By shear coincidence, it appears I arrived in Nepal on New Year’s Eve, which is 57 years ahead of western dates. Sammi met me at the airport after some lengthly customs-form filling in, and we took a taxi to Tamal where out hotel is located.

First thing to sort out was what we’re doing for the next few days. Sam has nailed down a fairly comprehensive itinerary already which is really good as it brings together all the good and bad stories of the other people out here and means we should get to pass on the not so good and make sure we get to see the better stuff. The travel agents here are really friendly and offered us tea (not exactly Going Places) and we sat for an hour talking about where we’ll end up and the Gurhkas (San, one of the travel agents had tried for the regiments).

Most of the volunteers who work in the orphanages surrounding Kathmandu meet up once a week on a Friday at the place we are staying (which is fairly touristy district). It meant that last night we all met up on the roof terrace where I got to meet all the other guys before we went off for food, live music and then finally, and totally unexpectedly – a new years mini-rave in the back of some little bar called Funky Buddah.

There was a powercut (as always) but they soon got the sound system back up and running.

This morning we had breakfast at a little cafe called Organic and it was interesting to check out ‘morning cuisine’ (buckwheat toast). The language here is pretty straight forward for basic phrases and most people have got a enough of a grip to make talking to the locals a little easier – especially when it comes to bargaining.

There have been one or two ‘horror’ stories shared about experiences out here, but it’s more to do with the plight of the locals at the hands of the different factions. Everyone here in Kathmandu seem very friendly and the street kids have a good temperment are also quite amusing and willing to walk with us down the streets.

Apparently last night was particularly busy, in the past two weeks things have got crowded (compared to in Fenruary apparently, when it was dead) so we’re off to explore some of the areas outside of the city.

It’s a bit of a welcome relief from the hectic and non-relenting Delhi. Obdul, a guy I met just before I left the hotel in India was not very complementary about the local area but said that if I found my back there he would make sure I get a better deal on a hotel and see that everthing is taken care of. Even if I didn’t care for Delhi particualarly, the people are at least fairly friendly although the level of poverty appears much higher than here in central Nepal.

Today we’re going on a walk to the city square to see the New Year celebrations. It’s really very nice here.

So the last time I tried to write something was at about 1am last night. I got to the end of the first sentance and ‘pop’ – no more lights. It wasn’t entirely a surprise – Delhi appears to have been wired following a map made by a spider with inky feet.

The flights were fine, in fact good. Despite a rush at Heathrow due to the airline employees not turning up at work early enough, we managed to make our plane and got going with only a minor delay.

Big thanks must be sent to John who managed to co-ordinate my whole evning before I left and also has lent me his Peter Cook book for the duration.

Once in Delhi we took a ride in the back of a taxi to the hotel. I met a guy called Rich who is planning on spending 6 months out here and as he already had accommodation and I was planning on kipping in the airport but he allowed me to get in on his prebooked hotel.

The room is very clean and after leaving the air con on, quite cool. That is, cool compared to the 32 celcius outside at 11pm last night.

Driving here is another ‘knowledge’ system. Everyone has the knowledge that you can drive on any part of the road, or anywhere around the road. Signalling is is for wusses and the horn is the best method to let you know no one is going quick enough. Expect overtaking on both sides, and make sure all passengers are out of the car before attempting to refuel. I am still not sure which side of the road the Indians drive on. Thrilling to say the least.

The hotel have booked me a cab back to the airport in half an hour and then I fly to meet Sammi in Kathmandu (Nepal). It’s going well if not particularly predictable so far…

Being that I’m travelling in just over six weeks, I decided that getting my visa sorted is a pretty high priority. The Consulate website is fairly thorough, but you can’t ask those little niggling questions, and all my attempts on the phone have failed to yield a answer, I mean, no one ever picks up. It gave the impression of being a one-person show, not too dissimilar to the Thai Embassy near New Street.

How wrong I was. I arrived at about 11am, and quickly located the rather sparse ground floor of the Consulate. From the outside it’s a small, ex-industrial office and the large empty ground floor gave the impression that even this was too big for the task. I was directed up a small stairwell and at this point was surprised to find myself pushing my way up an ever-thicker channel of people. At the top of the stairs is a short corridor leading up to an airport-style body scanner (which was making a lot of noise as people passed in and out, but no one seems to be bothered). On the other side of the scanner must have been 200 to 300 people bunched outside the four tiny post office windows, and the one man who appeared to be directing the crowds wasn’t having much success in forming the hordes into an orderly queue.

Had he not have been making a beeline for the door as I came in, I wouldn’t have heard him tell me that there were no more visas to be issued today. They’d met their daily quota. I’m quite glad I didn’t have to queue for two hours to find that out.

The closest thing it equates to from memory was a coach station in Malaysia. Chaotic, and exciting. If my departure was less than four weeks away, I would be seriously worried by now, especially at the prospect of having to secure my visa queue number by arriving “between 6.30 and 7.30am” and not mid-morning as I have discovered. Thankfully they run a 4-week postal application. I think I’ll be taking that option.

And I’ve booked it. I’m going to be flying from here to Milan, Milan to Delhi, Delhi to Kathmandu, and then return from Delhi a month later. Cracking, although I think my bank might be wondering what hit them. Actually the price wasn’t too bad, probably between £100 and £150 cheaper than I might have guessed so I’m quite pleased.

Despite clearing this up, my list of things to do is not shrinking and despite my best attempt to fall asleep last night, I didn’t actually nod off until about 4am, so it’s likely that I will be feeling rubbish by sometime mid afternoon.

This week holds all the excitement of being that time of year when my contract expires and I have the intense pleasure of looking at all the sparkly new handsets. This isn’t going to be an expensive exercise though, not if I can help it. I’m quite prepared to dodge networks in order to get the best deal and I don’t particularly want to be spending more than I already am already; I’m saving any extra pennies for my trip to patch up some of the damage Jade Goody has done to international relations.