chatinmoustache

MUAY THAI ROUND 4

2012-02-28T09:23:00.000-08:00

Hiya,

hope you are not getting tired of the Muay Thai, as I am loving it!

warm up this week evil started off with the usual running around then,

50 squats with a 6ft lad on my back,

downward dog to plank to cobra fluidly moving between positions with no rest,

double squat jumps,

plyometric lunges,

star jumps,

then the killer,

1 burpee followed by a high kick to the pad, then

2 burpees followed by 2 kicks to the pad

3 burpees followed by 3 kicks to the pad

yadda yadda ya untill you got to 10 repetitions all without stopping.....

the effect : beetroot face, whole body turns to jelly, and fighing collapse, but I nailed it in the 4 minutes given unlike some of the lads!

The main set was upped today to 4x5 minute rounds of kicks high low and knees, then punches and combos, added uppercut to the equation and repeats of the same punches getting prgressively harder. Once had practised upper body we put it all together.

Was cool to be using both legs and arms and feeling co-ordinated, and great to practice with different people, everyone had a different combination to offer and more pointers and encouragement for me.

Definately found I was getting a rhythm and the stance is becoming more natural. Muscles want to work in the right order and feel strong.

After a sweaty 4 rounds we all swapped over and I took the pads for the first time, bearing in mind that I am 5ft 2 and I have paired up with a 6ft1 lad I knew I was going to suffer! Its one thing holding up the pads for someone your own height but holding them up above my head for 5 minutes at a time was punishing, almost more so than doing the punching yourself. Also remembering to lead the drills and tell them what you were expecting them to throw was hilarious!

I realy enjoyed leading the efforts and made it through with only one punch to the face! (My fault!)

We warmed down with a few stretches and thanked everyone before heading off for a well deserved shower and some food.

Come on girls where are you hiding come and join me at Exile Gym

Gym Instructor - bring it......

2012-02-25T12:09:00.002-08:00

Hiya,

the mustache is now officially a qualified gym bo!

headed up to the big smoke this weekend to put my first client through their paces and gain my wings in gym instruction.

So started off the session with the housekeeping the compulsory boring stuff, fire escapes, toilets, first aid and their general health. Examiner hovering within earshot,

Then were off on a fully fledged beginners workout,
on to the spin bike to get her sweaty,
dynamic stretches X3.
mix up the following...
4x body weight exercises,
4x machines,
and 4x free weights,
cool down,
stretches,
of course seeing as my 'client' was one of my other class mates I had to make sure she got a bit hot and bothered to make it real, so she loved doing back squats on the smith with a loaded barbell!! Suck it up !!

But as soon as we had started it was all over, 40 minutes of concentration.

Then it was her turn to take the reins, nothing like a bit of pay back, her idea of counting out reps involved me doing the set amount and adding on an extra 5 either bad arithmetic or sadistic revenge especially when I had done 20 pushups perfectly already!

We then had our feedback with the examiner and had nailed it for a pass with no major faults....get in! Especially when the comment 'very impressed with the pushups' came out of his mouth!

So left the facility skipping to meet my chums in a pub in Maida Vale for a nice cold celebratory pint in the winter sunshine, it is a good day today.

Happy sunny mustache

chow!

MUAY THAI ROUND 3

2012-02-21T05:09:00.002-08:00

Round three then,

Thought I would have a feminine mate from work with me tonight but a vicious attack of woman flu has rendered her sounding like Barry White! So just me again the lone ranger!

Still waiting for my new gloves that I ordered on line, the supplier told me they may take three weeks! Typical but they do have a sick killer bee design on them so trying to be patient!

Drive down to Exile Gym and get involved, nothing quite like a new skill to learn for keeping your motivation high.

Warm up with some sprints and running about,

followed by burpees,

star jumps,

press ups,

sit ups,

back extensions,

plank,

and some leg raising ab exercises that were killer,

you know the routine now,...... shadow box,......... a few more burpees.

The 'bigger boys' were sent to the cage and we paired up for 5 minute stints of kicking, I landed up with Dan the instructor so got more help and pointers than would have otherwise which is ideal.

First 10 minutes practicing low and high kicks, moving forward and keeping good balance 5 minutes with Dan and 5 minutes on the bag so he could check on everyone else, once you get into a rhythm and position that feels strong and stable its very mesmerising.

Then we moved on to combinations of punches, Dan took me right back to basics and ironed out my stance, to be like a MMA fighter not a boxer! More square onto the opponent being a more stable stance.

Then we dissected the punches one at a time, jab, cross and hook, every time one thing fell out of place he was on it and the rhythm soon kicked back in and the movements became more fluid and natural, so back on the bag to practice.

Remember to use your shoulders, pivot into the punch, tuck your chin into your forward arm, keep your back arm in protection mode, keep knees soft, use stance to advance and retract.

Then it is time, we do another round of burpees and star jumps at decreasing intervals before stretching out.

Get home to a chicken stir fry already and waiting for me, nice, and watched the Haymaker on TV in the ring training with Michael Macintyre, Justin Beber and Dizzy Rascal- surreal?

Yes definitely.

Taters

MUAY THAI ROUND 2

2012-02-15T14:56:00.002-08:00

Afternoon

round 2 then,

back on it this Monday at Exile Gym, good to see some faces I recognised from last week and a few more.

The warm up this week consisted of running around the mat, and partnering up (in my case with a tall lad) and hammering out some body weight exercises.

The first was running with your partner in piggy back around the mat for what seemed like eternity being chased by other teams all trying to overtake causing a lot of giggling and shoving, then we were brought back down to size by,

40 wheelbarrow press-ups with my lad holding my legs up,

40-50 squats with your partner on your back-Thigh burners

We alternated between being victim and being the weight for my partner (think he got the raw deal here!)

a bout of Shadow boxing followed,

heart rate,

drops,

back down,

to a safe level,

and just when you think it is finished,

a few burpees tacked on the end for luck.

POW body is defeated and overheated but made it through in one piece.

So sweating from every pore know to man I managed to wrap my own hands and grab a pair of gloves before partnering up to practise techniques.

No pads this week and more combinations of moves to avoid slo-mo jabs and crosses, and which kicks should be used to combat advances.

Some kicks come so close to the men's crown jewels there must be accidents, but not on my part yet.....

Incidentally at home this week I was browsing fight websites to purchase my own pair of gloves and came across specialist sports bras with extra protection for women doing martial arts, they look a bit like white armour, who knew they even existed? Cracking idea-when legs are flying at you heading for bruising in unwanted areas, in some cases may even help lovely ladies protect themselves from their own boobs flying around all over the place! Win.

Anyway back to the point, finished off the session with a quick stretch and left wanting to do more.

Bring on round 3 with a new recruit I have persuaded to join the madness!

Chow

MOUSTACHE GOES MUAY THAI

2012-02-09T05:24:00.000-08:00

Moustache is back as promised

have smashed the first goal for 2011 I attended my first Muai Thai class (Thai Boxing) at Exile gym.

I turned up with my brand new hand wraps and introduced myself to the instructor Dan, a strong looking medium height eagle eyed guy and explained it was my 'first time'.

I was made to feel welcome as the only girl and told if there was anything I was not comfortable doing to let them know.

A few other members started to trickle in, a real mixed bunch one guy looked like a huge Maori warrior, a few middle weights and a few light weights all in their early 20s and 30s and easy on the eye!

The group warmed up running around the huge mat area next to the cage, side stepping,
                                                                                                                                 high knees,
                                                                                                                                                sprints,
followed by circuits boxing style - Resistance and plyometrics moves,
Star jumps,
Press ups,
Star jumps,
Sit ups,
Star jumps,
Prison burpees,
Star jumps,
sprawls,
Star jumps,
repeat
over
and
over
heart jumps up to meet your mouth
legs go leaden
relax....
Shadow box and kick (feel like a faker, but got over it!)
warm up - done

Next pad work,
get wrapped up by Dan, (wrists and fist only don't get excited!) made an elaborate pattern interweaving through my fingers and round my wrist. I blagged some gloves and was unleashed into the pad circuit.

Three minute intervals at 5 stations with 1 minute rest.
Within 20 minutes of power I had learnt the basics of three kicks and three punches, chatted to everone and had good tips and corrections of my novice form and equally flummoxed all with the Moustaches Southpaw style!

We then swapped places and I held the kickbag while the others rotated around the circuit, it was surprising to see who had the strongest kicks!

The cooldown consisted of further plyometrics and resistance moves that just about finished me off, then were left to stretch and cool down in your own way.

1hr 30 minutes flew by and really enjoyed it. See you all next week for round 2 Ding Ding.

Now recruiting more girls to the cause to give me more of a chance to a fair fight!!

COME ON

Chow.

Janathon Day 30 REFLECTIONS 'DONE'

2012-01-31T14:20:00.000-08:00

Laos 2011 a day on the river - it was bliss!

So Janathon is over but I am in the habit of writing now so I will continue and today is the first day of the rest of the year, so to reflect....

Janathon has helped me focus on my diet and fitting in some exercise every day no matter what getting into a routine is important.

It has been challenging to get motivated when I am already tired from work but every time you make the choice to get on with it, it is worth it because you feel better when you are finished.

So what next?

New goals,
                Janathon kick started my body,
                                                             pushed me to try different things
                                                                                                           added lots of variety
                                                                                                                                        some will stay                                                                                                                     some will not
                                              I now have new exciting ideas to look into too,
I believe,
             I decide,
                         I take action,

Short Term Goals:

1. Continue to push myself physically, including trying out Muay Thai (Thai boxing) classes at Exile Gym, I have wanted to do this for ages and finally made time today to go and investigate the opportunity so I can get involved next week, I will update on how my first week goes!

2. Plan sporting year and the events I want to enter plus figure out how I will pay for them UGG!
Virgin London Triathlon already in the bag, will need some running events, wiggle mountain bike events high up the list with Sportifs in the Autumn, anyone wanting to join me on a challenge or if you can reccomend an event bring it on!

3. Grow my own food, the allotment is ready and waiting for our love and attention this spring, I am attempting to grow delicious odd shaped veggies that me and my partner will coax out of the ground...again watch this space
4. Run more

Mid Term:

1.To drop 1.5 stone by April.
I want to explore some new avenues for nutrition advice. More to come.

2.To have completed 5km/10km road runs in good times (Sub 25mins 5K and a sub 1hr10K by end of May)

3.Complete my Personal Training qualification in May.

4.To complete my Triathalon Coaching Level 2 award before the end of the summer. Allowing me to coach open water sessions.

Long term:

1. To make more time to be happy with my beautiful partner and family

2.To continue working with Tri Team Wessex, developing my coaching skills and developing the skills of the members be they budding athletes or more accomplished triathaletes pushing them to their limits and making it fun.

3. To establish personal training income into my life

4. To move into a house 'escape the flat'.

5. Nail an Olympic Triathlon in under 3 hours

Brekkie:
2x Scrambled eggs + Chipolata

Lunch:
Green salad with Tuna and tomato

Med veg soup from canteen + a coffee.

Dinner:
Baked chicken breast with lemon
Roasted peppers, courgette, onion, butternut squash and tomatoes.
1 cup of tea.

Now a little rest I think!
Chow

Janathon Day 29 SPINAL

2012-01-31T04:03:00.000-08:00

Big Fat Nothing - to report on the exercise front today but this is due to my appointment with the Osteopath to correct the imbalances in my neck and lower back after my snowboarding slam!

Geoff is a legend standing at abour 5ft 6 and built like a gorilla! He warms up my back and neck with a great deep tissue massage then twists my head around in some very strange angles before the almighty crunch and snap to put it back in place.

He then attacked my lower back like I would crack my knuckles and finishes off with a sitting up bear hug and strange manouvre that pushed my head forwards to crack the keystone vertebrae above the ribs, which made a popcorn popping noise!

Needless to say I was told to lay off all exercise for a few days untill the bones settle back. So thats what I will do!

As I was restricted to rest at home I managed to complete a shed load of my online learning for my Personal Training folder.

Brekkie: 2x scrambled eggs

Lunch: Green salad with avacado, goats cheese and tomatoes.

Dinner: Veggie Stir fry with peanut butter and egg. Dollop of creme fraiche.

Snacks Walnuts and cheese.

2x Cup decaff coffee

1x Cup of tea

Janathon Day 28 Teaching

2012-01-30T07:00:00.000-08:00

Day two in London on the personal training course, kicks off with learning about how to plan gym based exercise for cardio and resistance exercises. Then were briefed on how to carry out client consultations and were asked to picked a partner to test out our skills on. Buddied up with Tara who incidentally wanted to do a triathalon so we were off to a good start!

After lunch we were told our buddy would be the hampster for our practicle exams and to create a programme for them over the next fortnight. The rest of the afternoon was in the Gym preping and trying our training skills out on our buddy, training them on the resistance equipment.

We had to ensure we were explaining the name of the exercise its purpose, the muscles used and giving demos before asking the buddy to have a go, allowing us to correct any mistakes and chat through our teacing points. We could also give feedback on what we could both do better.

Great fun and now have a tonne of work to get through before next time, a very tired and satisfied moustache headed back home on the train and had a naughty dinner before crashing out ready to start the working week again.

Definately need to book some days off to get a lie in!

Brekkie: 2x scrambled egg

Lunch: Salad with tuna and tomatoes

Dinner: Sausages, egg and waffle.

Snack :Bagel with cheese, walnuts.

Janathon Day 27 MUSCLE POW POW

2012-01-28T12:47:00.000-08:00

Hey from London town,

Weekend 2 of the evil plan, up and on the tube at 8 for a day of learning about muscles, met up with the same group that were here a fortnight ago and already starting to feel like friends which is really nice. Started off with a recap of the last session and a Q&A for the reading and e-learning we did during the fortnight off, then launched into Muscles.

There are over 600 muscles in the human body OMG...., but we are learning a lot less thank god! The major muscle groups alone with all their own freaky names is like learning another language. Then you need to know the point of origin on the bones they are attached to and where they end or the insertion is adding another layer of complexity. Once this is grabbed you add the joint movements and common exercises that utilize them! BRAIN ACHE!

We then had an hours practical session in the Gym to test the different energy systems Aerobic, Lactate and CP. Good fun and got quite competitive.

After lunch we focused on stretching, applying all the knowledge we learnt on which joint movements it uses and the muscle groups you are stretching.Basically an afternoon of stretching in the studio for an hour and a half, and relax!

Back home for dinner in Maida Vale a casual cider with mates BED AHHHHHH!!!

Brekkie: 2x Scrambled eggs
Lunch: Cauliflower Rice, broccoli, spices, green beans, tomatoes.
1 Herbal Tea
Dinner: Salad with fried chicken breast, feta, tomatoes, mayo, courgette, cress, Chinese lettuce.
1 Cup Tea
2 Ciders

Janathon Day 26 FRAZZLED?

2012-01-27T10:55:00.000-08:00

My expression today

Tired moustache today!

Was planning on going swimming this morning before work but woke up with back ache feeling completely drained.

Also weighed myself and took measurements for the first time since the beginning of Jan, to my horror I have gained a pound, and my measurements have not budged WTF?

Instead of feeling sorry for myself I have to work out why and beat it. GRRR when you try hard the body rebels!

So lets see, the time of the month which can affect my weight massively tick, perhaps not eating enough overall not sure - or enough protein potentially?

All this exercise will also change body compsition but would not expect that much change, so need to get on the proper machine to monitor body fat next week to get a base reading.

Plus

Ensure I am drinking plenty of water,

Keeping my metabolism up by eating every 4 hours including protein and good fats,

Try my best to get into bed earlier for my beauty sleep,

Up my cardio with a regular long run,

If this fails to yield results next month I will explode!

Dont get gloomy and eat bodyweight in Cheese

So with the combination of this mornings revelations of pitiful weight loss and a sore back I have booked an osteopath session to iron out the kinks from snowboarding, and relax my overworked body, AND granted myself a day off the Janathon regime, I know I have been defeated but why drill yourself into an injury? I even drove to work and had lunch out so there!

On the brighter side I am off to London tonight for weekend 2 of my evil plan so best get back to the revision, more muscles to learn.

Brekkie: 2x scrambled eggs

Lunch: Chicken Caeser Salad minus the croutons

1 small glass of white wine

Dinner: Mini cheese tart from yesterday bowl of veggie soup from yesterday

1 cup Decaff coffee

Janathon Day 25 DENTISTRY

2012-01-26T14:13:00.000-08:00

Dentist again today, last one hopefully as my bank account is starting to feel like it is paying rent to live at the surgery.

Why after 30 years do you start suddenly developing holes in your teeth for the first time??? (No I do not have a secret sugar habit! and yes I do brush my teeth!)

She stabs my gum,

it goes numb
feels like teeth
want
to

drop

out

get the drill,

pick,

prod,

grout,

dribble,

mumble

humble

'thanks' ( but want to add 'a bunch for a numb face'),

Body pump after work to hammer home the week 1 hour of unadulterated brawn building done with weak arms, head back for yummy dinner.

Brekkie: x2 Egg omlette with edam

1 cup of tea

Lunch: Leftover spanish chicken and veg from dinner

Dinner: Veggie soup and small crustless cheese tart, created without pastry.

Hot milk with Cacao

Snacks: Nuts, sundried tomatoes, slice of edam.

Janathon Day 24 TURBO FIRE YOURSELF

2012-01-25T15:48:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Avoided major peril by the skin of my teeth this morning whizzing down a the hill on my bike alongside a row of stationary traffic, when I drew level with a white van the passenger door suddenly flung open and I screeched to a halt and the door rapped me on the knuckles, swear at the idiot inside and gather my marbles before cycling off again.

Got home and had to fit in a quick workout before dinner and heading off to teach swimming at the Tri team Wessex.
My buddie at work downloaded the latest work out frenzy in America 'TURBO FIRE' I have had it on my computer for a few weeks and not had a chance to test it out.
The skinny:
You work out with HIIT (High intensity interval training)
Plyometric moves +
High impact +
Body weight resistance +
Warp speed gabba soundtrack,
For 1 minute,
Recover 40 seconds,
go again,
over,
and over,
and over,
until you finish the workout and collapse in a tangled heap!

I chose a 20 minute session because I am strapped for time and have not tried this before! rest assure it nailed me, I was sweating my piece within minutes and I have no idea how the hard bodies in the video keep up the gabba warp speed and still jump so high AMAZING!

Verdict- Convenient, very good fun a bit mental and after a few goes the moves will become more natural (I hope!) There are loads of different workouts in the collection so you do not get bored of the same routine and keep your body guessing. Win Win.

Good to see the blighter's at the pool this evening; truly amazed at one member whom had a very stiff shoulder for over 8 years that finally went to a chiropractor, the results were staggering, his front crawl length would usually take 25 strokes and now with the shoulder moving better this dropped to 21!

Wish someone could make an improvement like this for my running!!!

Brekkie: 2x eggs scrambled

Lunch: Cauliflower (Grated) Broccoli, mange tout, green beans, tomatoes, lemon, onion seeds, chives and chilli flake seasoning

Dinner: Spanish slow cooked Oven Chicken, tomatoes, aubergine, pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, onion, chive, thyme, garlic, lemon.
1 cup of hot lactose free milk with pure cacao powder.

Snack: Nuts & Cheese, 1 cup decaf coffee

Chow

Janathon Day 23 VEGGIE TRUMPS

2012-01-24T14:47:00.000-08:00

Back on my mountain bike again this morning.

Fell out of the routine of cycling to and from the train every morning and evening over Christmas, now cannot afford to park every day at work and could do with the extra calorie burn so strapped into the all weather jacket wiped the bird crap of my saddle (incidentally why does the little blue TIT need to chill out on my bike when there are plenty of trees?) and braved the grey wet morning and barging traffic to get to the train station.

Police crawling all over the station and ticket men slowing everyone down, dont they know I always leave the house with bare minutes to spare? Grrr get out the way morons, forget road rage how about wet cyclist rage!!

Bosh out some muscle revision and head to 1 hour of Body Combat, screaming banshee instructor on FULL POWER tonight and my legs that are perhaps a tad tight after yesterday, but are eventually kicked and bounced into submission.

I also have to relay that I had to contend with the worlds smelliest female trumps being pumped out from the very underweight, neurotic, vegan, yoga freak who happened to be in front of me in the class.
YUK
When gasping for air the last thing you want is a lung full of Veggie anus gas! CORK IT LOVE

Rant over
Mental balance restored
Over and out.

Brekkie: 2x egg omlette with slice of edam, 1 Cup of Tea,
Lunch: Salmon Broccoli, mangetout, and tomatoes steamed in the microwave with lemon, jalepenos thyme.
Dinner: Veggie Stir fry, with egg and peanut butter for flavour 1 Cup of Coffee

Janathon Day 22 BACK TO REALITY

2012-01-24T01:57:00.000-08:00

Made you look made you stare gotta do leg workout tonight!,

Get up and GO,

GO, away from the overheated mess that forms my ill partner who developed the vocal chords of Barry White overnight due to the killer man flu.

Realise my phone and therefore my alarm is still set to French time and it is still dark outside!

Go back to bed for another hours kip bonus!

Go to work - lull in the usual madness easy first day back.

Learn my bro has found a house to rent with his friends, moving in at the end of the month, only took 26 years then, happy parentals to have their own space again!

Go to gym - Legs work out to avoid jarring my aches in the neck
Cross trainer 10 mins Intervals
Leg extension 20kg 3X20
Leg press 100kg 3x20
Heel raises 2x20
BOSU squats 2 x20
Hamstring curls on ball 3x25
Dumbell dead lifts 3x25
Back flex holds 3x 1 min
Crunches 3x 1 min
5 mins on the treadmill
Cool down stretches
Home
Dinner
Get on with some revision for my the evil plan

Bed

Brekkie: 2x Scrambled eggs and chives

Lunch: Smoked mackrel salad with tomatoes, watercress and French Mayonnaise

Snacks: Cashews & sundried tomatoes

2 cups of coffee

Dinner: Keema & Broccoli dollop sour cream

Janathon day 15-21 SNOWBOARDING

2012-01-23T14:06:00.000-08:00

Epic fail for not blogging whilst in France, WI-FI was extortionate at our chalet in Alpe D'Huez and using my mobile is like pulling teeth! But still in the sprit of Janathon completed an average of 5 hours snowboarding per day so have complete peace of mind on exercise logged - well almost....had one day off the exercise regime on Saturday which we shall call Black Saturday.

It was our transfer home day so sat in a car for 12 hours and my diet reflected the boredom, my mind desperately wants to black out the Baguette, Brie and lovely French chocolate biscuits all scoffed in a flurry leaving tell tell crumbs everywhere!!

But lets talk about the snowboarding instead
Bluebird skys,
Endless long wide runs,
Crunchy snow,
Icy patches,
avoid or wipe out,
squeal,
float,
push chicken foot,
chair lifts,
glide off,
flying along,
out of control,
adrenaline fix,
swerve & cover my partner in,
spray
       like
            diamonds
                         twinkling
                                      raining
                                                down
                                                        in the sunlight, time pauses.....
laugh at my partners surprised face,
glide,
take off,
heart pounds,
land,
grin,
relax,
carve,
sun creeps around,
softer snow,
tummy grumbles,
lunch,
thaw out,
go again
sluggish,
cruise,
get going,
tire,
legs heavy,
lifts stop,
sun disspears,
make dinner,
drink booze,
bed,
sleep,
repeat x 4 days lush!

On our last day it snowed thick and fast, we head out in a complete white out, fresh fluffy snow covering your face, stinging snowfall as you fly along not having a clue which way is up down left or right, searching through hood and goggles for any piste markers, take on the fresh lumps of snow absorbing the undualtions through the knees as they come at you out of the blue with no notice untill- thwack fall flat on your face.

Snow drips down inside the jacket brrr and an almighty bone cracking crunch, twisted my neck in an impressive stack that sees my legs come up over my head like a scorpion, sit up dazed check body working, stand up and fall over again big snow drift!!

Get back on the horse and press home time to call it a day till next time.

Sunday I spent catching up on life admin and due to my sore neck went for a long walk up to our allotment and around in the woods behind to get the fresh air and stretch the tired calf muscles!

Brekkie: Mexican eggs, 1 cup of tea
Lunch: Smoked mackrel salad with watercress, tomatoes and mayo, seeded ciabatta
Dinner: Quinoa coated sea bass fillet with broccoli and roasted baby squash, 1 cup of tea.
Snacks: Nuts and Cheese.

Janathon Day 14 ANATOMY

2012-01-15T11:34:00.000-08:00

Day two on the training course, we all settle in for our first lecture of the day about the skeletal structure, assisted by the token creepy skeleton that looked like it should have been buried years ago, we discuss bone structure formation, and joints.

We then played a massive game of 'Simon says':
Flex,
extension,
planta flex,
dorsi flex,
inversion,
eversion,
medial rotation,
fall over!

This was to learn our joint movements which we all nailed in no time, but now I have returned home seem to have promptly forgotten so will have to get my partner to test me until It has sunk in.

We also started learning the basics about muscles and the different types we have but we were told we cover this more over the next few weeks

After lunch we had another brief lecture on the principles of resistance training and methods for monitoring exertion. We then headed into the gym to practice teaching each other on the cardio equipment and assess our percieved rate of exertion.

So we spent an hour taking it in turns to be the teacher or the victim and going through the process of going on the equipment for the first time.

Bingo 1 hours exertions!

All done for the first installment we are packed off with elearning and reading to complete before we meet again in a fortnight.

I now have one more sleep before heading off to the Alpes to chuck myself down a mountain on a small plank attached to my feet, so not sure if I will be able to blog but will try!

Brekkie: 2x Scrambled eggs

Lunch : green salad with avacado tomato and mozarella cheese

Snacks: broccoli, nuts, mangetout, cheese

Dinner: Roast veg, butternut squash, salmon and feta.

1 bottle strawberry cider

Chow

Janathon Day 13 EVIL PLAN BEGINS

2012-01-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

Whoo hoo, day one of the evil plan.

Arrived in London last night and slept over at 'le bessie mates gaff', this morning embarked on the start of my course in personal training with Premier Training.

A group of about 25 hopefuls keen to learn more about getting more buff! It is a five month part-time course so we all started jabbering away like students who just arrived at freshers week minus the booze!

We whipped up a paperwork whirl wind and then launched into our first lecture. After a lunch break we headed into the gym to get practical.

Great group dynamic already and a real mix of people, but the amazing thing is we all share the same thing in common - a desire to do something different. It is a real pleasure to be surrounded by people with the same goal. makes you feel a little bit less mad.

So I wracked up 3 hours of very low intensity exercise, practicing form and teaching techniques in the gym, learning teaching points and picking holes in each others performance.

At 5.30 we finished up tired but happy and headed down into the rabbit hole to get home for dinner and a good sleep after a great day with new faces, good thoughts and looking forward to another day of it tomorrow!

Brekkie: X2 scrambled eggs
1 Herbal tea

Lunch: leftover quiche
1 Herbal tea

Dinner: Smoked salmon, green salad, Mozzarella, avacado and tomatoes.
1 Herbal tea
Bottle of Rose Cider

Janathon Day 12 Early morning dip

2012-01-13T10:05:00.000-08:00

Alreet?
Up late last night packing for holiday, up early this morning to get in the pool for a pre work dip,
New swimsuit, the special kind of second skin that slips thorough the water, felt amazing and held my assets in all the right places in and out of the water, not bad!

Did 45 lengths in 30 mins, really good to do a completely different exercise and let my muscles recover after all the heavy weights I lifted yesterday.
I focused on my stroke rather than speed,
I love front crawl,
think
Long,
lean,
supple,
flexible,
stretch,
catch,
pull,
push,
breathe,
bubbles,
turn,
push,
glide,
recover,
notice where all the muscle niggles are and mentally log,
shower,
change,
Off to work,

& OMG somebody saw me on my way to the gym this morning- hell I looked like a complete birds nest-hair everywhere and probably with egg on my face!! The compliment that followed was nice 'very dedicated to be heading to the gym before work' - translated 'you crazy fool going for a swim at the butt crack of dawn and coming out into the freezing cold after with wet hair!!' and that would be about right but he has not got to log some exercise for Janathon eh!

Rounded off the afternoon with a trip to the dentist so have a numb face and cant feel my nose yay.

Brekkie: Scrambled egg

Lunch: Leftover fake pizza
1 cup coffee

Dinner: Quiche with broccoli & green beans.
2 Cups decaf coffee

Off to London tonight as my evil plan starts tomorrow!

Chow

Janathon Day 11 Pump = Lean & Mean

2012-01-12T15:31:00.000-08:00

Evening,

Officially excited as my snowboarding holiday is only days away but have no idea how I am going to blog while I am away...tonight was another epic mission,after work head straight to the Body pump class and squeeze out every last drop of strength & power I have this week, I have to swim tomorrow to recover!

I did notice today that my little gerbil biceps appear to be more like hampsters- have become rounder and larger not fluffy and messy!Must be dong something right

Rushed back to cook a meal for my little friend berry who came over Thursday food club!and a chin wagged, then realised I still have to pack for the holiday so rushed round like a blue arsed fly emptying wardrobes and packing bags.

No time to gossip today so:

Brekkie:
2x Scrambled eggs
1 Cup of tea

Lunch:
Chicken, tomato and red pepper soup from work,
5pm Spinach & steamed veg (broccoli, cauliflower, green beans tomatoes) + 1 leftover chipolata!

Snack: Nuts, sun dried tomatoes slice of Edam

Dinner:
I cup of decaff coffee
Fake pizza (no dough) + roasted butternut squash

Chow

Janathon Day 10 TURBO POWER

2012-01-11T15:41:00.000-08:00

Tri Team Wessex - weekly turbo session

So it is the middle of the week and day 10 of the Jannnnnathon still strong but starting to feel the cumulative affects of the exercise!

Tonight is Turbo night with Ollie at my Triathalon club triteamwessex, for all people foreign to Triathalon, turbo training is indoor cycling on your own bike with the back wheel suspended on a rolling tube, a bit like spinning but just that extra bit more painful!

We warm up (see pic) and set off on a series of 10 tough 30 second intervals to music, sweat does not even come close to what you do, your body feels like it will slip off the bike and the drips form a small but impressive puddle on the floor!

We progress to do 8 shorter 15 second intervals on a higher gear to simulate hills then go for a long slow burner speeding up our cadence on the hill in the same gears.

Ouch,
jump off the bike with wobbly legs,
trot over to the pool for phase 2,

Every week I lead a one hour swim session for beginners and advanced swimmers and triathletes in the pool, to help them improve or speed up their times for competitions in the summer season is great to see loads of people back in the pool straight after Christmas working off their excesses, and it is super satifying helping people get better even if I am a bit sadistic in the way its done!!

This competes my Wednesday night I got home, completely fried about 10.00pm!

Brekkie: x2 egg omlette with Edam
1 decaff coffee
1 herbal tea at work

Lunch: green salad with sundried tomatoes, avacado and philidalphia
1 flat white coffee from work

Snack: Left over vegetables from chicken casserole

Dinner: 4 x gourmet 85% meat chipolata sausages and baked butter-nut squash
1 cup of tea

Chow

Janathon Day 9 'Worlds Strongest Woman'

2012-01-10T14:28:00.000-08:00

zzzzzz oh hi.....I am awake really, all the recent workout efforts I think I deserve a power nap no?

Made it through the day and headed to the gym to act like 'worlds strongest woman' (strongest smelling perhaps) along with all the meat heads that have reappeared in force since the new year.

Why do they insist on trying to push weights they cannot lift and end up dropping them, REJECTS, also if your spotter is having to help you lift....it aint 'all you bro'!! (Rant over!)

Warm up-Intervals pounded out on the treadmill,
bring on the sweat!
Rack up a barbell and crack on,
Straight leg dead lifts,
lunges,
Squats,
plyometric jumps onto box with heel raises,
feel the burn in all those lower extremities
have it,
repeat,
Skull crushers (triceps),
Chest press,
overhead olympic lifts,
repeat,
Ab cable twists,
bosu situps,
Side plank dips,
stretch,
buzzing.
Can I ask a question?
When most people work out they sweat mostly from the armpits & back etc I seem to do this too but seem to have a disproportionate amount of perspiration coming from my knees! I have always had this affliction and more than once wondered what kind of freak sweats more from their knees than their armpits?

Brekkie
x2 egg omelette w.goats cheese& couple of sun-dried tomatoes.

Lunch:
Leftover chicken casserole from yesterdays dinner
1 Flat white coffee from work

Dinner:
Stir fry- Courgette, pepper, bok choi, onion, spices, 1 egg, & peanut butter
1 cup tea

Snack:Nuts, cheese, 6 Sundried tomatoes.

Chow

Janathon Day 8 COMBAT THE FAT

2012-01-09T15:01:00.000-08:00

Following on the rocky theme, today is Body Combat, I was feeling pretty sleepy after work and have never done this class before so why not!

Rocked up to a huge class of 30+ perhaps a few new years resolutions have been made! Nice to see a few guys at the back having a go too.

Our class leader bounces into the studio a 5ft female powerhouse,
cranks on the gabba and off we go
jab
cross,
upper,
bounce,
kick,
bounce
knees up
double time
repeat
moving kicks
jab,
cross,
upper,
knees up
lunge.
kick
lunge
kick
sweating,
shouting,
releasing
repeat faster and faster
stop
crunch
stretch
Fin
mental fun, sweaty mess, great class leader screaming encouragement and picking out faults at the hi energy pace that would outdo any raver on an all nighter.
cant wait to do this one again!
One hour exercise DONE

Brekkie: x2 scrambled eggs & chilli flakes

Lunch: Mozzarella & Jalapeño stuffed tomato and green salad

Snacks: Mixed nuts and cheese

Dinner: 2x chicken thighs slow cooked in chopped tomatoes & lemon juice, with broccoli, green beans, courgette, pepper, chillies and garlic, mustard and onion seeds & dash of single cream.
1 tsp peanut butter

1 rasberry and chilli tea
2 cups of tea

Chow

Janathon Day 7 Mountain bike mash up

2012-01-08T13:23:00.000-08:00

Close knit trees dodgems!

Board walks at the bike park

On with the missions, a trip to Sherwood forest with little John, (see pic) pack the bikes.

Nice dry day and new trails happy days.

Unload the van and get on the steed for what I am informed is an easy 7KM lap over undulating single track forest tracks, we crack on at a pace and head into the trees,

If you snowboard this is as much fun as you can have without snow in the forest in the UK.

its cool, quiet, and pine fresh, with only the noise of nothing but unknown thuds, birds, gears and your own heart and breathing, sometimes the squeaky wheel of my partner in crime, spot the rocks,
dodge,
narrow bits,
brakes,
pedal,
swerve,
skid,
fly,
pedal,
breathe,
relax your hands,
swerve,
pump,
swoop down,
puddle, mud,
sweat,
tire,
dig in,
stop
look at the clock....35minutes really felt like 10.
Breather
do it again
do it faster,
better,
ready set GO
mash the gears,
dodge the rocks,
elation as trees whiz pass you way too close,
lungs and heart working fine,
legs tiring,
dig deeper,
brake,
look at the clock 30 minutes, felt like 15 but smashed it,
hi-fives
10 miles off road DONE

Taken to the bike park to 'ave a look', (code for PLAYTIME) nice set up, jumps, board walks, and log rides, do a small jump and little John flies off the huge table top 'smoove moves' from big balls little John!
Try the log ride and feel like a wobly jelly so admit defeat, knackered push back to the top of the hill, cooked and getting cold.

Cruise back and pat ourselves on the back 2 hours of fun for little John and his small followers!

Little John - Commodore?

Grub today not enough!
Brekkie: 2X Omlette with cheese and chives
Cup of tea

Late lunch: Tiny slice of quiche, handful of nuts and slice of cheese while prep dinner!
1 decaff coffee with 1/2tsp pure cacao powder,

Dinner: Roasted courgette, onion, red pepper & Haloumi + mozzarella & jalepeno stuffed tomato, turkey strips baked with lemon and cracked pepper.
I cup white tea.
Tsp of Peanut butter

Chow

Janathon Lean & Mean Day 6, 333 = 1/2 the pain of the devil!

2012-01-07T05:19:00.000-08:00

Ahhhh Saturday the best day of the week and I have it to myself BONUS!
duvet,
snooze,
Saturday kitchen live,
Weigh in,
lost 4 pounds
Measure,
lost 7 inches
massive improvement
positive feedback
pat self on back
skip about
making Mexican eggs for brekkie and coffee. If you want the recipy let me know it is the breakfast of kings.

Running today: I picked a short but killer track, often wondered if I could run all the way to the top (see pic) and have always talked myself out of it, Its a bit like what the next few weeks look like in my schedule! (an uphill struggle) so to get to the top would mean alot. So went for the rocky look and attempted the stairs.
Ran a 1km to the bottom of the hill and took the picture,
revved up,
on your marks,
get set,
go,
started off easy so picked up the pace just as the steeper bit kicked in,
huff & I will puff,
about 2/3 of the way up my heart wanted to escape my ribcage, my tush screaming for mercy, but I now had an audience, a family and their kids (TYPICAL) so had to keep going, the last 10 steps were the steepest of the lot but like a true winner I nailed it, 333 steps of pain DONE and defeated the devil!

Here is the view from the top!

So feeling angelic did a further 4km along the river that winds its way around the hill and headed home for lunch.
5KM + the 333 steps in 37 minutes.

Brekkie: Mexican Eggs

Lunch: Salad- Spinach, goats cheese, cress, tomatoes, Chinese lettuce
1 Cup coffee

Dinner: Home-made crust less Quiche with asparagus, green beans, ricotta & feta, chives, bazil, thyme and tomato garnish. + Side salad
1Cup of tea

Chow

Janathon Lean and Mean Day 5

2012-01-07T04:48:00.000-08:00

Up at the crack of dawn
into the pool before work, to test run one of my triathlon training plans
Quiet under the water,
I am the angle fish,
calm,
bubbles,
breathing,
turning,
repeat,
shower,
change
head to work,
bubble pops
serenity gone!

Still glowing 2000m in 50 mins not bad for a friday morning!
Timed 400m in 9mins20 need to get that back down to under 8 mins.
Arms stiff from yesterdays efforts, but all good.

Dinner with the parentals this evening, have to make the right choice at the restaurant and all I want really is a massive plate of fish and chips, that's what swimming in the morning does to me by the end of the day!!!

Brekkie: Avacado Wrap, - avacado mozzarella, jalepenos, lemon juice mashed and wrapped in chineese lettuce leaf.
1 Cup de-caff coffee.

Lunch: Pastrami and goats cheese salad, with tomatoes spinach, lettuce and chives.
1 Cup Cheeki coffee the new in-house coffee brand (nice)

Snack:Nuts celery and teaspoon peanut butter

Dinner: ate out :
Starter: Prawn Cocktail starter (no bread) side salad.
Main: Roast duck breast on bed of braised red cabbage in cherry and red wine sauce.
1 soda water
1 Cup strong coffee, to please the grandmother who has recently been told to stop having sugar in her hot drinks., I have never seen her have a coffee without 7 sugars so I dared her to have one without tonight and her face was a picture like she had eaten a sour sweet, she would not have one on her own so I had to join her, so I was the one that felt twitchy for the next couple of hours from the caffeine!
2 Glasses of white wine with friends after dinner.

Chow

Janathon lean and Mean Day 4

2012-01-05T14:01:00.000-08:00

Keema for Dinner Yum

The sniffing has subsided so off to work for the first time in 2012...bit of an anticlimax!

Same, same, office faces but without the Christmas decorations or chocolate! A bit grey and deflating!

So made it through another day behind the desk, managed to drain 2 litres of water through the day, and therefore feeling much better skipped off to the gym, not feeling quite motivated enough to work myself into a sweat I headed to the Body Pump class (1Hr.)

I have not participated in this class for a year or two and wondered if it had changed very much NOPE!

I loaded my bar with ample weights to make sure I was completely fried by the end of it and put my little heart and massive thighs into it.

Music: Bad dance/euro pop as standard

Squats,
overhead sumos
rows,
dips,
lunges,
Squats,
chest,
triceps,
biceps,
shoulders,
more squats,
lunges,
overhead sumos,
core,
stretch,
DONE,

Two additions to the routine since I last visited body pump,
1. Staggered bicep curl to Eye of the Tiger, killer move (cheesy ass tune)
2. Plyometric lunges which surprisingly didn't even touch the sides! Must be doing something right.

State of muscles to be determined tomorrow!

Stats
Brekkie: Scrambled egg x2 Spinach & Chives
Lunch: Left over Tuna stifry with extra spinach and tomatoes
Dinner: Keema see picture, Lamb mince, spices, tomato, onion. Spinach and creme fraiche side.
Snacks: Handful of mixes nuts, slice of Emental cheese and cherry tomatoes.
2x cup of Ceylon tea (bored of the coffee now!)

Also had a welcome email from my personal trainer, female, pint sized, Scottish task master from last season hopefully catch up soon for the next Triathlon season x

Chow

Janathon lean and Mean Day 3

2012-01-04T12:06:00.000-08:00

Sniff Sniff Sniff Sniff
Hot
Cold
Sniff Sniff Sniff

The only thing running today is my nose, its done a marathon, but I still managed to carry my useless ill body along the river for a 40 min walk to clear the nose.

Ever since I started riding a bike for triathlon, I had to learn to love the fact I can blow snot out of my nose like a footballer, this came in very useful today and luckily nobody could see me, so quite satisfying really!

Also helped my partner sweat it out for half an hour by beasting him on the BOSU ball at home (so I only walked today but he compensated by sweating as much as I would!

Stats:
Brekkie
2x Scrambled eggs +chives
Cup of decaf coffee

Lunch
Leftover Lamb, roasted peppers,tomatoes and spinach
1 cup decaf coffee

Snack Nuts & Soft cheese

Dinner
Tuna Stirfry, (cauliflour, courgette, spring onions, green pepper, spices, 1 egg, spoon of peanut butter & crème fraiche.)
1 Cup of Tea.

Chow

Janathon lean and Mean Day 2

2012-01-03T12:22:00.000-08:00

Good start yesterday,

woke up and rolled out of bed for work, boom I can only breathe through one nostril.
I sneeze 5 times on the way to the kitchen,
look out the window and see the Armageddon, big fat rain and wind whipping up the horses in the fields opposite.

Crawl into thermals and waterproof gear and head out into the doom after a cheesy omelette,
pick up my bike where the wind has blown it down and head off up the hill that forms a small challenge in my life, every morning or when I head out to run.

I have to conquer the beast but today it is even more of a challenge with a headwind trying to tease me into falling over into a puddle in front of an impatient commuting car.

So I make it a couple of miles down the road and start sneezing profusely, honestly where does all the snot come from, my nose is streaming; I make the executive decision to turn back and go back to bed and look after myself!

Get home drenched, through my not so waterproof gear,
shower,
shiver and crawl back into bed.

Wake up to more sleet yay
I now have progressed to a mouth breather!
Eat chicken
sun comes out ???!

Take a big scarf and huge coat and walk along the river to see if fresh air will clear my stuffy head, manage 40 minutes crossing huge puddles forming where the river has bust its banks, saw a Kingfisher and a heron, but the heron was scared off by my sneezing and flapped off.

Got back and dived under the duvet one nostril cleared though!

Stats : ill!
40 min walk
30 min bike ride

Brekkie: 2Egg omlet with Emental cheese + 1 Left over chipolata
1 cup of decaff coffee.

Lunch: Chicken and green beans cooked in a dash of cream and lemon juice with tomatoes.
1 cup decaff coffee

Dinner: Lamb escalopes griddled with spices, tomatoes, spinach. & roasted red peppers, creme fraiche and cucumber dip.

N.B for those that don't know me I cook all this from fresh so no hidden extras.

chow

Janathon lean and Mean Day 1

2012-01-02T12:49:00.000-08:00

So to find a purpose,

My evil plan is not due to kick off until the 14 Jan and the the daily grind of the 9-5 starts again tomorrow, so after serious Christmas over indulgence, was looking for a suitable challenge and have found Janathon

The skinny?
get sluggish excess shifted,
running or being active every day in January, blog and tweet about it so that the community can see you are not cheating! I will also try to keep a written and visual log of food/ activities consumed/ achieved once the camera has charged.

Clearly Jan the 1st was not a success as a nasty hangover accompanied by generally feeling like a badgers ass after a great new year forfeited any unnecessary movement from the couch! But have stuck to my word and joined the cause today.

Today being the 2nd Jan I have a clear head and with the aid of a tape measure and scales I weighed in like a shameful pot bellied pig and made the promise to move every day and eat properly not like a chav on a cruise ship!

So a daily blog will miraculously appear every day this month with details of my small achievements and disasters! follow it if you can beat it of you can I dare you!

Todays Stats: felt like a pot bellied pig so......

Mexican eggs for brekkie
Herbal Tea

3km Run along the river where I live

Sunny day, peoples dogs jumping in and out of the river and shaking off their muddy wet bodies as I tried to dodge them and the massive muddy puddles that have formed after the rain last night.

Feeling full of it I took on the hill outside my house and did 5X 100m hill sprints

Not bad for a pot belly

Lunch Spinach & tomato salad + goats cheese
De-caff Coffee

Dinner Jamie oliver chipolatas + Cauliflower mash
De-caff Coffee

chow

RETURN OF THE MOUSTACHE

2011-11-27T12:55:00.001-08:00

So the moustache returned to the UK and feeling sheepish about the serious lack of posting, the result of all inspiration being drained from my typing fingers by crap internet connections.

Rest assure that the amazing journeys and the curious human connections continued to unfold through Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand and we ended up in a tin can motor home in New Zealand for a couple of weeks gawping at the epic scenery before returning to a warm summer at home.

Since the return the feelings of contentment and travel smugness wore off and getting up to speed on the treadmill that is autumn in a developed country started again, in-fact the job applications began whilst I still had jet lag from the 24hr not so 'fun time' plane journey from NZ.

Out pouring of money feels like a dripping tap gone free flow, and pesky life laundry reappears with a vengeance - the punishment of being free of it for six months, hide in the flat, pretend we have not returned start a long list,
update cv,
emails,
phone calls,

car,
mot,
insurance,
dentist,
doctor,
haircut,
tax,
laundry,
food shopping,
bills,

stop,
breath,
wait, what happens next????
what am i doing back in the UK????when did the bubble burst?
see
friends & family,
life & party,
photos,
videos.
Answer
questions,
smiling, laughing, catching up,drinking
tired, hangover, not had one of them for a while,
stop,
breath,
wait, what happens next????
drive,
pay for parking,
interview,
uncomfortable clothes and high heels (Why?)
sell yourself, sweat, breathe, say the right things, cross your fingers
stop,
breathe,
wait, what happens next......
exercise, free, tired, content,
stop,
breathe,
wait......
phone call,
start Monday week?
OK
Worry,
is it right?
will I fit?
get more uncomfortable clothes,
exercise, free, tired, content,
stop,
breathe,
wait,
start a new qualification to teach swimming always need a PLAN B,
love it,
smiling, laughing, achieving.
PASS THE COURSE, JOY,
stop, breathe, wait,
exercise, free, tired, content,
Monday week
anxious, high heels,
air con,
new desk,
laptop, telephone, swipe card,
colleagues, boss
WORK????
exercise, free, tired, content,
commute,
sweaty,
train, public transport- really?
poker face
type, smile, run with it,
survive,
paycheck,
whoosh gone,
stop, breathe, wait......
WHAT IS MY PURPOSE?

India Part Deux

2011-03-28T01:46:00.000-07:00

A fit and well fed moustache, a good rest in Pokhara, running around the lake before breakfast and hanging out with a couple of aussies a chemist and a whipersnapper (strimmer/gardener) all day in the sun or by a pool. But all good things come to an end and we must travel back to the land of brown rain!

The journey back was much more comfortable but it is now a sweaty feast on the local bus hitting the mid thirties at least with mozzies buzzing around our feet! Arriving at the train station having made new friends from eastern europe, we sat on the roof of a cafe and sink a few beers before getting on an overnight train in 1st class!! (private carriage, AC, plastic bed) an Indian guy is being really friendly and we later find out that he wants to share our carriage, no chance we have sweated and shared our personal space for the last 24 hours so not this time buster!!

In the small hours we unfold ourselves from the bunks and exit the train station that has sleeping bodies strewn around everywhere like the dawn views at a festival when the freaks come out! A rickshaw taxi driver takes us as close as he can to the hotel of choice and his mate leads us through the narrow alleys and streets so small barely two people can pass, we dodge cow shit, brave motorcyclists and paan sellers.

The cool courtyard and marble of the hotel we picked is lush, we peel off the bags and our clothes for a cold shower! The owner introduces himself as monkier (monkey) and we had a feast of lunch fit for a king and chatted to him drinking Chai.

Varanasi is famous for its Ghats (more cremation and bathing) we wiggled throught the crazy alleyways down to the waterfront, the sun bleached everything and squinting is an understatement, the scene is nuts, loads of Indians eating from the hawkers stalls, playing the drums and floating around on the river in little boats like the Hare Krishanas! Sadhus meditating, women washing clothes in the river and leaving them to dry on the brick walls

We walk along the ghats checking out the local graf and chatting to locals scoring points getting photos of puppies and huge cows (for julia, john and ollie!) turns out there will be a light and fire show this evening as a holi man is visiting.

We come back when it is dark, we are amazed that we spent the whole day and were not harassed once by any Indians- Tim is exstatic and perhaps his idea of India is finally changing as he proclaims he likes Varanasi!

The Ghat is lit up in fairy lights and a holi man manages to sneak a red spot onto my forehead, Tim dodges and he laughs! There are kids everywhere selling flowers for Puja and a huge crowd is gathered at the waters edge where men are dancing with fans and burning jars of fire, fast drumming and singing complete the show and there are hundreds of boats on the water lit up with oil lamps and full of dancing, singing locals!

Eventually another holi man catches Tim unaware and splodges the red spot on his forehead - done!

A couple of days pass easily wantering around the town, we visit a restaurant one evening for a classical music event a couple of old indians arrive with tabla and a sitar and we have a great meal watching and listening to them jam out with their eyes shut!

We set off that evening for Agra on the train in 3rd class this time, squashed in close quarters with the locals stopping avery 10 minutes and creeping closer and closer to the town famous for the Taj Mahal.

The morning comes again no massive hassle with the rickshaw drivers- we dont understand but the heat is unberable about 38 degrees so perhaps they are all to hot to bother! Another great hotel run by Muslims the old guy at reception wearing a little cap with a massive white beard and huge NHS special glasses. He pronounces he is a money collector and leads us into his aladdins cave to show us his collection.

He had travelled the world staying in the mosques his collection was impressive and included notes from Iraq- with pictures of sadam on, Afganistan, Japan, Korea, he also had old one pound notes from the UK and a vast collection of European currency from before the Euro, all were kept in small folders and the value of the collection would have been immense but he had them tucked on a dusty shelf in the cave along with jewellery, rusty lamps, bookmarks and all told amounts of treasure! He asked if we had anything we could swap but we only had Nepali money!

A few beers on the roof tops watching the sunset over the Taj and the kids playing with Kites for hours before stuffing ourselves with Lassis and curry.

A stroll to the Taj at sunrise cost $14 to get in and our bag was searched and they confiscated my drawing pad and pen????? We wander around and enjoy the calm serenity of the white marble palace, before the hoards of tourists Indian and foreign start seeping in at 8am. The afternoon after a lunch and a wander around the streets we went to the Agra Fort, huge castle with gardens and crazy structures for moving water around the site, mosaics and raj architecture, views of the Taj and an abundance of fat Americans in baseball caps.

The Trip back to Delhi only takes 2 hours so we set off at 10am the next day with a Rickshaw driver who was proclaimed he was 'the best dressed gay from Pokhara'- ok mate can we just get to the station!!

The train rolled through the dry plains past the slums of the city and arrived in 4 hours!! We jump onto the platform alongside huge crates of fresh fish (stinky) and checked our selves into an expensive hotel with a TV and aircon to relax before our flight in the morning to the land of smiles!
To date for the record- brown rain was forecast but never came!

next stop Thailand see you there.

x

Rafting & Babas

2011-03-10T03:03:00.000-08:00

Hello hope you all enjoyed the longbeard? Hes exhausted from the task and handed back to me!

Well we have had a few days being true traveling bums hanging out eating good food and making friends in the city, also have experienced huge thunderstorms that have damaged the famous monkey temple at 5am when lightning hit it- the Nepalis are very superstitious and believe this is bad luck, last time it happened the royal family were murdered the day after!

One person we met we cannot miss out is Krishna an old dude who happens to own a tiny alleyway shop on our route into town from the hotel. Every day his happy wrinkled Nepali face smiling out at us "Namaste, Cup of teeeeaa?" his shop is one of the only places I can get my cheese fix and we sit inside in the dark watching the tourists going by and munching on Yak cheese and drinking sweet chai for free, Winner!

Once we got bored we signed up for a rafting trip on the Bhote Kosi, a grade 3-4 river, Tim a little nervous but nothing a bit of gentle persuasion couldn't sort out! The bus trailed out of the city on the only respectable road we have seen since we arrived; I think we even hit 60 miles an hour! We climbed out of the valley passing a huge golden Hindu statue perched on a ridge.

The river appeared and we set in after the compulsory safety talk and more importantly what was for lunch! The water is cold but the weather is crackin about 25 degrees and getting hotter by the minute as we we layer on the windproof clothing and life jackets. We cruise off to the sound of the ones and twos from the guide and hit our first tiny rapid, Tim's face a picture as we came out the other side without having to swim.

The first day was calm and easygoing with plenty of time in-between rapids to check out the gorge scenery and soak up the peace and quiet. We climbed out early afternoon and were ferried up to our lodge for the night, a great fixed river camp complete with open air hot showers in a stone building (very amazon) a huge bar area, plenty of thatch and huge fixed posh tents with bamboo beds to sleep in.

At dinner we met two British NGO workers and of course one of them happened to be Jez's boss!

The second day brought another great sunny day and some faster water and great moments getting stuck on the rocks everyone running to the front of the raft to help set the weight off and lurch back into the flow. After lunch we were happily cruising along and they direct us to the riverbank, EH whats going on? "jumping rock" is the reply - my stomach lurches as we look over at a huge glacial boulder about 3-4 meters high, I know I have to do it but I really don't want to!

Me and a German girl make the first move to climb up and then Tim not wanting to be outdone by girls followed!

At the top I decided I cannot wait for the others to go so offered to go first, they counted me down 3,2,1 and by some amazing feat I managed to shut my eyes and fling myself into the freezing cold water, the time in the air seemed like forever then hit the water phew! Amazing- top of the world - countdown Tim and in he goes, splosh YES MATE!!!

We take on a few more fast rapids and are hauled out by a huge bridge and get more food and pile into the bus back to Kathmandu. Epic, fun and want more!

Not wanting to get stuck in the DO for too long we head of to Baktiphur- a small historic town not far from the city that has really stepped back in time, the pagoda temples surrounded by originally restored buildings, cobbled streets and great alleyways allowed us to chill out getting lost and exploring.

Kodak moments done we trot off to another little town nearby 'Dulikel' and meet the original Nepali Hippy, who runs a tiny guest house stuffed to busting with great artwork. He has been here since the hippies arrived in droves in the 60s and 70s. His family was pretty nuts too; his son had been kidnapped by the Maoists 7 years previous, his daughter had then committed suicide leaving 3 grandchildren to look after! He was great fun and had endless passion for the environment and a great knowledge of the local medicinal plants, in fact his Mo Mos were the best I have eaten in Nepal!

We sadly left the town early as I had developed a nasty rash on my toes from the water on the rafting trip which meant we could not do a small hike we had planned. On arrival back in our hotel in Kathmandu we bumped into to folks we briefly met before we left- an Italian winemaker and a female Indian singer from Bombay who were in the room next door. We headed out for a local hot alcoholic brew. (which I will explain better in a foodie round up of Nepal coming shortly!!!)

The next day Tim feeling lazy and religion hating decided to stay at the hotel while we went out to visit the Pushpatinath Temple again, reason being the 'Shiva Ratri' festival is approaching and this brings hundreds of pilgrims to the temple in the form of orange robed Sadhu's from all over Asia.

We sneaked in the back way to avoid the ten pound inflated admission fee and were met by a huge cloud of charras smoke and loads of locals !

BabaG with his devoted monkey. They headed towards a large crowd and the Baba recognised them and dragged us to the front of the hundred strong crowd! We gave him the bananas we brought for the monkey and took our shoes off and knelt on his rugs next to a roaring fire!

If you please, picture Jack Sparrow wearing orange trousers and barefoot you have a pretty good comparison, even the moustache is to my liking! His monkey Sonou has been with him for 18 months and clearly loves playing with his dreadlocks, at one point the crazy primate thought it would be hilarious to have a quick 'tommy tank' all over his masters back!!

Sitting at the front feeling sketchy and on show, the dude gives all three of us a pre-rolled joint, oh dear there is no way I am smoking it! He protests and says is is a blessing from Shiva, the crowd clearly think I am mad for refusing a free puff as they are throwing money for joints at him, but I am saved when I say he should smoke it for me and enjoy it, he takes it back with a massive grin and sparks it up 'shanti shanti'.

The crowd are scared of him, at several intervals when they creep too close scaring the monkey he grabs hot ash from his fire and flings it at them, but one guy really gets on his wick and he goes into his yellow pouch and produces a clear bottle,he tells the man it is 'ether' unscrews the top and goes to put it under the guys nose, he pegged it so fast! The rest of the crowd follow him not wanting to be near the bottle either, baba then slowly puts it under our nose and it is an empty perfume bottle smelling of jasmine!!

We head off to look around and see loads of crazy dudes, the standing babas and guys that have one hand in the air and never let it down! The chillums being smoked would put Bob Marley to shame and the festive air was electric, as sunset approached i decided to head back to find Tim plus felt I had passively smoked enough for one day!

The next stop is Pokhara again before heading back to India-hopefully I can get some good running in around the lake and eat enough to put some love on my belly before India again!

Helambu Trek.

2011-02-21T04:49:00.000-08:00

Peace on you all its the long beard,

What can I say, we got in a taxi for Helmabu trail head in the small hours with just the lonely planet a small map and our mind compasses, dodged the traffic and animals to a small village called Sundarijal.

A nice but dirty little place near Kathmandu, we followed the hydroelectric water pipe by the path up some big steep thigh crunching steps, after a few hours of sweat and tears we reach the national park checkpoint where we were subjected to more westerner tax (entry fees), we turned around and were met by a beautiful framed view of Kathmandu with mountains each side.

A couple more sweaty hours trek through rhododendrons, firs, and big old oaks, took us to the high point of the trail at 2140m, the reward a beautiful view of Himalayan peaks and misty valleys. Ah.. descent on a steep eroded trail to our first destination Chisopani- this place had a weird vibe to it, in the saddle between two mountains with half built hotels, and dirt bikes running through kicking up dust, all good though, met some Danes ate Dhal bhat and drank hot chocolate, slept in our room that smelt like the gents!

The next was Sir Robert Nestor Marley's birthday (bob) and we watched the sun rise in his honour, in rasta thongs and Jamaican flag capes !! We marched on walking on dusty dirt roads, checking our direction with the locals, we must have missed the trail as we walked right into Pati Bahan Jyang on the road.

The small village sat at 1859m with a few shops and a school, the trail appeared and had turned into loose stone tracks, dodging the school kids sprinting down in flip-flops at break neck speed.

The ascent slowly arrived in Chipling 2170m and we had a picnic. Continuing with more steep climbing to Danda Ridge 2420m in the sweltering heat, made worthwhile by amazing views of rolling terraced mountainsides six or seven ranges deep.

The final decent through more cool forests with peek a boo views of the mountain peaks took us to Gul Bhang Jang 2580m. Pretty traditional little village, perched on the mountainside after crossing a river.

We chose a teahouse, there we met 3 Germans (as we faled to meet up with the original Germans this was good!) we had a good laugh while waiting for our dinner for three hours and getting completely smoked out by the kitchen fire. In the middle of the night Liz went to the loo outside, when she came back notices it is so smoky she cannot see across the room- so the windows were thrown open to save us from dying of smoke inhalations, but i was dead to the world.

We left with the Germans in the morning for what turned out to be an epic day, to say the least. A steep ascent of 1650 m consisting of steps and switchbacks mostly in the blaring sunshine. The first ridge of Gul Bhang Jyang at 2580m its hard and hot and two of the Germans were laggin.

A long slog took us to Khutumsag at 2450m, the two Germans decided to go no further (pussies) we trekked on lacking air and getting steeper on loose shingle, and stairs thinking we had reached the top it just carried on, and on, and on, and on. We finally topped the ridges and had a very well needed lunch and debated our next move as it was getting late.

I was dead; 16kg in the bag had finished me off but the two stubborn Tauruses who shared the same birthday wanted to keep going to save ourselves the next day. Pushed on through for two further hours in the fast fading sunlight and arrived for an unbelievable sunset in the nick of time in Therapati (3640m) it was defo worth it but it was a wind tunnel. This was the nicest loge we stayed in run by a girl of 13 called Pinky and a 22 year old man name unknown (but for the story lets say Perky). The wooden dining room was cosy, warm, and had lots of knitted things around and was not smoky.

Eat, sleep, dead.

The morning had brought about the brown rain for Liz but the trek today was all descent, so me and the German shared her luggage and we scurried off with clenched ass cheeks. Down through a lovely forest of alpine plants, ferns, birds and butterflies, weird knobbly trees we get down on cookie power to a sketchy suspension bridge and wobble across to Malemchigon.

We had a tense hour of trying to find an open lodge and find a Tibetan run place, with a big dining room full of books, photos, and shiny pots and pans. Food, good chat, sleep

This morning brought brown rain for the German so after a small discussion we decide to abort the trip and get down the valley today rather than after two more days walking. The locals say we can go to Thimbu and catch a bus from there it should take 4 hours . We set off down the valley over rivers, passing high waterfalls, and herd animals, asking the locals for times that ever increased.

Now low in water and cookies, no lunch, trekking for 5 hours plus seem lost again but finally pick up a Nepali Mr Tumnus dressed in a tweed jacket, chequered shorts, flip flops, moustache and gold earring and he showed us the way. Two hours later we arrive at Thimbu and only to be told no bus today, dehydrated, grab some water and carry on along the dusty road to the next village.

Arriving in Kiul after 8 hours walking, we decided to try and hire a jeep to get to Kathmandu as we cannot go any further. Although this seemed like a great idea when we were on a normal road, it quickly changed into something more sinister.

We turned off onto a sketchy dirt road that wound up into the mountains, clinging to the edge of the cliffs for 4 hours of headbanging lumps, pot holes, and extreme vertigo inducing moments where the truck wheels frequently slid too close to the edge.

The Teenager driving and using his phone all the time added to the state of exhausted fear in the cab of the jeep! On the plus side the views and sunset over the crest of the valley were amazing and as an afterthought we decided people would pay good money to have this experience, as it was one of our best experiences.

The pizza and shower we had on return to the city was the best ever.

Signing out from the long beard to get a trim, see you soon. Back to the moustache next to round up the week and rafting trip.

MY EYES HAVE NEVER BEEN SO BUSY !!!

Do my cat in Kathamandu

2011-02-15T02:43:00.000-08:00

Well the moustache is trimmed and buff like the man about town,

back in the bedlam of a smelly Asian city after a predicted bus journey of 5 hours turns into a bone-shaking hair- raising hell of 9 hours including one motorbike accident and a lot of shouting, we reach our destination -Kathmandu,

The capital city - which feels more like a second city due to the power-shortages E.G happily eating your dinner in a cosy restaurant and a the lights go out, everything goes quiet and a cheer erupts when the generator is kicked into life or candles are lit. The shops open and shut at weird hours, and the center of the tourist trap Thamel, sells only technicolour hemp products in the hope that we will buy it - they have not moved with fashion since the first traveller boom in the 60s/70s god don't they read cosmopolitan???!

The other shops and hawkers try desperately to flog - Tibetan trinkets, huge shiny knives and scabbards, tiger balm, and strange masks and puppets. My favorite idiot so far is a guy called Swiss (tony?) who like many others is trying to sell mini violin type instrument. He falls instep beside you playing 'Frere a Jaque' at double speed, 'you like one mam?' instead of just replying no again I try another tact, ' no but I have 5 if you would like to buy them from me?' pause 'ok how much?- I reply '2000rs'- he says 'so expensive for me where you from?' 'UK' I say- 'big money, big business' , he finally clocks I am pulling his leg, a massive smile erupts on his wide podgy face, he is half a foot smaller than me and grabbing my hand to pump my arm up and down. "ah you the comedian then, pleased to meet you my name is Swiss- if you need anything any time you find me especially the finest smokes in town'. I thank him and he drops out of step to try his luck with another poor sucker but he is still grinning like a Cheshire cat.

So all that aside we take a trundle through the crazy backstreets on the way to Durbar square, sunken shops spewing shiny hardware goods and kashmere wool & silks at every footstep, the fruit vendors wheeling their colourful carts covered in nanas & oranges, others with peanuts and fried dhal, yum and no hassle so far - Amazing.

Durbar Square is part of the old city and links temples a palace and wooden shrines in a massive outdoor living museum, there was a Bollywood film being shot while we were there and loads of dribbling Nepali men were gawping at the half dressed Bollywood star, and trying to join in with the dance routine they were rehearsing.

We get a quiet hotel away from the incessant beeping and sirens and arrange do meet Jez for dinner to get the low down on the city. He is well and happy to have faces from home to chat with, his contract for work is running out in may and may have to look at pastures new, shame as his Nepali is good and seems to like the place. A few beverages later in a cozy haze of drunkardness we trundle home.

The day of sightseeing planned is delayed by a sore bonse, but we get through breakfast and head out to visit some temples- (sunny, shades on, hide the eyes) arrive at Pushpatinath the largest Hindu temple in Nepal, we pick up an enthusiastic guide who stupidly agrees to let us only pay him what we feel he deserves!

The first laugh is on us though because he leads us to the Ghats (cremation place) on a raised platform on the side of the river, (leads to the Ganges in India). We look over the edge just as a billow of smoke blows our way from the burning corpse below, the hangover is now in control feeling queasy with the stench of burning flesh and grasses, whilst trying to listen to his explanations of how the body is prepared and the type of wood they use and how much a cremation costs (between $100-$600 if you are interested!) We could only see the feet poking out sooty and blistering in the fire GRIM.

We walk around the temple complex with Hindu shrines and deities everywhere, Tim was not having a good day -religion and a hangover, but we had a good laugh at the sadhus chuffing back the chillums and were amazed by the Standing Baba; a holi man dressed in black lunghi and turban has sworn never to sit down again, quite an achievement if you took into account the amount of dope he was putting away.

Eventually the guide ran out steam and we paid him what he was worth! He was not satisfied he simply got the hungover BOTHERED FACE!

We escape out of the complex and a 15 minute walk through the dusty suburbs past schools and little shops led us to the incredible Bodinath Stupa, (a buddist ting).

We enter through ornately painted Chinese style archway to a huge white dome topped with a square golden top, crested with a gold bauble, and pray flags fluttering in every direction. The golden top has the Buddist eyes peering out on each face of the square North, south, east, West- the eyes are all seeing all knowing!!! Monks and tourists alike are walking around the stupa in a clockwise direction turning the prayer wheels embedded in the dome, chanting 'om mane padme om' shaking their little wands and grasping their beads.

Although there were a couple of hundred people here it was pleasantly tranquil and the sun starting to set struck the gold everywhere to make it the place drip with serenity. Just as you start to chill out the chanting horn-blowing, bell ringing monks start up their symphony of white noise typical- my banging head!

We escape into a rooftop cafe above a gigantic golden Bell (calm down Gina), only to be sat within earshot of a monk and an American discussing the reality of everything in the world and how yogis can walk through solid walls-OK time to go now.

The master plan now is to arrange to meet the Germans we met in Chitwan and do a self guided trek (brave oe stupid?) and complete the Helambu Circuit- are we ready for another trip to the hills already?- yes I would rather do my cat than stay in the big smoke for too long, for this little excursion I will hand you over to my astoundingly hansom guest speaker the long beard or to some my better half............watch this space.

slightly polluted moustache signing out.

Elephant schlong and Chitwan National Park

2011-02-09T23:30:00.000-08:00

Hummm dusty moustache.....going slightly ginger in the sun!

A rattling bus journey wound its way down the switchback roads with blaring Venga Boys and Aqua on the radio- will someone tell them it really aint cool!

The Terai, or lowland Nepal is a mixture of lush jungle vegetation, banana tree, and tall elephant grass; sat alongside dusty plains along the river banks that wrap themselves around the little village of Chitwan National Park

We get a free lift to the riverside hotel in the back of an ancient, dusty, open backed jeep- feeling sweaty for the first time since arriving, and getting plastered in dust from the dirt road i could have just been thrown back into Botswana.

The sun is sooo good, we sit out on the riverside all afternoon sucking it up and having a double strength cocktail as the sun slipped away into the scrubby bush on the other side of the river, wondering if we will get a glimpse of the elusive Tigers on safari the next day.

6AM Bosh another early start i really do not know what has come over me! We get punted across the river in the morning mist in a small dug out canoe to another relic jeep that was kicked into life by our driver and guide!

Windy and cold in the back winding our way into the national park, the first sighting is of Peacocks elegantly sat in the huge leafless trees, like silhouette's from a Chinese painting in the fog.

As the sun burnt through the fog we entered a section of thicker Sel jungle. This produced three types of deer; one variety- no kidding was the size of a cow with huge dopey ears! Then soon after we see the Langur Monkeys blackfaced and trimmed with white fur, peering down at us crunching on seeds from the trees and throwing down leaves, this trait led to the deer following them around living in co-existence.

The jungle cleared as we came closer to the river and we got our first Crocodile (gharial-freshwater) with epic long noses looked like a kid had drawn them out of a cartoon.

There are only 300 in the world left, the breeding centre in the park was going a cracking job of changing this as we saw hundreds of baby crocks sunbathing on top of each other in specially made swimming pools.

Amongst other sightings we saw the hilarious warthog, snuffling, huffing, and puffing, pink-faced bum and face Macque monkeys, Snake birds black with long snake lie necks and huge storks that looked like the african Maribou stalks ew i think they are creepy!

We had a lunch in a dried out river bed, Tibetan bread honey boiled eggs and pakoras, bananas and fresh clementines, more monkeys swinging in the trees watching us like hawks.

Finally after what seemed like forever we found a rhino slap bang in the middle of the track, staring blankly at us as if we had disturbed his afternoon nap.

The next turn led us to a split in the roads and we paused as there were fresh tiger tracks and dung! The guide and one of our group saw something moving in the mirage up ahead, we raced off clattering and banging in the jeep to the spot nothing (no surprise) we circled the area several times but the ginger monster had slipped away into the long grass.

Beers and popcorn with new friends in the evening and talk about an elephant ride.

The morning was bathtime with the Elephants, the mahouts brought 6 or 7 elephants down to the lake side and were washing off the dust from the day before, i went down and gave them a hand scrubbing off the crap with a stone, the elephants spraying us with their trunks, was really great to be so close to such a huge animal.

The afternoon took us on Tim's first elephant ride - loping through the local community forest seeing a few deer and one rhino, it was damn uncomfortable but way quieter than the jeep and therefore saw many more birds flitting about, the elephants were talking to each other in their low rumbling noise that is almost like purring- nice!!

Another wander took us through the older part of the village with straw and mud huts, chicken, goats and children everywhere playing in the dirt with flip-flops, even tiny babies hanging from the straw roofs in hessian hammocks. All very Kodak moment, with the mustard fields in bright yellow surrounding us.

Then we stumbled upon a small exhibition- yep, there were huge glass containers with elephant and rhino foetuses, tiger info and a large display of beetles bugs, and snakes as well as their dung (got a photo dad no problem!). The best was the gruesome cock and balls of a elephant and Rhino suspended in formaldehyde- all you can ask is WHY???

So nicely chilled out and starting to get a little colour to our pale skin we make the decision to confront the strange madness of 'DO MY CAT' or Kathmandu.

'what to do kathamandu' said the moustache, are you sitting comfortably?? then we shall begin (after some lunch me tinks................dhal bhat...........

2011-01-27T04:37:00.000-08:00

Frozen moustache!

Pokhara what can i say stunning lake surrounded by the Himalayan foot hills, yoga hippies, para gliders, rafting, trekking, mo mo's, dahl bhat-24 hour power, the world peace pagoda.

Arriving sick from India to a cosy tourist haven was ace, ate like a beast and munched down all the antibiotics we could get. took a steep stroll up to the white peace pagoda on the hill but Tim had to row us across the lake first, being the a lady of leisure that i am.Tantalizing views of the Himalayan peaks awaiting exploration.

Another day took us out to the villages on rickety old rusty mountain bikes, cute little cottages and great gardens, the tarmac road peters out pretty quickly to rubble and stones and we got shaken not stirred, the views of the lake are calming and the weather is good humm feeling like a holiday now!

But the day came when we bit the bullet and booked ourselves onto an epic 7 day trek into the mountains, we chose the Annapurna Base Camp taking us up to 4100 meters, a lung burner and head pounding adrenaline fueled amble.

The trail was mostly steep steps (oh my fucking quads-bertie) up to little villages slung on the side of the ridges, then down the ridges for multiple river crossings on sketchy bridges and nice dirt trails through bamboo and rhododendron forests.

We stayed in small tea houses run by the villagers and ate trekking stodge at every opportunity as we were walking for 5-8 hours a day!

As we crept closer to the Annapurna ranges we got glimpses of huge snow capped peaks that stayed with us in the morning but disappeared behind thick cloud and fog as the day closed in on us, then at 3500 meters we hit the snow line, we were scrambling up icy snow covered boulders and tramping through 'lord of the rings' style forests dripping in icicles. Full down gear and gloves proved a very useful addition to our mostly summer wardrobe!

The last day was an epic 8 hour climb to 4100 meters and the air was cold and thin, we reached the lower base camp we would be sleeping at about 2 pm; snow was starting to come down.

My head was banging with the altitude, and my sense of humor was on a knife edge! we slowly dragged our reluctant bodies up the last 2 hours to the base camp, there were moments, in the half light that my brain tried to trick me into quitting, but the stubborn liz-girl prevailed, we nearly missed the sign that marked the top due to the blizzard!

When i saw it i choked up and tears froze to my face! Relief-so glad that we could have a cup of tea to warm up in the little tea house at the top, then get the hell down from the huge freezer we were in!!

By now it was late and the light was fading fast, our guide Tulsi (we liked to call him forest Gump due to his love for long never-ending stories and being a clumsy fool!) turns to us and says "its ok we run now?" WHAT @#$%^ on ice and calf deep snow on the edge of a mountain- ok ....lets break a leg, risk it for a biscuit, prefer to run than walk in the dark!

We made it back to the lower camp and unrolled our sleeping bags after dinner to sleep at minus 20 degrees.

The journey back seemed very tame in comparison and the weather and views were more epic as the sunrises show in our photos, (still gonna have to wait for them sorry).

The last two nights in teahouses that had hot showers were like a little miracle as we stank like pigs in shit!

Well after that we decided we would like a mini break and so booked a bus to the Chitwan National Park to go on a search for elephants, rhino and perhaps, maybe, even a tiger!!

Naturally we took forest out for dinner and thought it was goodbye but he invited us to his family's house the next day for lunch - more dhal bhat!! anyway that's another tail on the monkey.

signing out with a defrosting moustache..............

Delhi belly to Pokhara

2011-01-15T08:12:00.000-08:00

We arrived into the stinking pit of Delhi and were assaulted by the heady mixture of fumes and dust at lunchtime on the 8th, nabbed a little taxi to the heart of the cold (yep) windy city surrounded in fog!

First footstep out of the taxi at Pahar Ganj was met by a ragged yellow eyed fellow advising me against staying here because there are many nasty Muslims here, I laughed at him and paid the taxi humped our bags up and trotted off into the crazy labyrinth of streets and alleyways, small fires of rubbish burning and kids and adults in colourful Sari's and turbans squatting eating and keeping warm, the Paan juices flowing covering the floor with red bloodstains, Timmy trotting along beside me sucking it all up like a quiet sponge.

The constant hello sir and questions from touts prompting Timmy to say 'its like you are famous in India but no one wants to give you the free stuff, and want to take your money instead!' we trundled through a side alley and found a quieter guesthouse JJ international, cool and marble inside the wobbling head of the attendant suddenly all comes flooding back to me, smile, relax and let the boy take the bags to the room, chill out, shower, eat ahh eat!!

roof top restaurant up three flights of stairs away from the madness looking down on the dusty bowl below, music, haggling, barking, cows munching, traffic horns blaring, motorbikes, children, horns, open fired food stalls, chai stalls, more horns did i say more horns.

Wobbled round the veg markets red and white carrots amongst the spices and herbs, oranges piled high and watermelons split open like smashed brains! More offers of the finest hashish and jewellery and any ting you could possibly want.

Day 2

Cramm us both into a rickshaw destined to Red fort on a Monday the Indian day off (bad planning!) hurtled off at a pace through the winding streets and watch Timmy's face disbelieving the road behaviour! Swanned around in the quiet of the fort and enjoyed a small amount of the sun peeking through the smog, back out into the crammed market streets took a twenty minute walk through the largest crowds man as ever seen trying to buy second hand fake brand trainers to get tot Jama Masijd the famous mosque that can hold 21,000 religious nutters on a good day.

Pottered round with our shoes off on the cool slabs and were ushered out as the stereo cranked into life for the call to prayer, we sat on the steps outside, Tim had a spiritual moment as the singing commenced watching the kids paying cricket, and the hoards of market goers then he realise with a thud that he was still a westerner and had to go and eat in a busy restaurant opposite the mosque and squeeze in with the locals again.

Took a trip to to the railway station and bought a ticket to Gorakpur, the get off point for bus to Nepal border, took yonks.

Day 3

Tripped over to Connaught Place to check out the British part of town, posh circular ring of boutiques and restaurants for the wealthy, MaccyD's and Nike are defo present, had lunch in an old school dark restaurant first Masala Dosa - massive rice pancake with potato curry in the middle, sat in a park and watched another market and got pestered by ear cleaner and shoe shines. Sun setting massive red blob walked back and trundled to the train station.

Looking and looking for our train on the boards, massive delays ad cancellations due to fog, jumped into the 50 deep enquiries queue, rowdy and pushing, Tim's bag got unzipped but some little beggar but he got nothing.

Platform 7 Yes - trundle of chatting to a brown toothed chump on the station, insisting Gorakphur is the best town in India- take a moment.....NOT! Two hours late jump on train claim our bunk with a family, father massive birth marked face, mother bored two elder sons chain smoking and baby daughter mumbling. settle in to bunk then feel the dreaded cramps kick- happy days.

Arrived hours into the next morning to filthy city diesel covered everything and we jumped on a vomit comet bus pronto to Sunali the border. Oh the Hindi music screaming out of the speakers and every monkey and his brother jumping on and off the bus for an hour before we get out of town, settle into the journey holding onto my guts for dear life.

Arrive in Sunali in the pitch black as there is not any power it appears at this time of night a few fires and candles lined the main strip of hotels and ramshackle huts. Find a tiny office apparently Indian immigration two fat plain clothed Indians sat there, stamped our passports and we trundled through no mans land to he Nepali side heart in throat, small house with candles three friendly guys munching and drinkin beer on the garden stamped our passports, relax. Nowhere to change money so paid for room in a flea pit for the night as missed the last bus and could not face another 5 hours on the road anyway.

Woke up at 6 to get the hell out of the cesspit hotel room grabbed another vomit comet bus and we were off to Pokhara....................Moustache x

Final Countdown

2011-01-03T15:04:00.000-08:00

New year (what a cracking bender photos helping me remember thanks bisto!) is over everyone is off to work tomorrow boo!

Feeling a little smug but also priveliged that we are both heading of on an epic bimble now we finally have our passports safely back

Packed the bag up with and trotted around in the woods to blow away the boozy weekend we were like proper pixies tramping in the undergrowth, confused timmy in tow asking lots of questions and creating a last minute shopping list.

The butterflies are truly in force in the belly, timmy is still asking me questions or sitting quietly in the corner clicking his nose (thinking tick!) too much excitement, too much to think about, unpack repack, sleep, eat, run, drink, see the family & bestsest friends, unpack repack......dream, ponder, worry, talk to youself, email, facebook, twitter, flicker...eat, sleep, run, hug, kiss, party, say goodbye, cry, fly.

Arrive Delhi - await the brown rain.....................

2010-12-22T23:37:00.000-08:00

Hello Christmas, goodbye work.....lunch in the county arms, couple of ciders and mad hectic shopping.

Indian visa still not sorted fingers crossed that they pull their fingers out so I can relax over christmas!

For anyone that does not know the plan is as follows, fly out on the 7th Jan to India- head overland to Nepal for two months of mountain trekking, back into india for 10 days to see the wonder 'Taj-Mahal' and Varanasi-where they burn the bodies of the dead on the river.

April we fly into Bangkok and head north into Hill tribe territory where I will vist the hill tribes where I wrote my university dissertation then head into the steamy jungles of Laos.

From Laos we head to Vietnam for the obligatory war tour, heading into the Chi chi tunnels and party in Hanoi, and Saigon as well as get new clothes in the almost pirate town of Hoi An.

A quick trip to the coast then head to our second wonder 'Angkor Wat' in Cambodia its all a bit apocalypse now! We then head back into Thailand for my 30th Birthday in the comfort of the white sand beaches cocktails and palmtrees, a few friends shall be with us and we will make our way south island hopping untill we reach Singapore to fly out to Indonesia.

Indonesia, land of the volcano and one of the surf capitals of the world we have a month to explore and hopefully meed some of our ginger relatives....the orangutans!

Once we are completely beached out we are heading off to New Zealand to pick up a small camper van and tour the hobbit land before meeting up with the clan from Winchester that now live in NZ for a couple of action packed weeks in the mountains snowboarding.

Hopefully after all of this we will be knackered yet refreshed for our return home via San Fran where we can get a decent hair cut and do some shopping before returning to Blighty for the great british summertime!

Chow for now
Moustache
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