Normal service resumed!

Hi everyone.
Firstly a quick apology, since returning from Nepal I've had problems with my internet connection, sorry about that. This has now been resolved and I should be able to upload new blogs about our trekking trip to Mount Everest Base Camp and my successful completion of the Yak Attack mountain bike race over the next week or so; time permitting. 
I'll also be uploading a lot of images from both events; some of the things we experienced were truly amazing and hopefully you will be able to get a flavour of it from our photographs :)
I have also secured the domain name chasetherainbow.co.uk and we might move to a full website at some point soon if we can; at the moment it is just linked to the blog.
I am hoping to have some BIG news to announce towards the end of the month about a potential adventure or two for next year as well; watch this space! 
I'm also considering entering another one of the worlds toughest mountain bike races, La Ruta de Los Conquistadors held in Costa Rica in November but that really does depend on my being able to finance the trip and work out how to get enough time off work. Still a pipe dream at the minute.
In the mean time I have a reunion planned with Wilco in Holland in the middle of June and we will be attending The Fusion of Dance rave in his home town of Zwolle. I'm looking forward to that!
Thanks to everyone for their support and please keep on looking.
See you soon :)

And so it begins... The 2012 Yak Attack, Nepal.

The 2012 TORQ Yak Attack. Nepal.

Namaste!

So it’s actually going to happen! The registration event went off promptly at 12 noon today in the beautiful sunshine, in the equally lovely garden of the Kathmandu Guesthouse. As you might expect I turned up promptly (5 minutes late) at the Dawn til Dusk mountain bike office to register; completely the wrong place! So I slipped in to the garden, blended in with the crowds and tried not to look like I had turned up late.

Phil Evans gave a brief for the assembled competitors, the press and the gathered throng.

Phil Evans giving the pre-race briefing at the Kathmandu Guesthouse.

The competitors were then called up in turn to collect their race number and Torq Fitness gift pack (Event Sponsor).

I asked fellow rider Paul Topham to take a few photographs for me when it was my turn. Now it’s really lucky for me that I’m not superstitious; I was handed number 13! I had to laugh.

It really could only happen to me!

Each competitor was then requested to give a short interview to nepalsutra.com who are covering the event online with video footage etc. I’m not sure what they thought of me when the interviewer asked if I had a message for everyone at home; I smiled at the camera, gave a little wave and said “Hopefully I’ll still be alive!”.

We then had a very nice, informal garden party where the competitors mingled and chatted for a while. And that was it really; everyone slowly dispersed to carry on with their own preparations.

Roll on tomorrow! 

Competitors at the briefing.

Neil Cottam chatting with Phil Evans at the registration desk.

You just couldn't make it up! My "lucky" race number.

Kathmandu days and preparing for Blast-Off!

Like a modern day Billy The Kid!

Dave, Wilco and I arrived back in Kathmandu on the 19^th February, several days in advance of our predicted arrival. We flew in from Lukla on what must be one of the coolest flights on earth! Well that’s if it goes smoothly of course; luckily ours went with barely a ripple and took a mere 20 minutes from take-off to landing. We realised just how far we had walked in the preceding days as we flew back over much of what of we had covered on foot! The High Himalaya is just a impressive from the air.

We spent a few days recovering from our wounds and did a little sightseeing. We ate as much food as we could including copious quantities of cake from the local bakery. We deserved it, we figured!

We bumped in to new found friends from the trail and toasted them in the bars of Thamel. Beware of the local “Everest” beer. It gives an Everest sized hangover! Ouch.

I spent separate afternoons cycling around the city with both Dave and Wilco; and we had a lot of fun running the gauntlet of the outrageous Kathmandu traffic. If you can survive there, you can survive anywhere!

We booked ourselves on to a kayaking trip for a couple of days (Thursday & Friday) with Adventure Aves Nepal. The trip was a lot of fun, the instruction from Bishnu Gurung was first class and the food was excellent; the equipment was mostly UK imported and was in very good condition. Check them out if you are ever in the region and fancy some adventure. We paid $100 each and it was well worth it. They offer a number of packages for differing levels and also a spectacular looking White-Water Rafting trip.

Some of the rapids were wicked and we even had to by-pass one due to the level of difficulty/danger. It was a lot of fun riding that one on the safety raft; I’m pretty sure we would have lasted about 5 seconds trying to negotiate it in a kayak!

Krazy Kathmandu!

Mount Everest. Nepal.

Yesterday we visited the Swayambhunath Temple set high on a hill to the west of Kathmandu. Prayer flags fluttered in the breeze, pilgrims and tourists alike crawled up the steep stone steps to the shrines, and the resident population of monkeys terrorised innocent picnickers; stealing any unattended goodies and, working in perfect harmony to distract them, they even stole items that were closely guarded! Dave laughed out loud on a couple of occasions as he watched them stalking potential victims before pouncing with rapier like speed to plunder their bounty.

Wilco snapped happily away with his camera, taking pictures of anything that caught his eye. He has an eye for the interesting; it turns out.

And me? I just wandered; I like to wander.

Kathmandu is typically Asian. Manic, dusty, heavily polluted. But it has all the charm of Buddhist Asia. The people are as warm as they are enterprising. Every Asian city I have visited seems to have an angle; a trade that the underprivileged embrace. In Hanoi, for example, ladies walk the city streets calling out “Pineapple-Banana”; In Bangkok it always seems to be “Tuk-tuk sir? Ping-Pong?” referring to the ubiquitous transport and the seedy shows! Saigon was all cigarettes in large folding cases or cheap copies of well known travel books. Here in Kathmandu it seems that everyone is selling Tiger Balm, small musical instruments specially made for the tourist market, or prayer wheels in one form or another. And of course every shady looking fella sidles up and whispers “Hashish Sir?”

Namaste from Namche!

Hi folks. Just a quick update.
We have arrived back in Namche after our successful visit to Gorak Shep and Everest Base Camp. We had a few mishaps and a lot of fun along the way but we made it. It has been unbelievably tough walking all the way in on the Expedition Route from Jiri but it has been worth it. We all acclimatised extremely well but I can tell you that 5000m above sea level is no place for normal human beings! It's nice to be back at a more moderate 3500m! We also trekked back from Gorak Shep to Namche in 9 1/2 hours! That's faster than The Millennium Falcon  does the Kessle run! Hahaha.On the way back I narrowly avoided an actual Yak Attack and when we arrived in Namche Dave was so hungry he ate Yak steak and chips twice!
Lots of stunning and silly images to be uploaded as soon as we get to Kathmandu (hopefully in a couple of days; fingers crossed!) and a bit more detail about our experiences. Be warned though; the main topic of conversation over the past few weeks has been about our toilet experiences! Hahahaha.
Thanks to you all for being patient and for continuing to support us.
Much love to all our families, we miss you all so much xxx