Kathmandu: 21st-23rd March.

The next morning, we headed back to Kathmandu after a rather confusing start. Yet again, we were summoned onto the back of a bus which we were both worried wasn’t a tourist bus as it was full of locals. We then came to realise that the striking was hampering public bus services causing many to pay more for the tourist bus. After a more comfortable but long journey we arrived to the Kathmandu Guest House to realise that we had been upgraded at no extra cost! We were grateful for this as the room was actually quite skanky so who knows what the standard beneath was like! After a Tibetan lunch we had a hefty blogging session! When we emerged several hours late, we were shocked top find that nearly every shop and restaurant had shut questionably early. Confused we casually walked the streets anyway, looking for a dining establishment when we turned a corner to find a mass of riot police decked out in padded gear, helmets, shields and truncheons! Unsurprisingly, we briskly walked back to the hotel only to find that all the food had been eaten by all the other guests who had had the same idea! The joys of travelling! The next morning we took a light jog up 8 flights of stairs to munch our breakfast on the rooftop of Helena's Restaurant.

With a full tummy, we hopped onto a cycle rickshaw and bumped and occasionally yelped our way to Durbar Square, the historic central area to Kathmandu.

We spent several hours sitting on the stairways to the sunshine filled temples watching people pass by. Hoards of nattering school children would stroll past as well as market vendors, monks, and the most amazing people who would hold vast quantities of goods along their backs by a strap fastened around their foreheads.

After Jess had a vented her stress upon ever pestering touts, we had a quick wonder down Freak Street (the old hippy street of Kathmandu) before heading to another rooftop restaurant for a beverage or two! To savour our last night in Nepal, we headed to New Orleans where we had dined on our first evening in Thamel. We gratefully scoffed chocolate brownie and carrot cake washed down by our favorite tipples- Jess: Irish coffee, Armelle: Everest Beer.