Nepal
Rhododendrons, Sweat & 3,200 Steps
Day 5 marked the beginning of our much-anticipated trekking adventure — not the Everest-y, oxygen-deprived kind, but where you still feel your thighs burning and your soul glowing. We left Pokhara with lighter packs and heavier anticipation. Our larger bags were handed off to the porters — superhumans in flip-flops who carry 40 kilos as [...]
Pokhara: Suspended Between Chaos and Water
Day Four. Kathmandu to Pokhara. This kind of transition feels seamless at least on paper: a 25-minute flight, a quick drive, a day of aquatic adrenaline and sacred islets. But in Nepal, time doesn’t flow—it sort of eddies and churns, like the rivers we were about to ride. We woke up at the kind of hour usually reserved for long-haul [...]
Blood, Butter, and Banter in the Kathmandu Valley
…in which I meditate in a cave, get politely kicked out of another, and end the day drinking rum like a well-meaning colonial ghost. I woke up in Kathmandu on day three with the sensation that my legs had been sneakily replaced in the night by a pair of antique sewing machines—functional, but protesting every step. Not that it [...]
Vishnu, Cremations, and a 200-Euro Lesson in Haggling
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the second day of any group tour begins with a betrayal: the alarm clock. At 6:30 a.m., Kathmandu is still stretching its dusty arms while we’re already weaponized with cameras and sunblock, gnawing on uninspired toast at the hotel breakfast buffet. We’ve signed up for this madness [...]
Of Monkeys, Spirituality, and Group Travel Alchemy
I landed in Kathmandu on the morning of 20th April, disembarking from what can only be described as a budgetary experiment in human endurance: Air Arabia. No food, no drink, and not even the faintest hint of in-flight entertainment for a 20+ hour odyssey that took me from Dublin to Orio al Serio, then onward to the glowing glass limbo of [...]