O frabjous day!

Callooh! Callay! We got our visas yesterday! It only took 3 hours and a small monetary incentive (suggested by them, not us) but we now have valid visas until 22 November. We will, of course, have to extend them cos we won't be finished our Island Peak expedition until 26 November and fly home on 30 November but but but we are now legal!

Ms Libra and Bluey arrived on Thursday. Smithy and I went out to the airport with our guide Kuman to meet them. We were there for a very long time and met all sorts of other people we knew, as well as a famous Tibetan Buddhist nun, Ani Choeling Drolma, who is a fantastic singer - I have one of her CDs, and bought her latest just the other day - before Ms Libra and Bluey finally made their appearance - their luggage was virtually the last to be unloaded...

So, we've had a busy few days sightseeing. We all went off to Boudhnath Stupa on Saturday and were just in time to see the stupa being re-decorated with new flags and bunting and new lotus leaf patterns in saffron being reapplied to the stupa itself. After a fascinating hour or so visiting monasteries and watching the locals we headed out to Kopan monastery and nunnery. The monastery was a hive of activity. It seems to be a popular place for Nepalis to visit. Being that it was Brothers and Sisters day of Dashain, alot of people would have been visiting their monk brothers. In contrast, the nunnery was absolutely deserted and someone had to go looking for the keys to open the assembly hall for us. As it was getting on in afternoon, we headed back down the road to Boudhnath, or so we thought. Managed to get ourselves well and truly lost in the winding streets of some villages. Could not see Boudhnath Stupa anywhere (and it's a bloody great big structure) so could not get our bearings. After passing the same intersection for the second time, we threw in the towel and negotiated with a taxi driver to take us back to Thamel for 250 RPs (approx $5.00) who then promptly got lost himself! Finally arrived back at our hotel well satisfied with the day's adventures.

We all head off for our Annapurna Circuit on 11 October, so this is the last post for a few weeks. Happy trails!