EVEREST COTTAGE - Tibetan bread, roaring fire and Eagles (Californian variety!) NAGARKOT 1976

[The strenuous puffing and panting of unfit overlanders that morning was rewarded with specacular views of the Himalayan range and Everest hidden in cloud that my Kodak Instamatic did not do justice to!  Magic surreal moment was after dark sitting by cosy fire in candlelight, eating simple meal to the strains of The Eagles, at the Everest Cottage ...]

MONDAY 27TH DECEMBER, 1976 - Part Two

"Lovely view over valley and jungle to the right.  Cay stop - sat on terrace step in sun.  Reached top at about 4.  Two vans up there at viewpoint - fantastic panorama of Himalayas - from Annapurna to beyond Everest (semi-circle).

Went for coffee at nearby coffee house - all really thirsty.  Then rushed out to see sunset over mountains -lovely pink light and gorgeous blazing orange behind clouds over Kathmandu Valley with dark trees silhouetted on hill in front.

Then rushed around trying to find somewhere to sleep - eventually went down very steep hill to "Everest Cottage" - opened it up for us because no one else there.  Lit a big fire in large room with hight matted ceiling.  Candlelight in all rooms - sat round fire relaxing.

Then had Nepalese meal - plain but good fare - rice, little omelette, veg curry and dhal soup.  Finished with Tibetan bread (like stodgy pancake).  Sat round fire drinking Chris's Country Liquor.  They put on tape - Eagles.

In room with Chris and Nikki (Mark and Pam other side of partition) - wall to wall bed and nothing else!  Mouse running above our heads in the roof!"

SEVEN MINUTES IN TIBET - or at least gazing at the sentry post! Tibetan border trip, 1976

[Overland drivers were a resourceful lot and often had to supplement low wages (or no wages) with side trips until they got paid.  They held the trump card - the bus itself.  The Derek referred to in the diary was Derek Amey, another driver for Asian Greyhound whose overland trip had set off a little before ours.  I signed up for his day trip to the Tibetan border - that mysterious land under Chinese control that had fascinated me since reading 'Seven Year in Tibet' by Heinrich Harrer. 

In the 1920s my mother had been a baby carried around on a makeshift carriage through the Himilayas on my grandfather Bob Gorrie's forestry work.  A family story tells that some high up British diplomat was piqued to discover that some British baby had beaten him into Tibet!

Derek Amey, who now lives in Australia, has set up a brilliant overland website covering many trips and bus companies from the 60s and 70s.  http://www.indiaoverland.biz/]


SUNDAY 19TH DECEMBER, 1976

"Up early - Derek's bus trip to Chinese border (ie Tibet).  Misty to begin with.  Lovely scenery into foothills - wooded winding gorges, green rivers; stopped at one which begins in Tibet and flows into Ganges!  Stopped at fantastic waterfall - another division between Tibet and Nepal.

Saw brown mountains of Tibet peeping between green slopes at border.  Bridge with Chinese guard in green sentry box at the other end.  Had passport stamped on Nepal side. [Kodari]

Stopped for lunch by river and hot spring baths (grotty concrete affair) - good KC's packed lunch.

Stopped at swing bridge for fools to rush across (ie I didn't!)  Grandmother, mother and happy kid - old woman with huge earrings in ears and big discs in nose.

Saw rice paper factory at side of road - mill to grind corn then muslin screens which woman used to sieve water and pulp mixture (bark pulp and ground corn) then left to dry in open air and then paper peeled off.

Lovely villages - mellow orange brick and dark thatch.  Women breast feeding by road.  Little kids carrying even littler kids!  Got back sixish.

Went to Shangri la with quite a few of the others - so service slow.  But nice when it came - shared a Tibetan dish with Di (like omelette) and also Buff Bean Curd (Buffalo meat) Nice."

KATHMANDU - COFFEE, CAKE, KOTHAYS & FAREWELL MEAL, 1976

[As I say in a letter home: 'we all seem to have booked in at the same hotel - apparently we're the only group who've stuck together after the trip finished!  Had a farewell dinner the second night here before Neva flew away and we had speeches and jokes and presented Geoff with a drinking cup!' 
Having been replenished with badly needed funds from home I appear to have gone on an eating spree.  The letter continues: 'The street down from our hotel is full of good eating places and thanks to the money you sent me I've been trying out lovely Chinese and Tibetan foods - chicken with cashew nuts, buffalo and curd, Kothays (things in batter) etc!  Not the least attraction is KC's cake and pie shop!  They serve such huge portions of mouthmelting creations and their coffee is lovely, so we drink gallons as there wasn't much on the trip.']

FRIDAY 15TH DECEMBER, 1976

KC's great restaurant, Thamel, Kathmandu, 1976

"No one could lie in because conditioned to wakening at crack of dawn!  Had lovely hot shower.  Pam and me went to KC's for breakfast - toast and coffee!  Then met Jan at bank and so went back for more toast and coffee.  Joined people lazing on hotel balcony (ie concrete terrace where spread washing).

Not long before decided to try a KC cake - huge helpings, everything from fruit salad pie to sponge cake!  Then went in search of Yeti Travels for mail (already heard tickets not arrived from London).

Went via maze of backstreets - fruit sellers, clothes, bicycles galore, small squares, mangy dogs, smell and filth, buffalo roaming lanes; tallish brick houses with old dark carved wooden window frames and doors.

Eventually onto broad main streets and got mail - heard money come through, so relief that can live again!  Post Office with Jan - race in queue for stamps.

Gathered at hotel to discuss what giving Geoff [driver] and to order for group farewell meal.

Had meal in Star Hotel - fruit juice, steak (cold) veg (few) cake (revolting) tea (sweet)!  Apart from disappointing meal, speeches by Rob and Geoff and Fred were funny and Rob told wide-mouth frog joke (promised since Florence, Mich. Angelo campsite!)  Good atmosphere to end evening - Neva's last night."