I was lost but now Im found....

hey all....Im still in Kathmandu, its been an intense amazing few weeks trekking, and Im too tired to write about it ;) So you'll have to wait till I come home to here all about it!!!! Well I'll tell you a bit.....the airport in the himalayas at Lukla, has to best runway ever.....firstly planes are always cancelled and somedays not even a single plane can land...the runway is so short, coming in there is a mountain in front of you and going out the runway just drops into thin air, good times!! I tried to get a good vid, but it didnt work so well. We met some amazing people on the way, I ended up trekking most of the way with Paco, from Spain, who for some strange reason was slower than me (some days)...his guide G, became our honourary guide as ours was usually nowhere to be found!!! We work up early trekked and stayed in Tea houses at night and I would not have made it without my makeshift bamboo walking stick!! I have never eaten so much eggs and veg in my life....couldnt wait to get back and eat fruit!!! Lots of laughs and even goose bump moments!!! Nepal is a country to come back to again and again!! Okay thats all for now, Im too tired to be funny, hope you all are well, hugs, megs

Lost in the Himalayas

...yes I did get lost in the Himalayas...not to worry its a funny story, I just have to save it for when internet is not costing me a fortune!!! I sitting in Lukla awaiting a flight to Kathmandu, some of our friends made the morning flight but we are stuck here until the weather clears up...could be ages? Had an amazing time, beautiful weather, people (aside from our sherpa).....learnt a lot about myself...like just how long i can go without showering or wearing clean clothes ;)

Happy Bday court!!! Hugs, love megs

This is what travelling is all about!!

Yesterday we went out to a beautiful valley in Nepal with our hotel owner, Lux, and his friend Ardie, a movie star :) and watched filming...it was so different from Hollywood...but really cool to see. Ash, J and I were sitting watching filming and a local boy came around and asked if it was an English film....I reckon they don't see too many westerners....it was especially funny when the camera man and photographer were sneaking shots of us sitting down!!! Perhaps we'll be in a movie when we get back from Everest....now thats another story I'll tell you in a few minutes so keep reading!!!! After filming we met up with Ardie 'actor' and some other new friends at our hotel for dinner, a lovely curry and gin and tonic feast, in the restaurant a ladies association was celebrating and withing a few minutes we were 'driving the car,' ' changing the lightbulb,' learning new dances and proving that white girls cant dance!!! It was brillant and by the end of the night I had 25 bangles stuck on my wrist and other nepalese jewlery as well.....by the time we headed up to our room we had just over 3 hours until we had to wake up and catch our flight to Lukla to start our 16 day trekk...not the smartest thing we had ever done....we arrived at the airport hopped on a small 19 seater plane and headed through the himalayas, it was stunning...just as we were flying over lukla the pilot told us that due to the clouds she could not land the plane, so we turned around and went back to Kathmandu....we soon found out that this was the first flight in about 7 days that had been able to leave for lukla, so we ended up getting a free amazing mountain flight....the downside was that we had to wait in the airport all day to see if the weather cleared in Lukla, an airport that is far worse than the kamloops airport, not even a place to eat, ugh! We have now rebooked our flight and are heading out again tomorrow morn!! Hopefully we will be the first plane to land in 8 days!!! Off to bed now, hugs, megs

Kathmandu, in the movies, off to Everest...

Hello everyone...I am writing u all from the top of the world...well almost. I arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal 2 nights ago, flying into Nepal was lovely, like a mountainous legoland!!! Kathmandu is so much more than I ever could have imagined...hectic, colourful, and just oh so amazing!! From the airport hopped in a random mans taxi to his hotel...which turned out to have the most amazing staff....so amazing that we booked a 16 day Mt Everest trekk through them....and we leave in 2 days. We hired a sherpa and a porter to carry our bags...but apparently they won't was our hair!! (an inside joke)!! We are staying outside of the tourist area where everything is local, including the non english speaking restaurant we have eaten at three times. The food here is the best yet and well I think this is my fav country already!!!

So many strange things...like the sit or stand toilet....a squatter and regular toilet in one....oh tonight we went to the one of the most beautiful temples or rather most beautiful sights I have ever seen, it is along the holy river that leads into the ganges...along the river they cremated the deceased right in front of everyone, but before they do this they lay the person along the stairss down to the river where they place the foot of the dead person in the holy water...when the person is fully cremated they push the wood and body into the river...that they bathe in....we watched all of this, quite surreal and unlike anything I have ever seen or experienced! All around this temple are small shiva temples where holy men reside, men who remain pure, and as we were walking at 9pm through this area that is closed at 7 we heard a man calling to us from one of the small buildings....it turned out to be the 'penis baba' who Im pretty sure is known worldwide...he lifts a 10kg or heavier rock with his penis, he doesnt do it too often because of the police...but he did it for us!!! I have pics but you'll have to wait till I get back from Everest for them...he was such a lovely man, wishing us 'sweet dreams' and a wonderfu life!!! Its not too often that you can see a man lift a rock with his penis.....

...other fun facts....they have a gasoline shortage here and if you want gas for your car you have to wait between 8 and 10 hours....we saw the taxis all lined up for their night of waiting for gasoline!!!

Oh one more thing.....we are going to be in a gollywood movie ...nepali movie....a director is coming to our hotel tomorrow and then off to get suited up!!!! Hugs, megs

Canadians hmm?

Well I've been meaning to write this blog for awhile, but keep forgeting, so here I go.... while I was in Luang Prabang, Laos, I was eating at this lovely bakery with amazing carrot cake with real cream cheese icing (totally beside the point). We ate at this bakery at least 10 times, seriously, and the staff was so nice. Then one day I went in and the manager, a Canadian, was yelling at her staff in front of all the customers...all of whom were disgusted. Yelling at them for no good reason, telling them that they were ignoring us, which they werent and more and more....anyways I realized that this was the first time, in asia, if not my whole trip that I have seen this, something that I would see often in Canada. It was horrible...how am I going to come home?? hmmm...only kidding, but people here are so calm and relaxed and they dont stress out, it is really a beautiful thing. People dont yell at one another when something goes wrong, if a meal isnt right, if their boat arrives a day late, everything just seems to be okay! One time in Vietnam I was on a local bus that broke down and for 5 hours the driver and assistants had to take engine a part, by the time they were done they were all covered in oil, head to toe, yet the whole time they were still happy, laughing and singing and all of the passengers were happy too. Could you imagine all the yelling that would be going on in Canada. Oh I have so many more examples...the children here are so content, the babies rarely cry, really, I think it is partly because parents here are so calm and for the most part dont yell or get angry and therefore the babies dont pick up on the stress. Well its almost 1 am and Im uber tired...I will add to this blog later, xxmegs

On a long boat, during the rainy season on the Mekong!

I am writing from Chang Mai in Northern Thailand. We arrived here last night after an exhausting 3 day adventure along the Mekong River. Our adventure begins 7:45 am, Luang Prabang!! We were picked up by a tuk tuk and dropped off at the boat dock on the Mekong river (during the rainy season). We were pleased to find an old wooden longboat with mini van seats inside (and only about 35 people), much better than the wooden benches and hundreds of people we were expecting! Muff, Mamma J and I selfishly spread out our legs and took up 2 seats each (don’t worry everyone on the boat had a seat or 2). We slept, read books and admired the stunning scenery (it really was amazing) while we waited for the boat to arrive in Pakbeng 6 to 8 hours later, where we would spend the night in a guest house. During our trip the boat dropped locals off at small villages along the way and the inevitable happened, our boat broke down, but just long enough that it ended up getting dark before Pakbeng and our non English speaking boat driver explained to us we would have to sleep on the boat, during the rainy season, on the Mekong (I know I’ve already stressed this, but it Was during the rainy season along the Mekong river). He docked the boat at a miniscule village. All 9 of us tourists pushed the mini van seats together and lay down for a long and sleepless night…actually Mamma J slept just fine and Muff learnt that Gravol is a girls best friend!!! At sunrise our boat set off again, finally arriving in Pakbeng in time for us to catch our long boat for the second leg of our journey and only 12 hours late. Now this boat was what we had expected, wooden bench seats, and instead of hundreds of people, a whole boat full of supplies to be delivered to all the villages along the way!!! We were told we would make it to the border crossing in Thailand that day, however with our experience the day before we thought that unlikely, and seeing as our 6 hour journey the day before took 24 hours AND we had to deliver all the goods AND we were going against the current we arrived just as the sun was setting once again…but this time we did arrive in time to find a guesthouse!! After eating Nutella, peanut butter and bread we were ready for a real meal!! We ended up eating, sleeping and then waking up early to catch the ferry across to the thai side, we hopped on a bus and headed to Chang Mai…this of course was an adventure as well, we asked the tuk tuk to take us to the bus station and he so nicely dropped us of at a VIP travel agent who had a bus leaving 30 minutes later, they insisted that it was the bus station, although we knew it wasn’t. Now this bus was really nice, water and cookies included, however the driver was SO slow, the assistant was flirting with him and the bus continuously stopped to let people on and off, but not the usually on and off, each time the bus would stop between 5 and 25 minutes!! At one of the stops we ran into some of the people who had been on the slow boat with us, they were on a more local bus that had left 1 ½ hours after us…ugh…..all a part of the adventure!! We arrived in Chang Mai last night at Mamma Js cousins (heathers brother) in a lovely neighbourhood right by an amazing night food market that is on only on 2 days a week…so we went on a food extravaganza!! Beet juice, sushi, spring rolls and more...oh and of course lady boys...they are SO COOL!!!!!!!

Beautiful Laos

Hello...Im chilling out in Laos, one of the most picturesque countries I have ever been to! Mamma J, Ash muff, and I spent a couple nights in the capital city, Vientiene, the most chilled out capital city ever..it was just like a village. We spent one whole day at the spa, well it was a gym with an outdoor pool and saunas, and included a 1 hour massage and it was lovely!! Hopped on a bus up north to Vang Vieng...a lovely village with limestone karsts and the mekong running through and tommes of backpackers. We stayed in a perfect guesthouse overlooking the river, drank mulberry (not mushroom) shakes at the organic farm, tubed down the river, watched a few episodes at friends that are played at almost every restaurant CONSTANTLY!! oh and I watched Transformers at a bakery and it was so cool! and had the worst massage EVER, mamma J and I were in so much pain the next day ( I guess thats what you get when your massage therapist is 16 and it only costs 3 dollars)! We caught another bus up to Luang Prabang where we are staying at a villa with satellite TV....just been eating carrot cake with real cream cheese icing and riding around on bikes...so amazing here!!!! In a couple days we'll be catching a 2 day boat to the thai border and then off to Chang mai!!!! xxx megs