ISTANBUL le 8 AVRIL 2015

Notre avion qui nous ramène en France avec une escale de 22h à Istanbul

Notre hotel en plein centre de la vieille ville et les rue animées

Les musulmans se lavent les mains et le pieds avant de rentrer dans la mosquée. On a retrouvé le froid ! 

 Le marché aux épices et aux loukoums

Soirée en bateau sur le Bosphore, on y mange et y boit bien.

Les fameuses danses Turques  

Le long de ce bras de mer de 23km entre la Méditerranée et la mer Noire fourmille de palais, châteaux et grandes maisons éclairées, mais le spectacle est surtout dans le bateau  

 Une petite pensée pour ... 

Et voila notre nouveau boulot !
De retour en France pour quelques jours ou semaines !

The last 2 days of our manaslu trek and our flight to Istanbul...3 au 8 avril 2015

We continue to see the locals ploughing all the way down into the valley.  

And the path goes on and on... 

The river widens out and is a sign that our trek is soon coming to an end. 

One of the many sources of water. The never ending supply  of water in Nepal could be how they will become rich in years to come. 

Lokendra told us that this is a tree orchid , it is like a wisteria it flowers before it gets its leaves

Tatopani with its hot water spring

Yet more trees in flower since our first passage. 

We see many men and women carrying these roofing sheets. There is a lot of building going on up in the mountain villages , everyone says that the Manaslu trek is going to become as important as Annapurna. 

These fields were being sown on our way up ,they are now tinged with green.  

Arriving in Soti Khola the bus to Arkhet was waiting for us , even if we had to wait an hour for it to leave we were very happy to be able to have a ride the rest of the way. 

We spent the night in Kaji's village and a very high wind forced Kaji onto the top of the haystack to keep the hay from blowing away. They say that stacking the hay like this is the best way to keep it dry during the rainy season. 

Sephila and her mother 

On the trek , every time we stopped in a  tea house, Lokendra asked us what we would like to eat and each time Paul asked for ' chicken' ( it was on the menu but never available). So,  on arriving in Arkhet Lokendra  purchased a hen specially for Paul .  on our arrivla in the village ,  Kaji killed it and  Paul cooked it !

Everyone helped in the preparation of the chicken; it's easy to cook here you just tell everyone what you need and they peel and cut  all Paul had to do was add the ingredients to the pan!

It was a great evening lots of fun and laughter

It's morning , the chicken has been eaten we have had a good nights sleep and now it's time to go back to Katmandu.   

Sephila , not only she is cute but at the age of 4 she can count up to 100 in English and Nepalese ,  she also knows how to write in both languages and loves doing maths. 

Kaji's family plus one. 

 
Our bus back to Kathmandu. Yesterday there was a storm with high winds and torrential rain. 

Because of the state of the roads due to the rain, it was sometimes difficult for the bus to go up the hill so the men got out to spread sand on the road and sometimes to push. 

Branches and even trees had fallen across the road, everyone got out to help chop and cut and carry them out of the way. This is the Nepalese way of life , they don't just stand by and watch their neighbour doing the work they go and help. 

The bus is slowly making its way under the bamboo trees that had fallen across the road

The bus makes it through the bamboo but there is a bigger problem just ahead...

All the men took turns in chopping even Paul , Lokendra looked on with a mixture of fear and pride and when Paul missed the trunk and nearly chopped himself someone else took over. 

We  got out to help the bus in front of us as he was well and truly stuck in the mud. 

You never go hungry on the local buses, you either stop to eat or you can buy lots of different types of food from the street venders. 

Back in Katmandu and back to the busy traffic. 

The map of the Manaslu trek

How about this scaffolding , what would the work inspectors have to say about this ? 

Ju with lokendra , his wife and her sister. 

The day before we left, Lokendra , his wife and sister came to our hotel to say bye bye , they offered us presents and it was very moving. We will definitely stay in touch and help in whatever way we can. 

Monkeys playing in the gardens at the airport

Our plane to Istanbul

Et pour finir le Manaslu 8163m, on n'a pas pu en faire le tour à cause du mauvais temps mais ce fut tellement beau ! Au premier plan East summit mais le plus haut est le south East summit

Dans l'avion vers Istanbul a la frontière du Népal et du Pakistan, le Gasherbrum (8068m) venté mais clair. 

What a beautiful way to leave a fantastic country ! This is definitely one of the countries that means the most to me and I will  go back , the Langtang valley is waiting ...