Itinerary - Nepal

Nepal: 10 June - 2 July

So, my Lonely Planet Nepal guide arrived today and, combined with the proposed itineraries sent to me by several tour companies, I was able to cobble together a preliminary itinerary for the Nepal portion of my stay.

It is highly unlikely I will stick to this schedule. It may turn out that, due to Nepal's monsoon season, I will have to curtail or even abandon my Annapurna base camp trek. I hope that's not the case, as I will then be forced to go for an elephant ride in the Chitwan National Park, which I hear are infested with Royal Bengal Tiger. I would hate to have to do that.

So let's hold thumbs that I can stick to my provisional schedule, which is to be found after the jump:

A plan set in motion

It is the 13th of April. I am seated at my desk in the teacher's room in Masan Jeil Girls' Middle School, Changwon, South Korea. Two weeks ago I was trying to decide what to do with my life when my contract ends in June, and I decided to check the price of flights to various places. The first place that caught my eye was Kathmandu; a one-way ticket from Seoul costs $400. I bought the ticket.

Two weeks later, and my plans are further advanced. I not only have a plane ticket, but also an Amazon 3G Kindle, a Lonely Planet Guide: China, Lonely Planet Guide: Tibet, a booked 8-day overland tour (Kathmandu - Lhasa), and a friend in Kathmandu arranging the tricky Tibet Travel Pass from the miserly Tibet Tourism Bureau. Things move quickly.