LAST MINUTE CHANGES OF DESTINATIONS

21 June 2008
From Nepal to Singapore to Malaysia

We decided to cut Nepal short, as it was not fair to see what is supposed to be a beautiful country, when the monsoon season is on. The first few days had sun and heat and we enjoyed days in Thamel in Kathmandu. We visited Durbar Square and walked a 1,5 hours route recommended by the Lonely Planet, passing stupas (Buddhist temples/prayer areas) , Hindu temples and markets. Then the rain started, which upset all the plans of going on a 10 day trek to the Everest Base Camp. Even our booked mountain flight over the Himalayas got cancelled while we were waiting in the airport. Some travel agencies recommended that we do the Anapurna trek or the Langtang trek. We almost booked the Langtang trek which takes you to the border of Nepal and Tibet. Luckily, we had done enough research that it was not worth spending the money. Possibilities of land slides and muddy, dangerous treks in rain and lots of leeches was not our ideal trek. We knew tourists were still going, so we headed to Pokhara for 2 days to see if it was worth doing part of the Anapurna trek or the Jomsom trek. The weather was great in Pokhara but a bit too hot at times and we quickly decided extreme heat, humidity and monsoon was ready to turn into a disaster if we went on the trek. We were never meant to be in Nepal, apart from a stop on the way to Tibet, so we had never researched the weather here. In Pokhara, we enjoyed the lake views (Phewa Tal) , the bars, restaurants and managed to see the World Peace Pagoda (a buddhist stupa) overlooking the town and lake and the Devi Falls. We are keen to do the trek in Nepal and will have to do this in the future - maybe next year.
Since Tibet was out and Nepal not an ideal time to visit, we thought let's get some sun and beach. The cheapest flight from Singapore (we had to fly back to Singapore from Nepal) was to Langkawi.
On the way to Langkawi, we spent 2 nights (19th June - 21 June) in Singapore, stayed at Clarke Quay and enjoyed great food and night life.