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Nepal really is rather lovely.

Once we reached Pokara, and after gorging ourselves on Buffalo Steaks to celebrate leaving India, we went our separate ways for a week.  We had been stuck in that cab together for 5 months and this break was well over due!

Johno climbed a hill

Leigh rode a motorbike around for a bit and got a flight tyre, Katie and I moseyed around between meals and Johno climbed a hill.

Does this look loose to you?

We all met back up, the wheel fell off as we were driving along (not good on Nepal’s mountain passes…), I waved goodbye to Katie and we killed time in Kathmandu.  One evening we came back and there was a note on our door.

“I’m in room 201

Love,

Craig”

This must be Aussie Craig, keen readers of this blog may remember him featuring heavily in previous blogs.  He was the mad, potty mouthed Australian we met in a hotel in Iran, who crossed the Baluchistan desert with Johno whilst fighting every person he met (if you haven’t watched it yet, this is Craig trying to fight a man with an AK 47).  We had waved goodbye to him in India but he had caught up with us.  It was great to see him again, exchanging stories and remembering that he really is a nice bloke (unless you are Iranian/Pakistani/Indian or in any way brown in colour, in which case he tends not to be very nice. Or patient.  Oh, and he swears… a lot!).  We were glad to note he had purchased a new T shirt soon after he left us, but it didn’t look like he had changed it since…

…and then the wheel just fell off

After so much time together, Craig had formulated a list of the most memorable moments he had spent with us.  We decided to pop them on the blog, some of them won’t make too much sense but we’ve left it unedited.  We decided to call this list… well, err…

Craig’s List

“My list of highlights from my Odyssey with the guys in London Taxi on the way to Sydney.

  • Crazy old guy with IV marks in his arms and heart monitors still attached to his chest climbing into the Taxi, singing and smoking on the way to Chak Chak. Yazd, IRAN
  • Camping in the road to avoid land mines.
  • Local couple cancelling their plans on the wife’s birthday to show us where the Towers of Silence were and then inviting us out for cake. Yazd, IRAN
  • Running from the police twice and being involved in 2 police chases, just to get some diesel. Zahedan, IRAN.
  • Johno finding all the crazy people, including the nutter taxi driver discussing the meaning of life, prison, good and bad through the window of the Taxi as we tried to drive off. Kerman, IRAN
  • The nightmare that was Zahedan and Meriveh. Three days with no food, no money, little water and sleeping in the parking lot of a hotel whilst dealing with lazy, incompetent, smart arse and irritating Iranian Police as we tried to exit the Country. Zahedan and Meriveh, IRAN.
  • Me losing my cool with lazy, incompetent, smart arse and irritating Iranian Police and almost belting one armed with an Ak47. Meriveh, IRAN
  • Two Ak47 wielding Police taking me to the market to change money on the illegal black market. My first bodyguards and don’t you love when the police help you break the law. Dalbandin, PAKISTAN.
  • Armed escorts across Pakistan progressively getting more heavily armed.
  • Motorcycle motorcade as we left Quetta. Sirens wailing, I felt like a true Foreign Dignitary. Quetta, PAKISTAN
  • Paul’s directions taking us through a market and Leigh hitting a Tuk Tuk. Multan, PAKISTAN
  • ‘No Tension’ kid (or At-tension), whilst trying not to attract too much attention in a London Taxi in a not so safe neighbourhood with a friendly local yelling out the window for everyone to look at his new friends in the strange foreign car.
  • The ladies of Lahore… what ladies? Lahore, PAKISTAN.
  • Guests of Honour at a Sufi concert. Everyone around us got progressively more stoned as the night unfolded. Lahore, PAKISTAN
  • Crossing into India and that first beer in months. Followed by a night of drinking games and late night cycle rickshaw races. Amaritsar, INDIA.
  • Waving goodbye in Kathmandu, NEPAL.

Well, I think that’s it. I hope everything is going well. See you in Sydney”

Next up, we hit the mountain passes up to Tibet, the most beautiful country in the World.