They say that all good things must come to an end, and so our time in Nepal is almost over. It has been an amazing five weeks filled with adventures in the Himalayan mountains, silent time meditating on the meaning of life, and lots of delightful coffee shops. It was a shame to miss out on Pakistan, but in life when one door (or border) closes, another opens and we wouldn’t have had this special time in Nepal otherwise. I really love the relaxed and laid back vibe here in Nepal and the people are so friendly; it feels reminiscent of New Zealand in this sense. Alice and I are already scheming a return trip at some point to do another Himalayan trek.

Our original planned border crossing into China/Tibet was at a popular tourist destination border crossing called Gyirong. Some of you already know that a few days ago we were informed by our tour guide organiser we might not even be going anymore. This was due to a monsoon flood that washed out the bridge from Nepal at the Gyriong border. The timing for us was awful, it was literally a few days before we were meant to cross the border. But, what was so much worse was hearing the stories of death and devastation in the region. This flood was a direct result of a glacial lake in Tibet overflowing. This occurred due to increased glacier melt caused by rising global temperatures. Alice and her Dad actually recently worked on a project with Protect Our Winters about the impacts of glacial decline on downstream watersheds and communities, and here we were seeing and experiencing the effects in real time. Tibet is known as the world's water table for a reason, there is much to protect up on that very special plateau. 

So, if we can’t go through Tibet the only way to get to China would be to fly! It’s crazy to look at all of India and Nepal and the border with China and know that currently there is no open borders for foreigners! Luckily our tour company (and the very efficient Chinese government) got to work organising an alternative border crossing for tours. There is another place which is mostly used as a trade border/dryland port between Nepal and China, and for local workers to cross. This border crossing is usually closed for tourists but they have opened it temporarily while they repair the flood damage. This happened in about two days, which is pretty incredible! We were warned that the road might be a little dicey, but by now we’re used to the roads in Nepal being a mix between a mudbath and a landslide. 

So we said farewell to our favourite cafes and the lovely staff at our hostel in Kathmandu. Our week of rest and relaxation was over and after one last coffee from our local cafe, we met some of the other people in our tour group, a family from Italy and got on the road in a tough looking jeep. We were expecting the drive to be a nightmare, but it ended up being relatively quick, only taking us five hours to cover the 110km (this is fast by Nepal road standards). 

We arrived in a remote border town called Tatopani where we would be spending the night. It is a small town with a handful of places to eat and a “hot spring” which turned out to be some rooms with bathtubs that were supposedly fed by a natural hot spring. It was kind of weird so we opted for a shower at our hotel instead. This town is 1500m above sea level and it is so lush and green here at this time of year. The people living in this area seem to rely heavily on permaculture for their food supply, and as we walked around we noticed that houses were seamlessly interspersed with fields of corn and various other vegetables. Tomorrow if all goes to plan we will cross the border into Tibet and begin the long climb up to the Tibetan Plateau, sometimes referred to as the “Roof of the World”.

Our time in Kopan came to an end and we immediately jumped into a very contrasting experience - the immigration office! We had to extend our visas the afternoon we left the monastery, and the taxi ride downtown in the pouring rain really was a shock to our (previously very relaxed) systems. We walked in on a fight that had police involved and watched as a man was taken away in handcuffs, but we used our fresh teachings to try and feel compassion for all parties involved. Not sure if it helped, but we did manage to get our visas extended pretty easily!

From here we headed up to the north of Kathmandu Valley to volunteer at a Yoga School for about nine days. We arrived and met the lovely team, and were really excited to jump into some work using our professional skillsets, a nice change. Unfortunately, despite the lovely team, it wasn’t going to work out. There were some hygiene issues that resulted in Josh getting sick and a rather sleepless night with too many cockroaches, so we made the call to pull the pin and get out of there. 

The next morning we high tailed it to Thamel, the neighbourhood of Kathmandu known for its backpacker haunts, copious food options and more fake North Face than one can even dream of. We went straight to the infamous “Four Stories” cafe and settled in with a top tier flat white, a fat stack of pancakes and some of our friends from Kopan. Despite flinching whenever we thought we saw a crawling roach out of the corner of our eyes, we were quickly feeling better and started settling into a very chill routine for the next week. 

It went something like this:

7:30 AM - Alarm goes off, Alice goes back to sleep, Josh dozes and then goes down to buy takeaway coffees and pastries

8:30 AM - Enjoy pastries and coffees in bed while reading our books

10:30 AM - Pack up our things and relocate to Four Stories, ordering another coffee each and a delicious breakfast (some of our favs were the chilli scramble, granola bowl and fluffy cloud cakes)

11:30 AM - Park up for a fair few hours, doing everything under the sun from writing postcards home, reading our books, perfecting Instagram posts, planning for China, watching youtube and working on the website

3:30 PM - Start to feel a little woozy after our third coffee of the day and not enough food, so leave the cafe and walk back to the hostel

4:00 PM - Take a nap or read our books some more

5:00 PM - Toss up the idea of visiting one of the tourist attractions in Kathmandu, but instead get a cheap and easy dinner nearby

8:00 PM - Back home to read our books some more, sleep and repeat

We really wanted to take this time to rest and rejuvenate before leaving South Asia, and honestly we loved every minute. We spent too much money on fancy coffees and food, and didn’t do nearly enough exercise, but to just rest and have no pressure to “travel” was an amazing feeling. My favourite part about this was that by the end we were sooo excited to get on the road again! The idea of being in a new country with new food and new scenery and moving every couple of days was becoming more and more exciting again. We hadn’t “lost” our spark, but this period of rest definitely got it burning a bit brighter again!!

One of the many tourist attractions in Kathmandu we actually made it to was the Pashupatinath Temple. This is the Nepali version of Varansai, where they perform the Hindu death rituals/cremation ceremonies alongside a holy river. It is highly regarded by Hindus and many pilgrims from India try to visit this temple at least once in their lives. We went with a couple of friends from Kopan monastery who had organised a free walking tour with a local guide. He showed us around the temple grounds and explained the funeral process, a very open air affair. The body is cleaned in the river by the family members and then moved to a spot next to the river where it is burned in a pyre. While we were there we saw a body being prepared, and multiple pyres burning. It was quite an experience.

One of our favourite outings from Thamel was to a Saturday market in an upmarket suburb  nearby. There was lots of sustainable and handmade items and crafts, and such an amazing selection of food. At times I felt like I was in Paris, not Kathmandu, and we left with some cheese, bread and dips for dinner at our hostel. 

Some of our other exciting activities included a much needed haircut for Josh, a trim for Alice, a trip to the movies to watch Jurassic World Rebirth (in 3D!), wandering the Garden of Dreams on a very hot day and visiting a local art gallery. Josh found a BJJ (Brazillian Jiu Jitsu) class to go to and Alice found a pilates class. 

Overall it was pretty quiet, with most of our time spent getting very familiar with the comfiest spots at Four Stories! In the end, we were super happy with this time and the break that it gave us, but are looking forward to visiting a few more of the sights next time when we’re in Nepal! 

The roads in Nepal are terrible. This makes sense given the yearly monsoon rains which cause constant landslides, the mountainous Himalayan terrain, and the 2015 earthquake which devastated much of the country. We had already experienced this on our way to the Manaslu trek, on probably the most terrifying bus trip of our lives. We were reminded again on a bus trip from Pokhaha to Kathmandu. The 200km journey took us over 9 hours!! This was a real test of our patience, and a great reminder that travelling even a short distance in Nepal can take a whole day. 

So what were we doing in Kathmandu? Let’s rewind slightly back to the time when we were doing our yoga teacher training in Dharamashala, India. This is where His Holiness the Dalai Lama resides in exile after Tibet was occupied by China over 60 years ago. We were lucky enough to meet His Holiness and while waiting in line we made friends with a guy called Dan. Dan had recently completed an ‘Introduction to Buddhism’ course at Kopan monastery in Kathmandu and highly recommended it to us. We already had the monastery on our radar, so speaking with Dan was the final push we needed to book it in. Kopan Monastery is in the Mahayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, which is the branch practiced by His Holiness, so it was a very special full circle after our blessing while we were in Dharamashala. The only course that worked for us timing wise was ‘Buddhism For Modern Times’, which appealed to us given all we were learning on our trip, and the general state of the world.

Arriving at Kopan I had no expectations and very limited knowledge about Buddhism, with the little I had mostly coming from our time in Sri Lanka. I knew we would have no access to the internet for the entire week as you are required to hand your phones and laptops in on arrival. Branches Camp (my year 10 school camp) was the last time I went an entire week without access to the internet or my phone, so I was surprised at how nervous I was about this aspect of the course. How would I keep my 1000+ day Duolingo streak, or know if WW3 was starting!? Shout out to Mum who took over my account and diligently kept my streak, and thankfully WW3 hasn’t started yet.

We had a small group for our course of around 50 attendees from all over the world (some of the courses have over 150). We were asked to maintain silence for the majority of the day, with the only time we were allowed to speak being from 2:00 PM to 6:30 PM. The final two days of the course were fully silent meditation retreat days, and the schedule changed to be a full day of guided meditations. Everyone was really nice and it was a challenge to stay silent when I really wanted to get to know some of the lovely people in our course. Only on the last day of the silent retreat did people start breaking the silence as everyone wanted to chat before we finished and said our goodbyes.

We had two main teachers during the course, Ven. Tenzin Namjong who ran the teaching sessions and Ven. Lektsok who guided us for most of the meditations. Namjong was born in Hawaii and now lives in Dharamashala, India. He is highly intelligent and scholarly in Tibetan Buddhism having nearly completed the infamous Geshe academic degree which involves on average around 20 years of study. He was an excellent teacher and having come from a Western background, was very relatable and had many interesting personal stories to share. Lektsok was from England and was one of the kindest souls I’ve ever met. He guided us in the daily meditations and had such a calm voice as well as countless stories about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, his teacher and one of the founders of Kopan monastery, who unfortunately passed away recently.

The Buddha lived around 2500 years ago and one of his key teachings was the principle of Karma, that intentional actions lead to corresponding consequences, either in this life or future lives. The main goal in Buddhism is to escape Samsara (the cycle of rebirth) and achieve Nirvana (enlightenment). 

One of the key differences between other schools of Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism is the interconnectedness of all things and a particularly strong emphasis on cultivating the Bodhisattva ideal. A Bodhisattva is an individual who has attained enlightenment (bodhi) or is on the path to becoming a Buddha, but chooses to delay their own liberation (entering nirvana) to help others achieve enlightenment. They embody compassion and are seen as ideal figures in Mahayana Buddhism, with his holiness the Dalai Lama being an example of a living Bodhisattva.

My biggest takeaway from the teachings was the importance of compassion and kindness. An incredible example of this is his holiness the Dalai Lama, who has spent 70 years of his life fighting an endless struggle for the independence of Tibet from China and freedom for the Tibetan people. He has published an excellent book this year called ‘Voice for the Voiceless’ which details this lifelong struggle. Here is a quote from the book about maintaining compassion: 

And another quote from an ancient Indian master which has inspired and motivated his holiness throughout his life which I also really like:

“For as long as space endures, 

— Shantideva

Everyone wants to be happy and everyone experiences suffering. The world would be a much better place if instead of harboring enmity and anger towards others, we have kindness and compassion. It is important to remember that we are all human beings going through our own individual struggles and problems. The idea of Ahimsa (non-violence) also resonated with me. Buddhists believe that intentionally killing any sentient being gives you bad Karma, even mosquitos and centipedes!! We were asked to avoid stepping on or killing any bugs while we stayed at Kopan. It really does feel good to be a little more aware of other living beings. Next time you instinctively swat at a fly, take a moment to consider the life of the fly. It is probably not even aware from its perspective that you exist, and it is definitely not aware that it is making you annoyed or frustrated; it’s just trying to live. This is an example of how we can start trying to have more compassion for all living beings, even an annoying fly.

I came away from this course with a new understanding of Buddhism, yes it’s a religion and like all religions there are parts that can be hard to believe. I’m not sold on reincarnation just yet, however, there are also so many amazing insights which I am really going to try and embody going forwards in my life. Most importantly, compassion for all sentient beings and non-violence. Here is another quote which I really resonated with.

— Buddha 

As an immediate lifestyle change, I’ve decided to try going vegetarian. Over the past few months, especially while in India, I’ve been eating less and less meat, and I haven’t felt like I’ve been missing out much. I know that once we’re in China and Central Asia, it might be more challenging, especially with so many iconic local meat dishes. But increasingly it no longer feels justifiable to me to support factory farming and the killing of animals purely for the sake of my own pleasure and enjoyment. 

During the course, we discussed many of the challenges the world faces today including war, global warming, polarization, racism, and oppression. One of the key takeaways was the importance of not giving up hope, and continuing to do our part each day, even through small actions like picking up rubbish when we see it. Just as crucial is approaching every sentient being with kindness and compassion, even when they hold views that are vastly different from our own.

Polarization has become a major issue, often fueling anger and hatred, both deeply harmful emotions. Instead of reacting with judgment, we can try to understand that people may hold certain views because of difficult experiences or misinformation in their lives. Meeting others with empathy doesn’t mean agreeing with them, but it opens a space for greater connection and the possibility of real change.

We finally made it back to Pokhara after a full day of travel on the psychotic roads of Nepal. It felt very strange being back in the midst of bustling civilization once again after a couple of weeks seeing so few people in such a remote place. For the last 12 days we had been alternating between cold showers and swims in freezing alpine rivers, so we were both well overdue for a hot shower and a chance to wash our hair. I must admit, it took a couple of long hot showers before I actually felt clean again. We also needed to wash the entire contents of our trekking packs as everything was dusty, dirty, and smelly. We treated ourselves to a slightly nicer room at our guesthouse, and the bed was a dream. 

We commented to ourselves many times how crazy we were to even consider continuing on to the Annapurna circuit, the few days we had in Pokhara were very much needed. If we had committed to doing Annapurna we would have arrived back in Pokhara with only one night before a morning bus to Kathmandu… it would have been such a rush. 

We had a list of jobs to achieve in our few days in Pokhara before we caught a bus to Kathmandu, so our time here was once again spent parked up in nice cafes by the lake catching up on blogs from the trek and more admin. Turns out Pokhara is a great place to do admin, and also who would have thought there was so much admin involved with full time travel?? We’ve started our research for the next section of our trip, and it's quickly become apparent that China and Central Asia are going to be a real step up when it comes to travel planning, it all seems much more complicated than what we have experienced in South Asia. 

There’s not really much to report from these few days, apart from the fact we drank some delicious coffees, ate some really good food, and enjoyed some stillness and rest. One night we went to an outdoor cinema and watched Pulp Fiction. It was fun to have a date night with pizza, a movie and mosquitos! 

After a few days' rest, we boarded the bus to Kathmandu, and spent nine hours driving 200 kilometers! The roads here are in varying states of disrepair, which makes for long and sometimes painful journeys. I really feel for the government who is trying to keep up with mountainous roads, increasingly destructive monsoon seasons and heavy traffic, while also being one of the poorest countries in Asia. 

As many of you know, we are checking into Kopan Monastery on Sunday, where we will stay for one week doing a course titled ‘Buddhism for Modern Times’. While we’re at Kopan we will have no access to the internet or the outside world, going for a complete immersion experience. So if WW3 breaks out, we might have no idea! We’re both excited and a little bit nervous, but really looking forward to a totally different experience and all that we will learn. While the Manaslu circuit trek was a huge physical challenge for us, this will be much more of a mental challenge with hours of meditation each day and silence from 9 PM at night to after lunchtime the following day. The next time you hear from us will be in a week or so and I’m sure we will have lots to share about our time in the monastery. 

Sometimes you wake up with a gut feeling, and thankfully this morning Josh and I both shared one. We woke up realizing we did not want to rush our way around the Annapurna circuit and back to Pokhara before then rushing to Kathmandu to arrive at Kopan Monastery. We are here for slow travel after all. It would have been nice to see the Annapurna mountains up close, but at this time of year, nothing is guaranteed. We spoke to Mayla and thankfully he shared our viewpoint, one of the other guides had checked the forecast and it wasn’t looking great. Cue a huge sigh of relief on all accounts!! We had breakfast and packed our bags, and before we even really realized it, our Manaslu journey was over.

It was a five minute walk through town to the jeep, where we all piled in for the journey out of the valley. First stop was Dharopani for our final permit check, and from here it was another five or so hours out to Besisahar. In classic Nepalese fashion, there were some dodgy road moments, and of course amazing views. I will never get over the sheer scale of the valleys here. When you see the road carved into the side of the cliff and the roaring river below energized by summer snow melt with waterfalls crashing down on either side, it’s just awe inspiring. 

It was a bit of a shock to the system finishing so quickly, it was like we blinked on the pass and it was over! When we got into the heat of Besisahar and onto the cramped minivan back to Pokhara I felt like I was in a fever dream. Getting news of wee Arthur Warburton joining the world on our way out was also a highlight, I had been telling Mayla for days how I was about to be an Aunty to a baby boy!! Another nice part about getting back down was the prices, they are so inflated on the circuit, to the point where you are paying up to 350 rupee for a cup of instant coffee with milk (even a flat white from a fancy place here in Pokhara wouldn’t cost you that much), so our budget was very thankful to be back down to regular priced elevation!

The last twelve days have gone so insanely fast, and being grounded in the routine of walking and the goal of completing the circuit was really centering and peaceful. Physically and mentally it was a challenge, but at the same time it was the best feeling in the world being outside moving our bodies all day and being surrounded by mountains. Mayla’s care, compassion and positive attitude also helped to make this such a memorable experience. Last time I was in Nepal my experience with our guide was fine but not great, and seeing the difference with a guide you love is so huge. I spent a bit of time on this trek going back to the fact that this wasn’t our original plan, we thought we would be in Pakistan right now with our friends exploring the Karakoram mountains. I was so grateful that we were still having such an amazing experience even though it wasn’t part of our original plan. When I come back to Nepal next time it won’t be in monsoon, but I’m really stoked with how we managed to absolutely make the most of it. I still have a real attachment between joy/happiness and good/clear weather. I’m 100% sure that’s normal and also 100% sure I’ll be able to dissect that next week at Kopan. 

If you’ve ever sat around a dinner table with me, I’m sure you’ve had the pleasure of being a part of a “pit peak lesson” summary of a day. I thought it would be a nice way to end this series too, summarizing a selection of the highlights, lowlights and lessons of the journey from each of us:

🪏Pit - Having the shits anywhere kinda sucks, but having an upset stomach at 4000m+ above sea level with only squat toilets is a different level. It was never major (thankfully), but I was not a fan of the low level uncomfort the altitude or diet decided to inflict on my gut for a bit of the upper section of the walk. 

🏔️Peak - A bit in the feels but my peak was seeing my own strength (mental and physical) develop over the twelve days! I really proved to myself that I am resilient and tough, and able to have fun at the same time. Climbing up to the Tibet border the first time we reached 5000m was such a cool moment, especially as I had spent the morning telling the boys I would probably wait for them down by the river as I wasn’t sure I would be strong enough. But, I raced up just behind Josh and loved every minute of it. 

🧐Lesson - You are in control of where you find joy. Stuck in a river valley for two days? What cool animals and bugs you can see everywhere, and all the shades of green! Clouded in on summit day? How amazing are the small slices of mountains you do see through the clouds, feels like perfect territory for dragons. Six hour descent in front of you? Sharing AirPods with your partner in crime and brainstorming your future while listening to Taylor Swift helps to pass the time like a dream.  

🪏Pit - Having a horrible sleep is hard when it’s the day before you walk 17km over a 5000m pass. The descent from Larke Pass down to Bhimtang felt like it would never end and I was struggling to keep my eyes open. Alice was struggling with the altitude giving her an upset stomach and I was so tired it felt hard to support her.

🏔️Peak - I absolutely loved how lush the valley was at this time of year. The early days walking up the lower valley were so beautiful, with endless shades of green, alpine flowers blooming, and an ecosystem teeming with life. As we gradually climbed, we watched the surroundings change but consistently there were beautiful colours of green. I heard that many people like to rush through the lower valley to reach the big mountains by driving as far as possible. This makes no sense to me as the lower parts of the valley are so beautiful. Also a massive highlight was seeing my first 8000m+ mountain up close and personal.

🧐Lesson - For us, trekking into these high mountains felt like a wild expedition into a remote and intimidating place. For the hardy locals that live in the villages under these mountains, this is their life. They grow up here, go to school here, and live almost self-sufficiently from farming. There are limited hospitals near many of these villages, constant powercuts, and anything they need must be carried in by porters or mules. It is undoubtedly a hard life for these people. They know they have to work hard to survive up here, and it was a stark reminder for me of how easy my life is in comparison.

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This is our last “daily” blog for a while, and from here we’ll go back to our usual one blog per location rhythm. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading these updates in nearly real time. Please please leave a comment if you have liked this series, we absolutely love hearing from you!!!