8 Months This Once

After the cold weather in China, and the tiring trek in Nepal, we were ready for some R&R, and feeling very happy about booking a week in the Maldives at this point in our trip! The Maldives is made up of 1200 islands, 200 of which are inhabited by locals, and many others of which are owned by international resorts that are super swanky (and well out of our budget).  An affordable option for us was to stay in a guesthouse on a local island, and we chose the small island of Dhiffusi based on a recommendation by friends (thank you Bill and Fiona!). We flew into Male, the capital, and were met at the airport by a guesthouse rep.  He walked us outside where the aquamarine ocean was right across the street from the airport, full of boats waiting for guests.  The ocean was incredibly beautiful, the water turquoise and clear, the sky was bright blue, the air was warm - paradise found! (and I couldn't find a photo of it -darn!). The vibe at the airport in Male The b...

Ok,  I have a new favourite country.  As soon as we landed in the airport, I knew there was something special about the place.  The airport arrivals area was pretty small with a low ceiling and dark wood counters and railings to accompany the brown and orange decor.  It was like being in a hotel lounge in the 1970s, except the wasn't any cigarette smoke.  The line up to get a visa was painfully slow, in fact, everything seemed to happen slowly, but in the most peaceful and dignified way. Our drive into Kathmandu from the airport was hot, dusty, full of honking horns and quick brakes, but I loved it.  The city felt so alive!  We stayed in Thamel, an old and very touristy district and I loved it too.  The character that a place gets when people, cows, dogs, scooters, vehicles and chickens are all trying to get somewhere or do something is really remarkable - there are layers and layers of things going on everywhere you look.  A few months ago...

We arrived in Kathmandu by plane to the biggest and only international airport in Nepal. It was about double the size of Williams Lake airport. We then went to our hotel and made a plan with the trekking company there. We met our guide for our ten day trek in the Annapurna Base Camp area. His name was Bibek. Average street in the capitol of Nepal. Ricksaw drivin by man power He seemed very nice and seemed to speak very good English. He would take the bus to Pokhara that night so that he would be there when we arrived by plane the next day. We made plenty of purchases of outdoor clothes, etc. that we needed for our trek.  Things there were pretty cheap and we were very happy with our purchases. We got lots of chocolate bars because we heard they were expensive in the mountains, and a power bank because it is hard to charge devices up there. We packed up all our stuff, dividing it into stuff we needed for the trek and stuff we didn't. All the stuff we didn...