Day 1 - Kathmandu
Martin
& I arrived in Kathmandu around 8.30 in the morning and after swiftly
making our way through obtaining a visa, passport control, security checks and
baggage reclaim, we decided to wait for Keith and Stuart who were due to land
about 9.30. Unfortunately, they hit the rush and it took them well over an hour
to get through to baggage reclaim.
All
baggage claimed, Keith haggled for a taxi to the hotel and no sooner had we
left the airport than we had our first introduction to Nepalese driving;
constant overtaking, horns-a-plenty and no regard for which side of the road
they’re supposed to drive on.
After
landing at the hotel, checking in and a quick bathroom break, we set off to
explore Thamel, the area of Kathmandu we were staying in. Keith, having been
there several times before, lead us on a mystery tour around narrow streets
crowded with people, mopeds and shops galore with smells everywhere of incense
and spicy food (mingled with some less pleasant smells). We were in search of
the best exchange rates to get some Nepalese Rupees, and after going round and
around, it was decided the very first one we passed had the best rates – only
to get back there and find their rate was now the same as everyone else!
Money exchanged we went looking for a rooftop
café for lunch. Keith found a “Himalayan Rooftop Terrace” on Google and off we
went… except when we got to the side street, it wasn’t there. We enquired at
the hotel and the security guard took us up another dead-end side street where
he conferred with another security guard; neither knew where it was. I was getting hangry (“hangry” definition:
hungry and irritable) and hot, so we gave up and found a courtyard café
instead.
We
then returned to the hotel for an afternoon nap and showers before meeting up
with Colin and Sue who arrived in Kathmandu the day before and spent the day
sightseeing. We found a nice restaurant just around the corner from the hotel
for dinner and enjoyed good food while a short-lived thunderstorm hit.
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Day 2 – Kathmandu - Pokhara
We had what we naively
thought was an early start on Day 2 with our taxi picking us up at 6.45 am to
take us the 200km to Pokhara. Now 200km doesn’t seem so bad right? 2-3 hours
drive at most? Ha!
There is only one road
between Kathmandu and Pokhara and they are in the process of replacing the
2-lane road with a 4-lane highway. Being a very mountainous country with annual
monsoons, this takes a lot of work; cutting into the hillside, landslides, digging
huge drainage ditches, etc.
In the UK, we would build
a new carriageway whilst continuing to use the existing carriageway and then
move everyone to the new carriageway whilst updating/replacing the old
carriageway. Not in Nepal. In Nepal, they dig up the original carriageway (all
200km of it) before starting a new carriageway. This meant 200km of potholes,
ditches, mud, dust and general chaos, and that’s before you factor in the slow
climbing lorries, the broken-down vehicles, the tight corners and Nepalese
driving.
We arrived in Pokhara no
less than 9 hours and 20 minutes after leaving Kathmandu, all a few inches
shorter and some of us wishing we had worn a sports bra!
On arrival in Pokhara,
our first port of call was a briefing with Paddle Nepal where we met our lead
guide for the trip, Calu. We then got dinner before heading to bed.
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Day
3 – Pokhara – Kohalpur
Another
early start (6.30am) found us on a tourist bus loaded with 13 kayaks on the
roof, 3 rafts somewhere on board and tonnes of kit on the back seats. The 6 of
us plus 4 or 5 of our guides and 2 bus drivers set off for what was set to be
another long day’s drive. Fortunately, these roads, although narrow and windy
and at times very close to the edge, were actually paved and made for a much
better drive than the day before.
Along
the route, we stopped at a teahouse for “milk tea” and for a lunch of dal bhat.
We also came to a stop when a landslide had covered one side of the road in
rocks and our bus was just a little too wide to get through without the guides
all helping to clear some rocks while we watched the bus pass within 3 inches
of the steep drop to our right.
That
evening we were put up in a hotel in Kohalpur where we were given more dal bhat
and met the rest of our paddling companions – 2 Canadian women on the raft with
Colin and Sue, and 9 Chinese people, 2 on the raft and the rest kayaking.
Before
entering the hotel, Keith warned us to take sleeping bags with us but we found
the beds to be nice and clean. We did however spend some time admiring the bare
electrics hanging from the light switches and plug sockets, the plant growing
from the bathroom light and the extractor fan wired through a mouldy, damp
ceiling that was obviously the site of a leak from above.
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Day
4 – Kohalpur – Dungeswar – Paddling Day 1
Today
we were on the coach for 5.45am.
We
stopped for breakfast en-route and we encountered another landslide on a bend
where big boulders on both sides of the road made for a gap just a little too
narrow for our bus. After much manoeuvring, we finally got through without a
scratch.
Just
as it started getting hot, we arrived at Dungeswar where we were told that the
road down to the river was too rough for the bus and we would have to unload
everything to take down to the river. Fortunately, the guides were able to
procure the use of 2 tractors and trailers for the job and, after helping to
unload the bus onto the trailers, we only had to carry our own paddling kit
down to the river.
At
the riverside, the trailers were unloaded, the rafts inflated and piled high
with kit and we each set to getting comfortable in our kayaks. Meanwhile lunch
was prepared for us on the riverside.
After
lunch and a briefing (one for the raft and one for the kayakers), we set off
for our first day on the River Karnali.
In total, we were a group of 13 kayakers (me, Martin,
Keith, Stuart, 6 Chinese guys, 1 Chinese girl, and 2 safety kayakers/guides,
Naresh/Norris and Manoj) and 3 rafts (one paddled by Sue, Colin, 2 Canadian
women, 2 Chinese guys, the lead guide Calu and a junior guide, Dipesh (?), and
2 gear rafts, paddled by Jange and our chef for the trip, Govi (pronounced
Go-be). Be assured we always made sure we knew where Govi’s food raft was!
We
were soon into big bouncy fun rapids with big wave trains testing our balance
and giving us a soaking. I was smiling from ear to ear. These rapids were
pretty straightforward and easy, just big and bouncy.
After
an hour and a half on the water, we came to our first night’s camp. We unloaded
the rafts and set up our tents while the guides set up toilets, a kitchen,
table and washing up facilities.
It
wasn’t long before hot water, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, squash and a snack
(fresh popcorn) were on the table, and after some time to relax and enjoy the
camp, dinner was served in the form of spaghetti Bolognese with both meaty and
vegetarian options.
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Day
5 – Barahatal to Scorpion Beach Paddling Day 2
Having
been told we would be on the water at 9.30/10.00 this morning, there was no
need for an early start but we were all up anyway before 7.00 am.
This was our first full day on the river and our
first morning in camp to get to know the routine. It was get up, take tents
down, hot water and tea/coffee/etc were on the table from 7ish each morning and
breakfast was served around 8 am. Breakfast consisted of toast, pancakes, rice
pudding, a Nepalese vegetable dish and more. After breakfast, finish packing up
your personal kit and then help load the rafts.
Rafts loaded, it was time to go. We paddled for
about an hour and a half in the morning and similar in the afternoon with a
relaxed picnic lunch on a beach in between.
The
river at this point was similar to the day before with quite easy but big and
bouncy rapids, although perhaps not quite as big… or maybe I was getting used
to them already.
At
camp that evening, the routine was the same as the day before, although some of
us also made time for a bathe in the river. Tonight’s snack was freshly made
prawn crackers and the evening meal was maybe stew with garlic bread.
After
dinner, we relaxed watching the night sky where millions of stars were visible.
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Day
6 – Scorpion Beach Sweetness and light and Jailhouse Rock - Paddling Day 3
After
breakfast and rafts loaded, we set off for our third day on the river. This day
brought with it a little more trepidation as this was where the big rapids
started.
There
was one rapid early on where I was caught out by a wave and capsized and rolled
back up (yay!) just in time to avoid Martin who had got caught in a big hole
and ended up swimming. Stuart came to his rescue and towed an exhausted Martin
from the hole to his kayak.
The
first rapid we stopped to inspect is called “Sweetness & Light” and is a
grade IV. This rapid consists of a lead in line to the right of centre and then
a manoeuvre towards river left to avoid the big rocks on river right, followed
by a BIG wave train that maybe best avoiding the biggest of the waves.
As
I got back in my kayak, I was nervous, I didn’t like the look of the rocks on
river right and the water was fast. Would I have the strength to get over to
the left in time? We followed Norris down the planned line and it soon became
apparent that the water was pushing us the way we needed to go away from the
rocks and so I was able to relax …and then I remembered, a little too late,
that ideally we did not want to go through the biggest waves coming out of the
rapid. I skimmed the edge of the first one but was pulled into the second one
sideways and soon flipped upside down. I tried to roll but the water was a
swirling mass and I couldn’t get purchase so I bailed and swam out. At least I
was at the bottom of the actual rapid by that point! Haha.
We
continued downstream and soon came to another rapid we had to inspect. This one
doesn’t have a name because they didn’t used to have to inspect it but a change
in the river has changed that. On inspection, this rapid seemed long but not
particularly difficult, requiring a little manoeuvring towards the end to avoid
the stoppers.
We
followed Norris down and as we approached the bottom section, it became
apparent that it was far bigger than it had looked from the inspection above,
the stoppers were bigger, the waves were bigger and we were glad to have Norris
to lead the way. We followed his line very closely!
After
another picnic lunch, we had one more rapid to inspect, the grade IV “Jailhouse
Rock”. The crux of this rapid is a huge rock at the bottom with a large hole
behind it. Basically, avoid that. Martin opted to portage this one and I was
very much on the fence about paddling it. By the time we had inspected and I
had walked back to my kayak, I had all but talked myself out of it. I gave
Norris an “I’m not doing this” sign and he told me I’d be fine, that he
believed I could paddle it and just to relax and follow him. Relax? That was
pretty far from what I was feeling at that point!
Nevertheless,
with Norris’ gentle persuasion, I went for it. I followed right behind Norris
so that I might get the line right. Keith behind me and Stuart behind him. (I
will add at this point that whilst the four of us had taken to very closely
following Norris’ lines, our fellow paddlers took a far more relaxed and
slightly chaotic appearing approach to the rapids under Manoj’s supervision.)
The rapid went well but I missed the breakout
hard left coming out the bottom and was pushed right instead so I went hard
right to miss the mid-river stopper and was followed by Keith and Stuart, all
in one piece. I told myself they were looking out for me but Keith had a rather
different view “you’re joking! I wasn’t in control!”
After
nearly 2.5 hours paddling in the morning and a little under 2 hours paddling in
the afternoon, with all the anxiety and adrenaline of these rapids, we were
glad to reach camp and couldn’t wait for dinner.
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Day
7 – Gods House, Juicer and Strip _n_ Flip Paddling Day 4
This
was set to be another big water day but only a half-day paddle today.
Whilst getting ready in the morning, we spotted
an eel in a bucket, seemingly captured the night before. We had great amusement
while watching Govi and Dipesh trying to clean down the eel and go into the ice
box for the day whilst being electrocuted! But we had to question… why did we
have an eel?
It
wasn’t long before we reached the first rapid for inspection, “God’s House”, a
Grade IV+, technically the highest graded rapid on the trip. Nevertheless, we
were all up for running this one (perhaps helped by not realising the grade
until afterwards!).
This
rapid had a tongue in the centre(ish) of the river leading you into the rapid.
The tongue leads into a big stopper where “people get flipped” so try to go
river right of that and then keep paddling hard right to hit the tongue leading
out of the rapid between the huge holes on either side of the river, but before
you can relax, make sure to miss the stoppers straight afterwards.
I
was feeling a little less nervous than yesterday. One thing I had realised was
that these rapids were quite straight forward as long as you hit the line
right. They are far from the boulder gardens of the Tryweryn or other British
rivers we’re used to paddling.
So
after Manoj demonstrated the line, Norris went first, closely followed by
Martin, then me, then Dani (one of the other kayakers with us), followed by
Keith and Stuart.
We broke in, we hit the first tongue, we paddled
hard right but my boat spun upstream and I found myself heading backwards into
the boat-flipping stopper. I don’t quite know how but somehow I survived and
was facing the right way again (did I go through it backwards or did I manage
to turn in time? I don’t know). I paddled even harder right and found the
tongue out and at this point, the rafters watching from the bank say I seemed
to relax and stop paddling and suddenly I was upside down. I rolled back up just
in time to avoid the stoppers at the end and eddied out. That was an exciting
rapid!
Next
up was Juicer part 1, another grade IV. This one involved a river wide
recirculating pour-over with a narrow chute on river left heading right over
some rocks to avoid a wooden construction that had been built/fallen into the
river, followed by a large swirling pool of water and then a line tight up
against a large rock on river right to avoid the big hole on river left.
Upon
seeing the wooden construction, I immediately opted out of this one, the line
was tight and I didn’t fancy my chances if I messed up. Martin opted out too
along with one of the other kayakers who had spent a long time underwater on
God’s House. (At this point it’s worth mentioning that our fellow paddlers from
China never bailed, if they failed to roll they would just hang upside down and
wait for someone to rescue them, no matter how long it took! Not something I
fancy trying on our shallow, rocky rivers back home!)
After
having already demoed the line in his own kayak, Manoj came down first paddling
one of our kayaks and towing the other 2 empty ones. Impressive. Everybody else
followed, making the first part look easy but the middle part looked messy and
the exit wave caused carnage, with even one of our number being thoroughly
“juiced”.
Juicer
part 2 was less eventful, Calu inspected quickly and confirmed the line and we
all paddled through without stopping.
The next rapid (Flip n Strip, Grade IV) was very
quickly inspected and consisted of a series of huge waves best run from the
centre heading right to avoid the gnarliest parts. These were actual walls of
water and one got the best of Martin - he was flipped 'n' stripped from his
boat. He was hauled on board the raft and Manoj towed his kayak full of water
behind.
By
this time, we were clearly trying to catch up a little and the guides were
trying to keep things moving as quickly as possible, which meant less time
dawdling or inspecting and more running so the rapids became a bit of a blur,
but they were big and bouncy and every time we asked if there were many more,
Norris’ answer was “just 2 more”.
After
a full on morning we came to a beach that should have been our camp for the
night but we were unable to camp there (something to do with fresh cow poo) so
we carried on and after another half hour we stopped for lunch on a small
beach. We had been paddling for 4 hours, the longest so far.
Another
hour’s paddling after lunch brought us to a suitable beach to camp for the
night and before long dinner was served – eel with cheesy fried potato wedges
and lasagne. I never thought I’d say this but the eel was good, it tasted like
grilled sea bass. I ate everybody else’s as they all opted to stick with
lasagne!
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Day
8 – Camp before Seti-Karnali Paddling Day 5
This
morning at breakfast we found a very large fish in the bucket that had
previously been occupied by the eel – tonight’s dinner? Except that Govi, Calu
and Dipesh left early with a gear raft and a kayak to go to a village
downstream to try to obtain a pig for dinner. Yes, a pig.
So, after a lazy morning, we were on the water
but with a few changes as today’s was to be an easy paddle. With Calu and
Dipesh gone ahead, Norris was paddling the raft.
One of the other kayakers had an inflatable
packraft with him which he chose to paddle for the rest of the trip so Colin
finally had the chance to kayak. Another had a go at paddling the gear raft
with Jange, so Jackie (one of the Canadians) had a go at paddling his kayak.
This meant the raft was down from 8 paddlers to 5.
It
was therefore a slow and relaxed paddle for us kayakers (although with the odd
swim for the new kayakers) but quite a tough day’s paddling for the rafters.
We
paddled/floated for 3 hours before stopping for lunch and after lunch another
hour and a half.
We
arrived at camp only a few minutes after Govi, Calu and Dipesh who had hiked up
into the hills to a couple of villages in search of a pig, which they had
successfully obtained.
The
pig was barbecued for dinner that evening and we enjoyed BBQ ribs, BBQ diced
pork and some most delicious masala pork… yum!
We
never saw the fish from breakfast again so I reckon it was traded for the pig.
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Day
9 – Short day and Swimming Paddling Day 6
One of the cool parts of this trip was seeing the
occasional local kids come by to see what was happening, whether they wandered
through our camp, stopped on route down the river by ‘dunga’ (a dug out canoe),
or watched from across the river. They were often given leftovers from our
meals and sometimes ate breakfast with the guides. The guides took the time to
talk to them and get to know a little about them. 7 year old Juna left with
more food than her little arms could carry after our BBQ last night.
We
had a very short day today as we had to stop before getting to a more populace
area.
There
were a few easy fun rapids and in less than two hours we had reached our next
camp. Now out of the gorges, the heat of the sun was in full force when we
landed.
In
no time at all, 2 large shelters had been erected out of tarps and raft oars.
Tents erected, we all collapsed under the tarps and the call for lunch was met
with some lethargy.
After
lunch and another repose under the tarps, Martin and I went for a swim. Well, I
went for a swim while Martin sat in the water watching. Before long we were
joined by Govi, Norris, the two Canadians, Jackie and Carolyn, and Stuart.
Colin hopped in a kayak and joined us on the water and some of the Chinese
group also joined us in or on the water. We spent a good couple of hours
hopping bare foot over rocks up the riverbank to jump in and float back
downstream to camp.
That evening there was more pork with dinner.
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Day 10 – Camp at Kuine Paddling Day 7
After
the previous day’s very short paddle, we now had a long paddle of approximately
45km ahead of us.
After
another delicious breakfast, we were off. It was mostly a flat paddle today
with no dawdling as we had a lot of distance to cover but the speed of the
river swept us along effortlessly.
We
did manage to find time for a quick bit of cliff-jumping, and a rather
interesting lunch of tuna, coleslaw, baked beans, cheese and peanuts.
A
little after 4pm we reached our final campsite. Being pros by now at setting up
camp, we were soon relaxing with a noodle soup snack.
After dinner (pasta with cheese sauce, chips and,
guess what, pork), we spent our final evening chatting with Norris and Govi who
told us that there were a couple more rapids the next day, one of which
recently flipped a gear raft.
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Day
11 – to take out at Chisapaani Paddling day 8
Despite
being the latest we had gotten up (at 7 am), we were now so slick that we were
all on the water ready to paddle by 8.25 am.
We
only had a short way to go but then we would need to load the bus and start the
long drive back to Pokhara (and get Sue and Colin to Nepalgunj in time for
their flight back to Kathmandu).
It
wasn’t long before we reached the rapid Govi had told us about the night
before, a bouncy rapid leading to a large wave/stopper.
As
we skipped over the edge of the wave, we turned back to check on Colin just in
time to see him hit the wave and capsize. He swam and Martin went to help but
then realised that the water was pushing into a rock face that was bound to
cause more carnage. Martin abandoned Colin to get himself clear of the rock and
Norris got to Colin instead. Colin clung on to Norris’ boat as the turbulent
water capsized Norris. As Norris rolled back up, Colin was still clinging on.
Norris went over again and again tried to roll up but Colin was still hanging
on. Between the turbulent water and Colin clinging on, Norris had four attempts
at rolling before I was able to shout to Colin to let go and grab my boat
instead, enabling Norris to finally get his balance right side up. We reunited
Colin with his kayak and had a good laugh about his determination to hang on.
Within just an hour and 20 minutes of getting on
the water, we had covered almost 11km and had reached our get out at
Chisapaani. We were not delighted to see the steep steps we were going to have
to carry all the kayaks, rafts and kit up to get to the bus but through a huge
effort of everyone, we had the kayaks and gear up and left the guides with the
rafts while we found our stuff in a 'hotel' and were able to change and sort
our kit.
This ‘hotel’ was quite an eye-opener. With an
open front opening on the kitchen and tables and chairs, at the back of the
‘restaurant’ area were a couple of sinks, a shower and a couple of 'toilets'.
Upstairs we were shown to a room furnished with a mattress topped with bedding
that looked as though it had never been washed and all of our bags off the bus.
While
the bus was loaded, we had a lunch of dal bhat, and then we were on the road.
We dropped off the Canadians at Bardiya National Park and then Colin and Sue
somewhere on a roadside headed for Nepalgunj airport. Our journey then started
in earnest.
The
plan was for us to drive through the night back, arriving back in Pokhara early
the next morning. We stopped for a dinner of dal bhat (again) about 9pm and
then we made an unexpected stop around 2am.
Those
who were awake at that time had seen us taking the corners wider and wider,
narrowly missing a tree at one point, and were probably relieved we had
stopped. The driver evidently needed to sleep (possibly not helped by the beer
he had before we left Chisapaani) and so we stopped for about 4 hours. Many
people took sleeping mats and sleeping bags and slept on the floor outside the
bus in front of a busy tea house with other buses coming and going. Some of us
opted to stay on the bus and sleep.
After
a little sleep, we had ‘milk tea’ before getting back on the road…
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Day
12 – Pokhara
We
arrived back in Pokhara around 7am and said our goodbyes to everyone before
checking into our hotel.
After
showering, we headed out into Pokhara for the day. We hired a row boat and
paddled across the lake and from there hiked up around 400 steps to reach the
Shanti Stupa, or Peace Pagoda, a Buddhist temple with views over Pokhara and
the surrounding Annapurna mountain range.
After
drinks and mo:mo’s we headed back down to the lake and paddled back across to
town. We wandered along the waterfront and back through town before going for
dinner.
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Day
13 – Pokhara – Kathmandu
Once
again we were in our minibus at 6.45 to head back to Kathmandu. Fortunately,
the road back was not as bad as the road there and it only took 8.5 hours to
get back to Kathmandu.
Kathmandu mid afternoon was crazy busy with the
roads chock-a-block with cars and bikes and mopeds, everyone overtaking and
squeezing their way in wherever there was, or wasn’t, a gap.
Back
at the hotel, we reunited with Sue and Colin before going out for dinner at
possibly the cheapest place in Kathmandu, where a meal for two, including a
starter and sides, with drinks cost a whole £6.
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Day
14 – Monkey Temple
We
had a lie-in! We slept through our alarm and didn’t get up until 7.30am! After
breakfast in the hotel, we (me, Martin, Keith and Stuart) headed out to the
“Monkey Temple” or ‘Swayambhunath Stupa’, about a 35 minute walk from the
hotel. We took the back streets and saw fresh meat being butchered and fish
hanging to dry amongst all the shops and stores. We quickly got used to mopeds
whizzing past and around us but crossing roads in front of the oncoming
traffic, that would not stop for you but would just go around you, we still
struggled with.
We
walked to the top of the monkey temple, explored the temples, shrines and shops
and bartered for a painting before getting drinks in a café at the highest
point.
We
then headed back into Thamel to find a rooftop terrace for a late lunch. On the
way, we passed a sign for Everest Flights and as Keith had designated me tour
organiser, I joked that we should do that. Next thing we know, Keith is inside
a travel shop asking for details.
Keith
found the “Himalayan Rooftop Terrace” on google and if you’ve read day 1,
you’ll know where this is going. We wandered around, hoping we weren’t looking
for the same one as on day 1. We quickly realised we were but this time when we
came to the hotel that was not the right place we asked if we could eat on
their rooftop terrace. They confirmed we could and we were escorted up to the
terrace.
We
messaged Sue and Colin and they came to join us. We sat and relaxed with drinks
and mo:mo’s for a while and after much discussion we agreed to book an Everest
flight for the following morning.
We
then headed back to the hotel and then later back to the previous night’s
restaurant for dinner. As we passed through the streets, there were signs of
New Years Eve celebrations everywhere. The people of Nepal were welcoming in
the year 2081 on their calendar.
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Day
15 – Everest and Durbar Square
We
had a very early start with a taxi collecting us at 5.20 am to take us to the
airport for our Everest flight. It was a small aircraft with only window seats
occupied, so everyone got the view. We were barely 15 minutes from take-off
when the mountains came into view rising from the clouds. A spectacular
mountain range opened up alongside us and the cabin crew helpfully pointed out
different peaks. Finally, Everest itself came into view, although a little
distant.
At
this point, we circled back on ourselves and got a better view of the Himalayan
mountain range from the other side of the plane as we were slightly closer and
the haze had dropped lower in the valleys.
The
flight only took an hour and we were back at our hotel in time for breakfast.
After
breakfast, we headed to Durbar Square which is full of temples and shrines and
on New Years Day it was also full of locals in beautiful dress. We explored the
square and took loads of photos and went into the Kumari Ghar where we saw the
living goddess, Kumari. She did not look particularly happy to be there!
Legend
has it that the goddess Kumari used to appear in human form to the last king of
Nepal each evening, but when she learnt he was having lustful thoughts about
her, she stopped coming. He repented and she appeared to him in a dream and
told him she would no longer appear in human form but that a pre-pubescent girl
who represents all the principles of Kumari should be chosen to be worshipped
as the embodiment of Kumari.
It is therefore a tradition that every few years a young girl
is chosen to embody the goddess Kumari. She then remains in the Kumari Ghar
(House of Kumari) without ever leaving for 2-3 years before a new girl is
chosen to take her place as Kumari.
After
exploring the museum, we found a rooftop café for drinks and snacks before
heading back into the square for more museums and photos.
We
then headed back through the streets to our hotel to freshen up before heading
out to dinner. Sadly, our last night’s choice of restaurant was something of a letdown,
although the view from the rooftop was good.
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Day
16 – Extra days and flights home
We all
headed off that morning to fly back to the UK via our various routes. Martin and Nikki were on a budget airline for
one of the legs while the others enjoyed premiere flights as we had booked
early!
We are back
home with the Eden project (DOH Hamad International Airport)
Last call
for all passengers travelling with budget airlines
Click
or tap for more photos of the trip…..
