Where In The World Is Evan?

I’ve just gotten back from my trekking expedition in the Annapurna Sanctuary. The trek was absolutely amazing. So much has happened since I last had an opportunity to contact anyone that I’m at somewhat of a loss as to where to begin.

Kathmandu is a truly unique city. It’s so much like what I expected - polluted, overcrowded, impoverished - yet also so much more - vibrant, alive, and altogether more real and organic than the tourist metropolis’ of Phuket and Bangkok.

When Mia and I arrived at Kathmandu airport we were plucked from the back of an at least 2 hour customs line by a well dressed gentleman who discreetly asked for our passports and the passport of another Australian that we met at the airport, Tim. This man then wandered down the customs line, entered the booth stamped our passports and returned demanding a tip. Having no local currency at this stage (Nepalese Rupees are not a globally floated currency and can only be purchased within the country) we could not tip him so he insisted that we go to a foreign currency exchange booth. Feeling a little uneasy about getting so quickly involved in bureaucratic corruption in a foreign country we decided to offer the guy a tip of 5 rupees each (which we later worked out to be about AU$0.14). He got so annoyed, either because we’d discussed his corruption with the currency exchange guy or because the tip was so low, that he wouldn’t take our money. Consequently we simply walked out of the airport without ever making a customs declaration or anything else.
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Unfortunatly words escape me in describing the fantastic time I have been/am having, however I will try.

The sea canoeing in Thailand (amoungst the uninhabited islands off the coast of Phuket) was really good, and by far the highlight of the trip until then. We travelled about 45 mins off the coast in a ferry and then launched the canoes into the open sea. Our guide then took us throught some incredibly beautifull rock caves carved into the limestone cliff walls of the surrounding islands by the ebb and flow of the ocean.

One of the caves was so tight and small and both sides of the canoe got stuck on razor sharp rocks and we were trapped with nowhere to move as the ceiling was only 5 cm above the tops of my my toes (we were lying flat on our backs). However, Thang, our local guide was able to free us by forcing the canoe throught the gap by pushing the oar off the roof of the cave On the other side of the caves were gorgeous lagoons filled with mangrove trees and surrounded by 50m tall cliffs on all sides.
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Well here I am in Thailand, on the beautiful resort island of Phuket. I didn’t die on the plane flight, and whilst I’ve been eating chicken I’ve shown no signs of Bird-Flu.

This post will have to be short as I’m off on a sea kayaking trip in an hour that tours some of the remote smaller islands off the coast. And for those who have seen the James Bond film “The Man With the Golden Gun” I am going to be visiting the island that movie was filmed on

The beer here is Thailand is so good. I highly recommend Chang beer, and
at only 39 baht (about AU$1.30) for a 640ml bottle at 7/11 it’s fantastic
value.
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For those of you whom I haven’t spoken to recently, and for those who just have crappy memories, I am leaving on a much needed trip to Thailand and Nepal tomorrow (1:30am on Thursday).

I will be lounging on beaches in Thailand before heading off to Nepal to go hiking for two weeks in the Annapurna Sanctuary, in the Himalaya, where I will be ascending to a maximum hight of over 4,100 meters above sea level!

I’ve been told that Nepal has internet cafes along part of the trekking route that I will be taking (a strange thought for a country in which 85% of the population doesn’t have electricity) so I will endeavour to send out a couple of emails to you all letting you know of my progress. I might even send some photos from my brand new Nikon Coolpix 5400 digital camera
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