In Nepal

Hello everyone!

Hope things are grand back in the U.K. I hear you have snow! I bet it is very beautiful.
Mum and Dave Tulip:- I'm pleased to hear that Alison is ok mum and is back home aand that things are good with you. Are you working both saturday and sunday yet?.

Dad: Not long till you go away to New York. It's the 2nd of April is'nt it?. Bet you can't wait. Will speak to you before then for sure.

Well we set off from Varanassi yesterday (sat) morning at 7am to head directly north to the Nepalese border. The crossing point is a small village called Sinauli. The journey was fine albeit a long way (11 hours). We just got on the government bus and so it was very cheap. It cost about 4 pounds for both of us!. We got to the border just as it was getting dark and made our way to the Indian Emigration office the under a big arch that stated "WELCOME TO NEPAL". We crossed the border by foot and went to the Nepalese Immigration Centre to get our Nepalese visa's sorted. This also went fairly smoothly and we managed to pay with English pounds (20 each).
Our aim is to get to a place called Pokarah which is North of the border crossing point and West of Kathmandu. This is apparantly a very beautifull town based around a lake and is the starting point of the Annapurna circuit (a famous trek around Annapurna). The journey from the border of Nepal to pokarah is another 8 hours so in order to break the jorney we have come to a village called 'Lumbini'. Lumbini is a 1 hour journey along the Border heading West. We managed to get a taxi from sinauli (the crossing point) after being in the middle of an argument between the taxi driver and a tout who had shown us to the taxi without us asking. He was demanding that the taxi driver gave him 200 rupees and as the driver would not do this he tried to get it off us by hanging through the window. It sounded like a chicken coup with all the arguing going on! Eventually we managed to set off... just driving away while the tout hung out of the window still which Rich was trying to wind up on him. All was well in the end though! In India you can't trust anyone to help you at all as it always comes down to them wanting money.
We are staying in a little hotel in the village of Lumbini which is really very very basic but great for what we need. Lumbini is said to be the birth place of Buddah and so is a very holy town where many pilgrims come to visit the holy site. We hired 2 bikes today and off we went to explore. 'Lumbini' is meant to stand for world peace and so many countries have built temples here as a symbol of their participation. These are all based in beautiful parks which surround the village.
Tomorrow we are getting a bus at 7am to Pokorah which is an 8 hour journey north. We are ready for the next stint of the journey after resting in this lovely peaceful village.
I just tried to buy some conditioner for my hair but apparantly "people in Lumbini don't use it". lol! My hair is really dry and will have prob have all snapped off by the time i get back home... never mind!
Take care people!

Not long now John and Nickie! Let me know your flight times to Singapore and dates. We arrive on the 24th. Need u to bring me some Aussi conditioning sachets!

Loadsa Love
Sho xxxxxxxx (dobber)