Wow Merry xmas everyone

Only one week to go and you will all be racing around like headless chickens. We have spied a few Xmas trees but it really doesn’t seem like Xmas at all.

We are in a gorgeous place called Kochi – a small place in Kerala (for Indian standards) where the Portugese, Dutch then English lived. It feels as though we have stepped back in time with these old English homes and eating places called “teapot”. My best cup of tea since home!!! We are relaxing after our hilarious Xmas shopping this morning. (We were meant to visit the elephant camp so set the alarm and no taxi arrived. We went fishing with the locals at 6am instead pulling up their Chinese fishing nets with them)We all drew a name out of a hat and armed with 300Rs ( $10) tried to find an Indian present without letting on to each other. Great fun testing our bargaining skills out and we all have big grins on our faces having secrets. We have bribed each other to keep our mouths shut for a fish dinner on Xmas day for anyone who succeeds. This will really test me out as have already almost blurted it out a couple of times. Tom the stirrer is loving winding us all up. He has just walked in – the last of us to return with his present. We are in the south of India and it is so different to the North. A lot more civilized, less chaos, people more educated, no cows lying on the roads or in the shops as it is predominantly Christian, Churches rather than Hindu shrines. It’s been a nice change but are all missing the craziness of the North. They still have the rubbish, dogs and horns on very local buses. We have been travelling on these machines as never seem to be organized in time to score the comfy AC buses (there are a few) and also Marty thinks it’s good for us to be with the locals. Our last two buses were classics. No windows, babies and bags on our laps, 3 people to a seat and drivers that thought they were on a race track not a crazy Indian road. We counted 3 cars that passed us on our last bus - a 200km (6 hours) trip. The horn blasted constantly and we spent more time on the opposite side of the road.

No one has written on the blog since the desert days in Rajasthan. We have been totally immersed in life here in India. Jodhpur with the coolest Mehrangarh fort (we had an audio tour which we loved),great local market and the best street omelets yet. Udaipur – eat your heart out James Bond!!!! We watched octopussy(filmed here), stayed in a palace overlooking Lake Pichola,enjoyed the lake palace during the most amazing lightning and thunder storm, wandered the narrow streets and Tom and I spoilt ourselves and went to a great cooking class. It was so much fun and we will have to have a few Indian meals at home with everyone testing our skills out. Pushkar was our last stop in Rajasthan and we had managed to get there during the annual camel fair. Initially thinking we wouldn’t go because of the amount of people and losing our kids to the camel drivers. But everyone keen and we all wished we had been there for the total 10 days rather than the 4 we had. It was truly head spinning stuff and one of our favorite times. A gorgeous place surrounding a holy lake and where around 200,000 people (camel drivers and their families,Sadus,worshipers,musicians,snake charmers, magic people, traders and they say about 50,000 camels, horses(with pointed ears)and cattle. On the last night of the fair all the devotees chant in processions and wash in the dirty waters and set candles onto the lake. This lasts all night and we didn’t get much sleep!!! Kids found the hilarious Indian fair rides and had a blast racing around enjoying them all. One was this crazy cone shaped wooden contraption that you stood on the top of and they rode cars and motorbikes around the wood. They hung out of the windows catching money, steering with one foot and accelerator on the other, touching each others vehicles when they felt like it. I was screaming!!!It rained on the day after the festival and the streets were just mud that oozed between our toes and splattered up our clothes!!! We had a great day with a French family and all enjoyed finding another family to hang out with – swimming in a pool, shopping eating street food, and running jumping and harassing the locals around the Ghats.

We headed onto Madhya Pradesh (centre of India) to a small area called Mandu where we had read that they had some great Afghani Architecture. Wow this area is full of palaces, tombs and mosques built around the 1300’s to 1500’s. The buildings were just so symmetrical and impressive and are sure we loved it so much because we were on push bikes hooning through the country side stopping when we wanted and also had the places to ourselves where we ran, jumped and climbed over everything we could. We found totally by chance an amazing freezer in this classic local eating place in a village that contained 2 litre tubs of delicious ice cream. We got a tin plate, 6 forks, unwrapped the cardboard surrounding the ice-cream and devoured it. There was no chat otherwise you missed out on your share!! We went back for a second helping – Max also finding a 2 litre coke bottle and making Ice cream sodas.

Ellora caves in Maharashtra was our next stop. These temples are carved out of rock – a mixture of Buddist, Hindu and Jain along a 2 km escarpment built around 600 to 1000 AD. We were in awe at these huge temples all carved from the top down, very intricate and taking 150 years to complete. It was so hot that we wilted after 3-4 hours leaving Marty to devour the history and temples while we found some shade.

We had our favorite train ride leaving Aurangabad (city near Ellora caves) at 5.30am and arriving in Goa 6am the following morning. 2 trains and lots of great platform action that we all love and are now missing in the south. Had a great guy Ed – hippy English guy who lives and plays music in Goa in our compartment. Max entertained us all and got totally out of control by the time these He-She’s (that’s what we call these guys dressed as women who march through the train demanding money) visited us. He mimicked them up and down the carriage much to the delight of everyone. We were doubled over with tears running down our cheeks. The he–she’s strut and clap their hands in a weird way. Max will have to give you a demonstration when we get home as he’s good!!!!

Goa was 4 days of beach and sun and nothing like the India we have experienced elsewhere. At first we hated it and of course by the 4^th day had totally relaxed and didn’t want to leave and hit the chaos of reality. People fly here from Europe and stay anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months not moving from the beach. A great overnight bus to Hampi from here. A place that reminded us a bit of the marble rocks in Australia but on a huger scale. An area of ruins from the 1300’s scattered over heaps of giant boulders, palm and coconut groves, rice paddy fields and banana plantations. The colors spectacular and we loved exploring the rocks. (The temples had second place beside these) Met a mum and daughter from Wellington here and Georgie loved hanging out with Izzy and I also enjoyed Pip’s (mum) company. We went shopping in the bazaar while Marty and the boys wrote postcards in the street!!! Didn’t buy a lot but the girls all had a blast.

Bangalore and the cricket were next on the itinerary. Our only set date we have had and it was soooo worth it. A hell night bus ride to get here – 5 hours in the middle of the night in a dusty street in the wops with a broken down bus. It took a while to get us on another as there were 6 of us and all full. I was starting to lose it by the end!!! The Cricket match- We spent from 11am until crashing at 2 am in our beds yelling and cheering the Black caps on for their 4^th one dayer. What a buzz to be surrounded by thousands of mad, crazy and passionate Indian cricket lovers (of course mainly men) cheering NZ on. We had decorated Marty’s sheet using shoe polish and hung it over the balcony and painted our faces with eyeliner. We were hoarse by the end as totally outnumbered. We were hoping to be the Kiwi’s lucky charm and such a bummer we lost. The Black caps so very disappointed at the end of the match.

Have just visited Ooty. An old English hill station with the hills covered in tea plantations at 2200ms and it was so cold. We were wrapped in all our clothes during the 2 nights here and just froze. A great place to explore visiting a tribal museum that was totally hands on and a tea factory. The highlight and reason for visiting was the diesel/steam train that winds its way up and down from Ooty to the plains below. We rode the diesel train ¼ of the way down (Coonor) the first day and loved it so much that decided to do the whole trip the next day with the added bonus of the steam train connecting to the carriages at Coonor. Beautiful scenery and a real buzz puffing our way down steep gradients with steam billowing around us.

Still not sure where we will be eating Xmas dinner – possibly Varkala on the coast a few hours from here. We will be thinking of everyone at home and missing the kiwi BBQ’s and you all.

Will wind our way back up, flying out of Goa on the 11^th to connect with our flights home. It’s not far away and all looking forward to it.

Lots of love and Xmas hugs – the Dobbe tribe.

Sitting on a coconut tree at Palolem Beach

The amazing beach that could of been something from Fiji

We hired three motorbikes and rode around for the day
Marty and Ben were the only ones to go off the
road and nearly crash.

Everyone reading their books on the train to Palolem Beach

This amazing sculpture carved out of rock
by 200 men using chisels

A Buddha Sculpture carved into a
huge room 

Everyone sitting on one of the Buddha's 

These amazing palaces built in the 500's 

We hired Indian push bikes and peddled around the town
of Mandu looking at all the old buildings

A huge corridor at one of the palaces

Another family with four children who we met in Pushkar.
They have been traveling the world in a
caravan for three years

The Camels all being sold during the
Pushkar Camel fair

The view from our room in Udaipur

Standing on rocks with the Jodhpur fort in the background

No hurry No worry No chicken No curry !!!!

Prince Tom & Princess Georgie

Ben of the Thar desert with his
Camel driver Ahmed (12 years old)

Tom riding Paplu like a local
NICE LIPS !!

WOW !!!
We are ready for breakfast after early morning racing
around the Taj Mahal

Morning time in the Desert after a hard night on the sand
Where's my coffee?

Georgie riding the local wheels in Agra
They are harder to ride than they look
she fell off just after this photo

Max and a desert boy herding the goats in the morning

Max getting close with one of the locals

Our train accomadation morning time

Golden Temple in Amirtsar

Hello from the desert
12 days since writing the last spiel and we have finally stopped for a much needed breather. Are in an amazing desert town called Jalasalmer near the Pakistan border with a fort that reminds us of kids story books – towering above us on the only hill and surrounded by desert. We were up early this am (I managed to set the alarm clock 1 hour earlier than thought and was very popular) and spent a couple of hours winding through a warren of narrow stone walls, holes and streets and leaping over cannons, stone balls, all the time dodging cows, drains and motorbikes. Through all the streets are carved stone windows so intricate and often so close together that it made it difficult for the light to get through. The boys had had enough and left Georgie, Marty and I to find a train ticket and the ice cream shop!!!!
I have to get my head around where we have been as it seems so much has been going on. It really is so full on with the noises and smells and people. We survived our train ride to Agra with the locals – just. Not much sleep!! The vote in the Dobbe house hold rates Agra as a highlight. We just could not get enough of the Taj and lucky Ben Georgie and max were able to race in from where we were staying at anytime as free entry to under 15’. The adult’s saw the Taj 3 times in the 2 days we were there. Took heaps of photos and were wowed all the time. Our am sunrise was amazing. Managed to be first ones in and we were all racing around sliding and touching the beautiful marble that was everywhere. Marty and I could have spent all day just gazing but kids hungry and wilting. They had lasted 3 ½ hours so had done well. The other 2 times were on the local wooden dingy we had discovered on the Yamuna River in front of the Taj. We had the place to ourselves and the taj reflected in the water. AMAZING. We stayed at a fantastic little guest house right beside the Taj and spent time hanging out during the hot mid day sun. Georgie Max and I cuddled in bed reading Heidi, munching noodles, cheese toast and boiled eggs – Bliss.
Headed off to Amritsar and the train trip nearly killed us. 18 hours (the train spent 4 hours sitting on tracks somewhere!!!) Another Sleeper and Marty had to remove the beggars to get our seats. The train disgusting and toilets pretty bad after the 18 hours and very difficult squatting while the train moving and with the air from the tracks coming to greet you. I actually had a great sleep and unaware that Marty "who eats anything "spent the night decorating the start blocks with his vomit!!! Marty hence had a slow day while we all raced around experiencing the Sikhs beautiful Golden Temple.

Amaritsar also wowed us. The Golden temple is an amazing place – the Sikh’s place of worship. An amazing, beautiful temple surrounded by a pool of nectar, marble floors,scalfs on our heads, bare feet and Sikh bathers having a plunge in the waters. Incredibly friendly people who loved our family. We were there for Dawali – the huge festival of lights. The golden temple was covered in spectacular lights and a huge influx of Sikh people visiting as the holy time of year to bath. Dawali went on for nearly 5 days and it was unreal. Our fireworks are tame in comparison and have a new meaning. They are like bombs or explosions that are lit in these narrow streets by ANY age kid – usually young. The noise is deafening and certainly had us all scattering much to the delight of the kids. We were over it by the end as they were so scary and loud. Definitely a boy’s haven!!!!
We visited the border between India and Pakistan called Wagah (30mins from Amritsar) for the ceremonial border crossing that they do every evening at sunset. It’s a hilarious act of each side trying to outdo each other with yelling, chanting, music, dance and goose stepping by the guards. We thought maybe 10,000 Indians were there. A really funny thing to see.
I have to tell you about where we stayed as it was also an experience. The Sikhs at the golden Temple offer all the pilgrims free accommodation and food. We stayed here amongst them all. The toilet run was almost too much for the kids and me. 1000’s of people and we would go through where they all lay and slept to the communal bathroom where the toilet doors had a square hole in them. Not sure the reason but Tom hated the perverts!!!!! Georgie and I a bit luckier as the women mainly to short to reach the hole and stare at us. We ate twice in the communal kitchen. This place feeds 1000 people in ½ hour and stops for 2 hours at 2am to clean and prepare. We sat on the concrete floor with the pilgrims eating rice, Dahl and chapattis that were dished out from these buckets that the helpers carried up and down the rows. No sooner had we eaten and the huge floor scrappers came down the rows mopping up the spillage and then the next lot of people was usurer in. Given a tour of the kitchen - the chapatti factory of people rolling and cooking was impressive as were the pot sizes.
Another train trip to Bikaner in Rajasthan. It was funny as we all pleaded with staunch Marty to try and upgrade us to 3AC from sleeper where we sat with the dust swirling and the local guys staring and the beggar women beside us. Max came back from the other end of the train bouncing with delight and could hardly get the words out with excitement saying we can move to 3AC. We had our packs on our backs and had moved into luxury within seconds. The grins were huge and we lay on the seats away from the hustle and felt so relaxed. A good choice as the train ride was almost 24hrs with all the delays. We stumbled onto the platform at 4am.
Spent 2 nights and 3 days camel trekking in the Thar Desert. What a buzz riding on top of these amazing huge animals loping along and enjoyed the view from high. Riding the camels was like a slow motion rocking chair but the camel’s long legs meant we covered 30 km a day. Lunch was spent under the shade of a tree or shrub while Marty read Swiss family Robinson to us all. The sunsets were beautiful and sleeping under the stars listening to the camels belching and chewing their cud was an experience. The ground was so hard and we ate plenty of sand. We had an avid cricket fan who knew every fact about cricket as one of our camel drivers and he had a radio so we had great delight listening to the last 2 days of the cricket test. We would love to try and get to one of the 1 day games.
To get to Jaisalmer in 1 day we rode by camel, jeep, 2 real Indian buses and a tuk tuk!! The last bus ride nearly finished us off. This bus pulled up and Marty saw it and said luckily were not going on that bus. It had people in every crevasse. On the top, in the middle, aisles and seats and doors. We think 200 people.
Well it was our bus and we formed a scrum to get into the door. We were put in this top level sleeper compartment which is pretty much an oversized coffin. Marty decided it was smaller than a sheet of plywood and not high enough to sit up in. I was last on the bus and was shoved in head first by the bus conductor. We sat/lay for 2 hours in the sweat box with a tangle of arms and legs. I nearly lost it and was quickly plugged in to the music to calm me down. We did get the giggles all the time as just couldn’t quite believe it.
Jaisalmer – a place with the most spectacular fort built out of soft yellow sand stone looming above us and surrounded by desert has been a great place to charge our batteries. We are staying in a place with a hot shower – bliss. Last night we went out to sand dunes by jeep and lept ran and rolled down the dunes while the red ball of sun set. We had so much fun. The kids made a fort and found as many dung beetles as they could and had great delight in watching them struggle up the edges and fall back down. Our driver loved the kids so much that he took us back to his desert village to meet his family. An amazing experience.
Leaving this pm to Jodhpur by train. We are going for 4 days to the Pushkar camel fair on the 18^th.
We are missing home and our friend’s lots. The conversations revolve around food, turning the tap on to drink water and wondering what everyone is up to.

Tom Canyoning down a waterfall

Marty showing us how its done

Ready and geared up to go rafting

Our first train trip at midnight

The most amazing sunrise looking over the Ganges in Varanasi

Oh My Golly Gosh

Oh my golly gosh the Dobbe’s experience their first taste of India. It is crazy, mad,cows everywhere,rubbish,people,an explosion of your senses in every way. Kids being offered hashish at every corner and spotting dead bodies in the Ganga (Ganges)

We are in Varanasi – It took us 24 hours to get here from Kathmandu – Left at 6.30 am and had a day of firsts for us. Caught a small taxi, and 2 buses to the boarder. Walked across the 200m strip of chaos to reach India. The kids still smiling and loved having one foot in Nepal and one in India. Another very local bus for 3 hours to a city called Goraktapur. That was entertaining. Georgie, me and one other women and the rest were staring men. The bus was exploding with them down the aisles. They had a small TV screen at the front with a terrible Bollywood movie on and LOUD screeching music. Within 10 mins I had been spat on – They chew this tobacco/spice mixture called Betel juice that is red and rots their teeth (It really looks bad!!!)They spit it out when they have had enough and this time it was on my leg running down to pool between my toes. I screamed and the man got his filthy cloth out to wipe it up. Max need to have a pee so luckily had an empty Pepsi bottle that was put to good use. We were cracking up. Arrived in the dark and found the train station. Just ioo’s of people lying outside as well as inside. We were all tired and it was pretty chaotic.

We lat on the dirty marble floor by the platform with everyone else and Marty found omelets from a hot plate on wheels that was wrapped up in newspaper (it was delicious) and our first taste of chai (a hot milky, sweet tea). We all brushed our teeth and spat onto the train tracks and clambered onto the train around 1015 pm.( we were lucky to get on the train as had sat there wondering if it was our train and had asked plenty of people – got the head wobble response- for ½ hour) We were travelling on 2 AC. A step down from first class and we were given a couple of sheets, pillow and a woolly blanket. You fold down the seat and can pull the curtain so have your own little cubicle. We were spread out throughout the carriage and good ole Mum and Dad found some more reserve and made sure the babies were all tucked up and OK before cuddling up ourselves around midnight. The lull of the gentle train movement had us asleep in minutes. We were woken at 5am by the conductor and within 5 mins were staggering back onto a platform this time in Varanasi. Not one complaint from the kids this whole time which was amazing. I think their eyes were so wide open with amazement. A tuk tuk a ride to a guest house, the biggest dump Marty and Tom found (I must say I sat on my bottom in the tuk tuk with the others total knacked and not moving!!!) The room was sort of clean, the toilet water was running out the bottom of the toilet onto the floor, at the door was a huge pile of smelling rubbish, it was down a smelly narrow alley way and called Elvis. We dropped our bags and with a mammoth effort walked through some alley ways and out onto the Ghats just as the sun came up above the Ganga. It was a red ball and we all just went WOW. Jumped on a little row boat and spent 2 hours spell bound. Rowed down passed all the ghats seeing people bathing in the dirty water, lighting blessing candles surrounded by marigolds, passing the burning Ghats with dead bodies about to be burnt and being burnt, buffalos bathing, monkeys scampering, dogs scavenging and  the daily rituals of Varanasi life.

Spent 3 days here wandering the narrow alleys, making friends with the locals (they all know us) and trying out the Indian food. Found this great local place and to our amazement the kids tucking into spicy Thali’s (the local meal here similar to Nepal but more dishes and chapattis) and Masala Dosa’s. It’s hot here and no jerseys needed. We have all loved it  and the kids have totally taken it in their stride. We changed places to stay within a couple of hours. I couldn’t bear it. Max, Georgie, Marty and I are sitting on the balcony (6.30am) overlooking the main Ghats with the best view ever. Max snuggled in his blanket still and I am struggling to concentrate on the computer as always something to see or hear. Heading off this afternoon to Agra on the train- a 13 hour trip. We are laughing as this time have booked sleeper class. No luxury of sheets, curtains or separate beds. It will be interesting to see how many locals we will be sharing the beds with!!! Today we will catch our first cycle rickshaws to find some buffalos swimming and walk back up the Ghats.

We think this place is amazing!!!!! And what a cool experience it is for us all.

Our time in Nepal

I am back on line. The connections are incredibly dodgy and hard to keep for a period of time and also you get so absorbed in the everyday life that getting on a computer is not a priority!!!!

Our trekking was just the best. We walked for 24 days and by the last 6 days were all dreaming of showers, clean hair ( Georgie and I had not washed ours for 14 days as it was just too cold), and all sorts of food we could imagine. We ate Chapattis and omelets or porridge for breakfast, noodle veggie soup or Dahl baht (a huge plate of lentals, curried veggies and rice. A bonus a you can go ask for more for the same price. Tom and Ben held the record of 3 times. Our teenagers are always hungry!!!) And dinner was usually potatoes with fried egg and yak cheese on top.

Jiri to Namache (11 days) was unbelievably beautiful, hot and lovely local people who always invited us into their homes and meals were around their kitchen fire (mud stoves with holes on the top- I loved them) we spent a day with a Tibetan Doctor who studies. Teaches and treats Tibetan people with herbal medicines from plants, roots and bark. He sat us all down individually (between the Tibetan people) and looked at our tongues and took our pulses and as Max said – knew everything about us. We were all laughing so much. He took us to the monastery and ended up down in the kitchen where the ladies feed 300 monks/nuns all day. (The pots and piles of potatoes were unreal) They loved the kids and kept dragging them off to see things or be given things. The evening in the village was with lovely family where Ed Hillary had stayed 10 years ago. Once I mentioned how beautiful their daughter was he pulled out the bottle of his home made rasik (apple brandy) and insisted we drink. They were not fazed when I said Tom was only 14 yrs old!!!

We would start our day walking generally at 7am and at 5.30pm max and Georgie’s heads would be resting on the kitchen table and stomachs rumbling. Bed by 6.30pm for us all!!! The sky was always clear in the mornings and we had an hour of walking before the sun hit us. We had a treat for two days and found a couple of porters who carried our packs as had to cross a huge pass. Georgie and max were skipping and we all had verbal diarrhoea. Ben said it was the best rupees we’ve ever spent. This part of the walk had HUGE hills that just seemed to get bigger. One day was unbelievable – A huge 1500m decent down to the bottom of the valley and across a swing bridge above the Dudh Kosi and then up (steep stairs for miles )for a 1000m. Lots of I spy and 20 questions to keep us going.

We met so many people the day before Namac he.. They all fly into Lukla and trek to Everest base camp. Georgie counted around 30 planes one day. We felt very scruffy watching these keen walkers – clean, no whiskers, new boots, shinny hair and amazing outfits.

We did a round circle from Namache that took us 13 days. Namache is at 3440m the lowest point!!! Spent 2 days here to acclimatize and even found the most amazing pizza amongst the narrow streets. Headed up a valley to Gokyo. Short days and porters with us for this part so apart from the puffing from the 2 oldies found it a lot easier. The kids even had the energy and enough puff to pull out the soccer ball every night and give the locals a game – they had the altitude benefit and were also great at dodging the yaks and the yak poo!!!. Gokyo was spectacular and the views just unreal.  Our timing perfect with Tom’s birthday. All he wanted was food and had carried 3 dehydrated bacon, eggs and hash browns given to us by the Kelly’s with him They were beaming and the locals were impressed with the taste.

Our pass climb was impressive. The kids amazed me. Ben had to have a poo, Georgie and Ben amazingly could have a discussion about something they didn’t agree with, Tom and max made tracks in this snow that no one had walked in (i.e. up/down huge hills) and Marty was a machine all at 5480m’s!!!! It snowed for 2 hours. Max told me we puffed so much and walked so slowly like being on the moon. They were so proud of themselves.

Our sweepstakes were spot on and Ben was really the only one that got sick. He had a huge vomit and wanted to go home. Thank goodness by lunchtime the next that had his smile back. We scored with the transport from Lukla back to Kathmandu – a Russian helicopter wow and so luck as friends had been waiting for 4 days because of the weather.

We all found the return to Kathmandu wonderful and it felt like coming home. Tom even remarked that the guesthouse was 5 star after calling it a shit hole when we arrived. Had 3 days up at the last resort. An idyllic spot near the Tibetan boarder with no horns, cars and barking dogs. Spent a morning canyoning down 7 waterfalls and then on the way home we all rafted down the Bhodi Kosi much too Marty’s delight having us all in a raft together.

No one keen to leave Nepal and all wanting to come back as loved it so much. All nervous about India – Every traveler has stories to tell us uggggg

Trekking!!!



Tom and Ben holding on for dear life
Huge rocks carved with Tibetin writting



The trekkers nearly at Gokyo





Gokyo - From Georgie and Martys honeymoon suite
The sun is shinning on the pass that we crossed
4800 meters



Our amazing view from the fifth lake
above Gokyo
A hard slog and plenty of moro bars needed to get here
4900 meters

WOW!!!
Sagarmatha (Everest) view from the fifth lake

BIRTHDAY BOY
What a way to have a 15th birthday
On top of the Renjo La pass
5480 meters

Do we look stuffed or what?
Becs finally stopped talking in the
last 100 meter climb
So very very high
Renjo La
5480 meters

A MORO moment for the crew
On our way down at last

Our sweet ride out of Lukla
The planes had not been flying for five
days because of the weather
Thanks to the richies who charted it in
We were grinning

Thanks to Josies stamp we had an amazing day
spent with three families celebrating the
Dasain festival
Georgia on the local swing made of bamboo

As part of the festival you are taken into the families homes
and given a tikka
We had plenty of tikka's by the end of the day

This man followed us the whole way carrying pipes
He often had to walk side ways to fit on the
track and bridges

YAK YAK YAK YAK