This year we are revisiting India and Nepal. I try to keep some sort of a diary for every trip, but am really not very good at it – I’m lazy and hate the act of writing. I used to write in journals/diaries/notebooks – but my writing is so terrible, that even I can’t read it. I started emailing stuff to my sister some years ago, so that I would at least have a record of our trips. I post on Facebook – which is easier, but when I look back on it, it’s a pain to find, it works backwards and then it bounces back to ‘today’. Some years ago, on a trip to Mongolia (all surface, there and back, bar having to fly over China due to Peter needing his passport for work and not being able to get the visas) we met some people using Polarsteps. I tried using that, but got tangled up in it. I’ve written/copied most of our stuff into Scrivener, but I can’t use my phone for that (this is just a diary entry really, and a way to ‘get going’. I’ve considered a blog – but it’s a pain and I don’t want to pay anything! I always get a few weeks from the end and stop writing, as I say to myself that I’ll catch up when I get home – but never do. Peter always does his trip reports on Cloud Birders these days – but that is more about bird species etc. Others write about the places that they visit in great detail – facts, figures, populations, history etc. – but one can look all that stuff up. My writings/photos are more about us and our ‘adventures’ – or, more often than not – misadventures. Anyway, I’ve looked across all different ways to be able to sync my ramblings (Ramblings – my ‘book’ of a life of travel) with different devices and I’m now writing in Google Docs, which I’ll copy over to Facebook and Polarsteps – It looks like I started the latter off on our Indonesia trip, but it only logged some of it and I didn’t put in any entries. If anyone ever wants to collate any of this stuff long after I’m dead, they’ll have a right old mess to sort out, but hopefully most of the actual information will be found somewhere. I shall take an academic diary with me (if I get round to buying it in time). Aslo, we met a friend last week who swore by Polarsteps, so I thought that I’d give it another go – thank you Eamon! – I’ll try and be more productive on that this time. Most people probably won’t give two hoots, but I know of a few who like to follow my nonsense when we’re away – hey, Dad!
I’m going to copy and paste this bit in now before I lose it – will I be able to pick it up on my phone now
Just a random picture of a komodo dragon (from 2024) to experiment with images
We have wanted to go back to Nepal – specifically Bardia National Park – since first going there in 2018 when Peter broke his arm slipping on a wet room floor. This then involved him spending two nights in hospital and me spending one night (not having realised the first night that that is what relatives do there, since everything – and I mean everything from food and drink to drugs and medical supplies (such as needle and plaster) has to be bought and fetched by the patient or the relative – look after our NHS folks!) Well, despite the surgeon doing a fabulous job on the arm, our travel/activities were somewhat restricted for the rest of the trip – although we did actually see a tiger – albeit fleetingly. So we want to go back there. Bardia is in the west of the country and much less touristy than Chitwan – the other big national park (where we also went, but not this time). And in India, we are going up to Ladakh – on the high plateau in search of (well, birds, obs!) and snow leopards and Pallas cat (look them up, if you don’t know them – they are super cute and cross patch looking) but we would be extremely lucky to see these things. Another thing on the agenda is something that I’ve always wanted to see (well, we both have) – the Beating the Retreat at the India/Pakistan border. Shimla and Amrizar are on the plan – once we didn’t really have to plan like this – we would just take our Rough Guide and, as long as we rocked up in a town with hotels/hostels by 4.00pm we’d be fine, but with t’internet, everyone has booked days – or weeks in advance, so we just have to go with the flow and do likewise. Also, we’re older now, so the prospect of sleeping in a car or on the side of the road is less appealing – as if it ever was in the first place! So, Peter has spent months planning this and we have an itinerary and places/hotels/hostels/trains/trips booked. He’s doing some final trains as I write this. He’s way more organised than me! Thankfully! Then we’re going on a six day trek in Nepal. I can’t say that I’ve been looking forward to that bit, as I’m really unfit and it’s really high up. Peter assures me that it’s ‘the easiest trek in Nepal’. Hmm. That might be the case, but the ‘easiest’ out of a lot of ‘strenuous’ things is still strenuous – for a couple of retired/near retired folks! This is why we started doing the C25K – hopefully it will make things a little easier – mind you – by the time we get to that bit, we’ll have had a few curries – not to mention indulged in another of our travel pastimes – looking for micro breweries. There is one in Shimla – and I’m sure that there are some in Delhi – so plenty of opportunities for ‘pint pics’ Nat!
So, there we go – more rambling for anyone who’s interested. But at least I’ve got started. Now I need to get myself the diary. (I’ll probably add more when I remember the other things that were whizzing through my mind as I lay in bed!)