flying to India on the 17th January. Previous 4 days spent at the Osho centre retreat sitting on my backside and meditating alongside a once a day session of yoga starting at 07.30. The centre is situated in the subtropical forest surrounding the Kathmandu Valley, very beautiful and lush within the sound of a waterfall. Many westerners as well as Nepali people staying. The accommodation was very comfortable and even included air conditioning, unheard of here, though availability was dependant on 12 hour a day power cuts (referred to here as 'power loading!). The 20 euro's a day included 3 meals albeit vegan, but managed to adjust to the lack of meat and dairy products. We celebrated New Year with a bonfire and music in the forest, this included an excellent cake made without eggs or butter, baked for the occasion.
After 4 days felt suitably relaxed and ready to cope with the final trek and yet again made the 6 hour + bus journey to Pokhara.