Kathmandu photos

Photos from a very dusty but extremely interesting city - Kathmandu.

Kathmandu to Pokhara

After spending time in the very interesting Kathmandu, it was time to head to another area of Nepal, the lakeside city of Pokhara.

Annapurna Range, seen from Pokhara

Overland border crossing from India to Nepal.....

After Darjeeling, we decided to go west and cross border to Nepal. We checked out from lovely Tibetan family home stay place in Darjeeling and took a shared jeep to Siliguri. The shared jeep is supposed to be for 8 people but they tend to cram people in (until they can't load more and then some) so we paid to get the entire second row - paid 520 rupees (for the entire row) instead of 120~130 rupees for a seat. The jeep made many stops to pick up and drop off the locals along the way.

The driver stopped twice to do his vegetable shopping
- see the greens on dashboard

Three hours later we arrived at Siliguri, we found another shared jeep, this time heading to Kakarbhitta - the east border town of Nepal. We put our backpacks on the roof and got into the jeep - already full, 11 people plus one baby already on board. We sat at the back of the jeep with two other Nepalese women (we paid 100 rupees each for this ride).

Thankfully, this was a short trip. When we got to the border, we had to get off (everyone stayed on as they were all either Nepalese or Indian) and walked to the Indian immigration office. We did our departure documents and walked about 1 km to the Nepali side immigration office over the bridge.

Photos from Darjeeling

Darjeeling Mail

Train travel in India - Kolkata to Darjeeling

We decided our next destination: Darjeeling.
Mainly because we want some tea... or was it because we've seen the movie "The Darjeeling Limited"?

Either way, that's where we're headed next. So, to get there, we need some form of transportation.
What better than our old friend, the overnight train?

Kolkata photos...

We arrived during Holi - festival of colours!

Namaste.

This was our first time in India.

Our first stop was Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal. Our first impressions of Kolkata - full of energy, lots of people, very noisy, some interesting smells, some very tasty food & some interesting & friendly people!!

We've visited: Victoria memorial park, Indian museum, Howrah railway station, Howrah bridge, Park street, Sudder street & the South City Mall.....

So, Here are some photos around Kolkata... Enjoy!

12 hours of fun at Suvarnabhumi Airport

We arrived in Bangkok at 7:00 in the morning. Our flight to Kolkata was not due till 11:30 in the evening. After 15 hours of train ride from Chiang Mai, we took the local train and the airport link to Suvarnabhumi Airport from Hua Lamphong Railway Station - dragging our bags - it was very hot, the temperature. We were going to leave our bags at the airport and hang out in the cafe in Bangkok somewhere, but we found out we could check in early and plus we can hang out at the lounge! So scrap the Bangkok cafe idea, we decided to make the full use of business lounge - breakfast, lunch & dinner there... get a massage or two... maybe have a nap at the slumber room... take a shower.....get really drunk with free booze.

Making the most of lounge - booze!	Free massages....	...and Trying out all the sweets!

Sleeping our way to Bangkok

Our time in Chiang Mai and the north of Thailand has come to an end, and we needed to make our way back to Bangkok. Time for a sleeper train!

Our last stop in Thailand: Chiang Mai!

So our long stay in Thailand is coming to an end. In total we were in Thailand for almost 2 months (2 weeks of Myanmar in between). We've been to the south to some islands, jungle near Lang Suan/Pak Song, short stays in Bangkok and explored the Northern Thailand & Laos.

Chiang Rai Photos

Photos from Chiang Rai, Thailand: Clock tower, Wat Chet Yot, Chiang Rai market,
Tried a new layout... it took me ages! Please click on image to enlarge :-)

Visit to International Humanity Foundation (IHF) Orphanage

IHF has a center in Chiang Rai, so we decided to visit them.

Ban Lorcha - tribal village

So, after the disappointment that was the so-called tribal villages on the day tour we did here in Chiang Rai, we decided to check out a more genuine tribal village.