Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Two Months Down – Lessons and Highlights From Our Last 30 Days



Wow. Time sure does fly when you’re having fun. We both can’t believe how fast our second month on the road came and went. Just to sum things up; it’s the 5th of October and we’re currently in Kathmandu, Nepal. Tomorrow afternoon we are leaving for the Maldives via India and Sri Lanka. So far we’ve travelled nearly 17,000 kilometers (10,500 miles) over the last 60 days and in that time have saved (not taken) nearly 4000 pictures. Surprisingly we’ve had thousands of hits on our website since we started our trip and we’re sure thankful for everyone checking out the site and reading our stories via email.

Travel Lessons Learned this Month:
1. We found ATM fees way too high in Thailand and Nepal. Next time we’ll bring US dollars to both of these countries and use the currency exchange booths which actually gave a way better rate than an ATM in Nepal. Not to mention the 400 rupee charge from them and the several dollar charge from our bank. Not to mention working ATMs in Nepal were a bit hard to come by in certain areas.

2. When being given a room here in Nepal make sure you ask to see the room first before agreeing to the room and or price. We found a vast difference in room quality from room to room at certain hotels, even for rooms of the same type.
3. To help prevent bed bugs then we would recommend investing in some pre-treated/medicated sleeping sheets if coming to this part of the world.
4. We should have brought our own mosquito net with us. We stayed at a beautiful, albeit mosquito infested resort in Koh Chang, Thailand. The room was fantastic except it didn't include a mosquito net. It also didn't help that our cleaning person left the door wide-open while they were cleaning the room.

Highlights of the Past Month and Why:
Dave – I really enjoyed our mountain trekking. Waking up in the village of Ghandruk during our trek to see the mighty Annapurna Himalayan Range (pict including Annapurna South, Hiunchili and Machhapuchare (Fishtail). Viewing these majestic mountain peaks really puts into perspective how small we really are, awe-inspiring and breathtaking are just a couple phrases I could use to describe the feeling.

Pamela -  Also waking up in Ghandruk and seeing the mountains in full view. It was a beautiful site when the clouds cleared. You really only got to see the peaks in the morning and it was definitely worth the early AM wake-up call.

Lowlights of the Past Month and Why:
Dave – I really didn’t like Pamela having to deal with her bedbugs. This was probably the hardest thing for me this month.

Pamela – Bedbugs in Pokhara. No fun, especially for someone who’s very allergic to them. Thankfully we had a well prepared Doctor on our tour who helped out with some meds!

We definitely miss all our family and friends back home in Australia and America. Thank you to everyone supporting us back there!
Cheers for Now -

Pamela and Dave

1 comment:

  1. Bedbugs :( sucks big time.
    Photos of himalayas = awesome

    Ash xx

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