Newsletter 9 (13 march 2003)

Namastee my english speaking friends,

Here's my 9th and last newsletter, since i will be home in 10 days (after a great year of travelling) if all goes according to plan. The last i wrote you about was in Varanassi, when we were about to cross the border with Nepal. And so we did the next day. You could tell the difference with India immediately: cleaner and better maintaind: the houes, the road, buildings, etc. Stayed the first night just after the border, had a good sleep and i felt up for the last country of my journey. First to Chitwan National park. A great experience: trekking through the jungle (by foot and by elephant), seeing rhino's (with baby's), chilling out on the banks of the river with some beers and campfires at night. Fantastic. Next stop was in Sarangkot, to see the sunrise over the Annapourna (part of the Himalya's). Unfortunately: clouds, so no good view of the mountains during the sunrise. Walked down to Pokhara, where we spend the rest of the day, ending with a splendid meal at Himalyan Encounters basecamp. Oh yeah: also very nice Valentines Mails!! Then to Katmandu, where the trucktrip ended. Found a good hotel and got pissed in Sam's Bar. The place to go. Spend about ten days in KTM, seing the monkey temple, a day in Baktapur (a small vilage from the middle ages, where still people live (in poor circumstances)). More and more people left the truck-group, which always is sad, since you don't know if or when we'll meet again. Especially you Pam!! Spend the next days in KTM reading, seeing films, drinking beer, strolling through town and chilling out. Then it became time for some action again. Arnie and I decided to do a little trekking through the Annapourna and so we went to Pokhara (again) and did a fantastic 8 days trek up to 4.100 m. Apart from being ice- and ice cold it was a great thing to do: beautifull views, good walking and a bit of climbing, nice people in the group (only 4: us two dutch and 2 Aussies) and about ten people around us (for cooking, carrying our stuff (yes, we are lazy rich bastards aren't we?)) and so on. Back after 8 days, a little party to say good bye to everybody and after 2 days back to KTM, where i spend the last days of my journey, reading, buying clothes, contactlenses and CD's, since it's so cheap here. Right now i am waiting for my flights to leave and then.... back to a 9-5 life i guess. We'll see what happens won't we?

Hey, you'll here from me once more in this form when i am home. See ya all and take care,
Jan.