Namaste! Kathmandu.

Namaste!

Namaste; Hi from Kathmandu!

We arrived yesterday, safe and sound, at the Kathmandu Guesthouse in Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal :)

Although we did suffer a few mishaps along the way, including a worrying problem with the flight bookings, along with Dave and Wilco getting lost in the airport at Dubai! They went through the wrong exit, passed through immigration, and ended up going in to the city to view the Burj Khalifa instead of hanging out in the transit lounge for eight hours with me. I’d call that a lucky mishap!

We spent our first day exploring cool Kathmandu on foot in glorious sunshine and managed to purchase our trekking permits and bus tickets along the way. It is so nice to back in the melee of Asia once again.

We ate great local food; the Chilli Chicken Mo Mo is particularly fine and the local beer is very nice too!

We have a very early start for the bus tomorrow; Dave didn’t realise that you could actually get out of bed at 04.45am! We have a long day on the bus; the guy at the ticket office says it is six hours so that usually means at least ten! :D

We are looking forward to getting to Jiri now and getting started on the trek.

See you soon

A few images of Kathmandu

Stupa in Kathmandu

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Some of the local art is amazing

Wilco collecting his trekking permit

Dave and Wilco in the local market

Everest Base Camp weather!

Dave Slater mentioned to me that he had been checking the weather forecasts for the Everest Base Camp recently; so I thought I'd take a look. Makes for very interesting reading. I might have to pack an extra pair of socks!
Minus 50C in the mornings and "Feels like" minus 67C. At least it warms up the afternoons with a positively balmy minus 31C out of the wind! :D Very sunny too though; I'll pack my shorts!

Link Here: Everest Base Camp Weather!

Massive Thanks to Oakley UK Ltd.

I'd very much like to thank Ronnie Loveridge from European Customer Care at Oakley UK Ltd for outstanding service above and beyond normal expectations.
I had quite specific requirements because I needed 2 sets of lenses that would be compatible for both the Base Camp Trek and The Yak Attack. Unfortunately when I went to place my order for custom sunglasses on their website both of the lenses were out of stock. I was very close to hitting the panic button! :D
I contacted Ronnie for help. As soon as they were available Ronnie arranged for the assembly of the glasses and the lenses immediately; and then shipped them overnight so that I would receive them in time for our departure.
This is a process that normally takes 7-10 days plus shipping. Ronnie pulled it off in under 48 hours!
Now that's customer service. 
Huge thanks and huge praise from me for Ronnie Loveridge and Oakley UK Ltd.
World class service from a world class manufacturer.
THANK YOU! :)

uk.oakley.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Oakley

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/OakleyUK 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/oakley

New sponsor announcement - PicStop.co.uk

http://www.picstop.co.uk/

 What Digital Camera BEST ONLINE RETAILER 3yrs running!

I'm very pleased to announce that PicStop have come on board with an unsolicited offer to supply us with Memory Cards and spare Camera Batteries for the trip.

Dave contacted them to make an order and asked if they could deliver them urgently. He then got chatting to Peter as to why he needed them so quickly and they were so impressed with our endeavour that they offered to supply them free of charge by way of sponsorship; and also very kindly added links to our blog site on their webpage! What a fantastic bunch of guys! :) Thank you very much Peter, we really appreciate your support. Hopefully we'll be able to return the favour with some great images of The Himalaya!

They also have a hugely popular Facebook page that is worth checking out here:  http://www.facebook.com/PicStop

And can be followed on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/#!/PicStop

Neil and Dave visit the Rab factory.

Neil Cottam, Dan Thompson and Dave Slater at the Rab UK Headquarters.

Dave and I called at the Rab UK Headquarters in Alfreton, Derbyshire today to collect the Neutrino Endurance Jackets and Ascent 700 Sleeping Bags for The Himalaya Quest. Many thanks to Dan Thompson for arranging this for us and the generosity of Rab's parent company Equip Technologies for supplying them to us. It's been a great help and has allowed us to focus on the many other things we've had to deal with.

Thanks Guys. You're The Bomb! :)

Tricia Whitt commented  on our Facebook page that "It is all starting to look mighty real now!" OMG I think she's right! Seven months ago it all looked so far away; now with just over seven days to go it's starting to look a bit scary! :D But in a good way ;)

We are really looking forward to it now and I can't wait to see my old friend Wilco Voulon when he arrives in the UK, from The Netherlands, next Saturday to travel with us. :)