Singapore pics

Some pics of our time in Singapore: Universal Studios, Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, Singapore Flyer, Sentosa…….

25 elephants, one rhino

Chitwan National Park is major animal jungle reserve, World Heritage listed, containing tigers, sloth bears, buffalo, crocodiles, leopards, wild elephant, rhinos, and other animals that will eat you (or at least stomp on you) given half a chance, along with deer, monkeys etc etc. A common way to wander through it is to climb aboard an elephant [...]

Trekking 5: Ghorepani to Pokhara

Day 11, after early morning hike up Pun Hill, we returned to relaxing breaky at Ghorepani Hotel before heading downhill on the last leg of the trek, through oak and rhododendron forests, beside mountain river flowing through a narrow gorge with crystal clear water  cascading into beautiful ponds that would be great to swim in, [...]

Trekking 4: Pun Hill

Day 11: 300m above Ghorepani, a 45-60 minute hike, is Pun Hill, where everyone heads up to in the dark to watch the sun rise light up the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri ranges, containing 2 of the highest 10 mountains on the planet. After a couple of days of heavy cloud cover, we weren’t real confident, but the [...]

Trekking 3: ABC to Ghorepani

Day 7, up early to see the sun rise on the Annapurna peaks, then retrace our steps to Bamboo. Took 3 days up, but only 1 day down. Approx 1.5 km vertical. Day 8, Bamboo to Chhomrong. In theory, easy, but in practice, Chhomrong is spread across/down the side of a rather large hill. You [...]

Trekking 2: Annapurna Base Camp

Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) is situated at an altitude of 4130m, about twice the altitude of the top of the highest mountain in Australia. It is in a bowl surrounded by huge peaks including Annapurna I (8091m), Annapurna South (7219m), Machhapuchhre (6997m), Annapurna III (7555m) and other peaks around and above 7000m. Altidude sickness (Acute [...]

Trekking 1: Phedi to ABC

With 2 porters to carry 2 of our 3 backpacks we went by minivan to Phedi, about half an hour away, where we commenced our trek by walking up about a thousand steps and steep trails towards Dhampus, then through Pothana to Tolka, where we stayed the night. Walked all day. Tired. Next day through Landruk [...]

Yes, Nepal DOES have mountains, after all

Fact 1: This time of year is peak tourist season. That is because the monsoon rains have finished, having washed the dust out of the skies, providing premium conditions for long range visibility. ie. You can see the mountains. And there is no rain at this time of year. Fact 2: Our flight from Singapore [...]

Images from Pokhara

Some pics from Pokhara, central Nepal…

Images from Kathmandu

Images from Kathmandu…