So we arrived in Kathmandu in the afternoon and after getting a suspiciously cheap taxi from the station (100rupees, and scarily, as we were following the driver, we saw other taxi drivers making the cut throat sign at us) we arrived in Thamel (the tourist quarter) and started looking for accommodation.
Found this hostel for 400rupees (£4). We were awoken twice in the night - 11pm (we'd gone to bed at 7) by some kids and then 5am by the birds. No hot water. Slightly smelly.
Gorkha
How much?
600rupees.
500rupees for two nights.
550?
No, 500 is all we're paying.
Ok.
Hot water. A shower which leaked into the room. Smelly beds. A fan.
Bandipur
300rupees (at £3 we didn't even try to negotiate for fear of insulting the nice lady). Separate bathroom (which was fine). Frequent power cuts (we made good use of our head torches). Damp beds (the smell was bearable) A broken mosquito net (they provided a plug in - though this obviously was unusable when the power cuts hit at night).
Pokhara - Lakeside 300rupees a night. Though they made a killing out of us through our trekking and rafting fees. 'Greedy men' as Sitaram (our trekking guide) put it. Fan. Clean enough beds. A powerful shower. A toilet which you had to leap away from when you flushed it as water (clean) came gushing out the sides. A dog which barked through the night. A nice girl who washed our smelly trekking gear.
Poon Hill trek - Night 1
300rupees for room with separate shower. As we were the only ones in the hotel, this seemed like a pretty good deal. Hot water once we'd lit the gas to heat it (ignoring the sent of gas lingering in the air). Cosy.
Poon Hill trek - Night 2
300 rupees again. Busy place - we made a Chinese friend and amused ourselves as a French foursome arrived with porters carrying tons of stuff. They then ate around three courses with one of them sitting completely separately from the others staring strangely at the curtains. We were supposed to see views of the Himalayas from here but it was foggy.
