Blimey, 7 months without venturing outside the valley for R & R then we do 2 trips in 2 weeks. This w/e we went to Nagarkot, a hill resort about 30km to the NE of Kathmandu, which at about 2,000 metres is meant to be one of the best viewpoints close to Ktm.
Before leaving on Saturday, we had a minor crisis when we couldn't switch the gas on at the bottle. After investigating I decided that bodge mending a gas regulator would not be very clever so nipped down to the back chowk to get a new one - at the cost of a day's wages for me! Sheila had booked a package deal with a posh-ish hotel which ran a shuttle bus from Kathmandu but as this didn't leave until 3pm, we decided to take public buses via Bhaktapur.This involved 4 separate buses and me standing for the last 1 hour but did get us to Nagarkot about 3 hours earlier than the shuttle would have. Given how hard the seats were, standing was not a great sacrifice and Sheila enjoyed having a granny with little boy talking to her most of the way. The disadvantage was that it was not easy to take pictures of the spectacular journey up the winding road but if Sheila did manage to get some I'll leave her or Josie to add them.
Although the views from the hotel were impressive, they were limited by cloud so no sign of the mountains - we'll see them eventually!
The height was noticeable by the lower temperature, apparently Nagarkot is generally 5' colder than Ktm and it was definitely chilly in the evening. Having chosen the hotel for the luxury of an indoor swimming pool and jacuzzi, neither were warm enough to be spend much time in. Waking early to see the sunrise was foiled by more clouds.
However I did enjoy a long soak in a hot bath, my first in 7 months and very enjoyable. As a resort, Nagarkot can really only offer views and the starting point for treks of at least 4 hours (far too long for us even if they are mainly downhill!) so this morning, after Sheila had another short walk to explore, we took the hotel shuttle bus back to Ktm. Much quicker and more comfortable but the trip up on the public buses was an experience not to miss.
The height was noticeable by the lower temperature, apparently Nagarkot is generally 5' colder than Ktm and it was definitely chilly in the evening. Having chosen the hotel for the luxury of an indoor swimming pool and jacuzzi, neither were warm enough to be spend much time in. Waking early to see the sunrise was foiled by more clouds.
However I did enjoy a long soak in a hot bath, my first in 7 months and very enjoyable. As a resort, Nagarkot can really only offer views and the starting point for treks of at least 4 hours (far too long for us even if they are mainly downhill!) so this morning, after Sheila had another short walk to explore, we took the hotel shuttle bus back to Ktm. Much quicker and more comfortable but the trip up on the public buses was an experience not to miss.
Back to work tomorrow for both of us. I'm expecting an interesting week - we are due to negotiate the Blue Diamond Society's funding for the next year. Thereby lies a whole story worthy of its own blog but I'll wait for it to end before doing it!
Cheers
Roshan
P.S. For the Rowe family, who I hope are still reading this, and those who know Derek. I saw a little cart with the sign "Gaylord Ice Creams" - crikey, he's everywhere! I was not quick enough with the camera but will look out for it so I can get photographic evidence.
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