Happy New Year! (Again)

We headed off today on a short 4 day trek into the Helambu region. It is supposed to be a quiet trek, and as it is New Year's Day today we thought it would be extra quiet. Wrong! Loads of people were heading off to the Shivapuri National Park to have a picnic, taking blankets and cooking equipment and everything. As you can see, even Penelope Cruz came along.

It's not really Ms Cruz, it is a young Nepali lady who was part of a group of lovely students who walked to the same destination as us. They were so gentle and friendly and full of fun that you have a good feeling that the future of Nepal will be in good hands (let's hope so). We met a quite a few youngsters along the way and they were all fantastic. "The way" was up up up and it appeared that any power my legs might have had was left in Kathmandu!

After four hours we made it to our destination, Chisapani. It was not like previous places we had stayed while trekking. The people were a bit more reserved and didn't have the warm and cuddly feeling that you normally get from the Nepalese. The cost of everything was shocking as well. To top it off there was drinking and fighting in the street outside and then somebody puking in the toilet next to us.

Happy New Year!