The drive Nyalam was a pretty long one and we all felt like shit after the Base Camp night.

We crossed the amazing Himalayas before descending down to Nyalam.

 

Well Nyalam was very much a truck stop town. The rooms were unheated, no showers or toilets. Even the Shared shower wasn’t hot. There was however an offer to upgrade for 200RMB per room to get warm showers, electric blankets and a western toilet. Pretty much everyone did. Phil and I restarted our watching on the Chinese weightlifting again now we had TV back.

We wandered down to the recommended restaurant which was not that impressive, 2 hour wait for food and it was cold when we got back. On the walk home Victoria, Amanda and I encounter some street dogs chasing another dog towards us totaling about 8-9 dogs. Scared the crap out of us.

Off to Nepal

Next morning was a 7.30 start and breakfast was set to be had a border town so we would miss the traffic. The traffic being a shit load of trucks parked up on the windy mountain pass roads leaving a single lane for dual lane traffic.

An interesting thing happened on our trip to the border. We had to stop for 10mins as there were some locals unloading a body to carry across the gorge for a sky burial. For those unfamiliar with this, it is basically is a local tradition where the body is left for the falcons and vultures to eat as its the most hygienic in such a barren area.

 

The pain of the border. 

It seems for the whole trip I had been a target for the Chinese govt as I had previous Visa’s in my passport and other issues with my Nepalese visa as well. So it was the running joke of the trip that if anyone was going to get questioned it was going to be me. Thankfully the issue was only due to passport scanning. If someone has crossed the border with the same Chinese name as you in the last year, you passport needs to be manually checked, so it wasn’t just me.

The Border cross was so black and white it wasn’t funny. From high security and concrete everything to no security and dirt roads we knew we were in Nepal again. If it wasn’t for our Guide we would have missed the Nepalese immigration office completely.

And of course, there is smuggling police that check all the buses for gold and electronics and he looks round the bus and says “YOU” show me you passport, just me. Everyone on the bus laughed their ass off as the gag continued.

The Last Resort

Well, the whole trip this place was talked up as the best part after Everest and it was. Located across a the Bungy Bridge and next to the Bhote Kosi River this place was an Oasis within the chaos.

 

Something about watching a little Nepalese lady carry your pack across the bridge makes you feel like a lazy shit. But they insist on it all part of the tipping/give everyone a job thing that exists in these countries.

The Resort is a getaway from the Chaos that is Nepal. I got the single room (in this case tent) again so was a perfect day. Some people signed up for the bungy and some for the canyoning. The rest of us just soaked up the tropical atmosphere and drank and eat all afternoon.

 

 

The night was full of drinking games, dancing, eating, Phil climbing a roof and cutting up his arm (drinking dare) and Joyce twisting her ankle from missing a step and many more stories that stay at the Resort never to be mentioned. There’s plenty of photos around and some videos of Kamal attempting to tie his shoes but I don’t have access to them yet. So will update when I get them.