Namaste Nepal!

Writing to you all now from Kathmandu, Nepal!

The night after my last post, Kev and I checked out the bar scene in Bangalore...which, while better than that of Oddan or dare I say it our beloved Dindigul, was not all that crash hot. That said, there were women in (most) of the bars (shock!) and noone was staring at them. Not too much, anyway.

A very strange thing happened to us as we were walking from the rickshaw to our hotel. In a side alley just near our hotel, there was a stage set up, and people were crammed in and on the stage listening to music and dancing and generally being merry. We walked in being the tourists we are, cameras at the ready, and a helpful local with good English told us that it was a celebration of the local language (and the cultural differences that go along with it) for the Bangalore area. A local moviestar was on stage singing, but his celebrity was soon overshadowed by ours, as we were (forcefully) danced with and pushed up on stage. We were a bit drunk and had no idea really what was going on, but the crowd loved it and about 30 people jumped up on stage to have their photo with us and the movie star. Very bizarre...but also very unique. The helpful guy said that not many westerners would ever see this sort of celebration.

Anyway, the next day was spent in transit (mostly waiting around in Kolkata airport which is really quite crap for a city of 7 million or so...). We arrived in Kathmandu at about 4pm and we were met by Ram, the manager of the Yeti Guest House in Thamel, the hip and happening tourist area of Kathmandu. A friend of Kev's has stayed and trekked with him six times, including one 6-month stay, and he came highly recommended. His organisation of our trek (starting tomorrow) explained why. He organised absolutely everything, and has given us a very good price for the 10 days, as well as only charging us AU$3.50 per night to stay in his guest house for the last three nights!

We spent yesterday sifting through the mountains of trekking gear on sale here (mostly fake we suspect - at these prices!) and stocked up on supplies. Apart from a few more small things to get in Pokhara tomorrow, we're set.

Today we did the world's second highest bungy jump - and I have never been so scared and/or excited! It was from a steel suspension bridge 160m above a gorge and a raging river. I also did a canyon swing from the bridge - the world's highest. http://www.bungynepal.com/ It was one of the craziest and most exciting things I've ever done - I'm definietly going to do it again!

Getting late here, so I'll sign off. Tomorrow we're off to Pokhara to start a 10-day trek called the Annapurna Sanctuary. Can't wait! Not sure whether there's any internet in the mountains (prob not) so I'll update (with photos) after we get back!

-S