Treat yourselves!

Pokhara was hot and sticky on our last morning – too hot and I spent most of the morning feeling a little woozy even after consuming the world’s biggest breakfast. Don and I tried to wander around and made a half-hearted attempt to see some sights but,after my trek and his illness, we didn’t get very far and ended up just chilling out back at the hotel.
We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare…which was a mistake because there really is bugger all to do at domestic airports in Nepal. Fortunately, we both had books to read and cd players to listen to so we just zoned out from the general confusion and boarded our plane when the time finally came.
We didn’t get the same views of the mountains (due to clouds) nor were the air stewardesses quite up to the high standards set on the outward journey so we were faintly disgruntled by the time we arrived in Kathmandu. This wasn’t helped by the usual scrum of greedy taxi drivers waiting outside the terminal, refusing to take us into Thamel for a decent price and we were forced to walk down to the main road before we could find somebody more reasonable. We made a quick pitstop at The Great Wall to drop off most of our luggage and pick up a few essential items (i.e. wine) before heading out again.
An hour-and-a-half later, after a hot, sweaty taxi ride (including the hair-raising hairpins I’d been glad not to see on my first visit) we arrived in Nagarkot and I was able to show my brother his birthday present – a night at the Club Himalaya Resort. Sounds romantic, eh? ;-) As on the previous occasion we were treated to a 5-course dinner – this time accompanied by a bottle of champagne, which I’d mistakenly thought was (an excellent value!) $10 but in fact turned out to be (a still good value) $100. We didn’t stop in the dining room any longer than necessary – escaping, instead to our room to listen to some of the excellent new trance Don had brought over for me and drink our way through the wine we’d brought with us. As much fun as I’d had with Suriya and Michael on the trek, it had been these special moments with my brother that I’d been missing and it was good to be hanging out once more. When we were both well and truly hammered we decided it would be a great idea to call Sue back in England and we spent an hilarious few minutes garbling drunken banter at the poor, unsuspecting girl while she laughed at the state we were in. It was late by the time we finally passed out – lights on, fully clothed, cd spinning…