Hello All,

Sorry for the delay in posting this final expedition blog. We have now made it safely back home to be greeted by the most amazing reception. Thanks to you all!

At long last we got packed up and departed base camp around 5 am. We had been promised 4x4 jeeps as transport to border, but as expected a bus arrived! We knew that this probably meant an overnight stay in Zhangmu, as the border would close at 6 pm. This caused a few ill feelings, as we had all been looking forward to a decent hotel and bed in Kathmandu.

Anyway, off we headed on the bus. 4.5 hours later we arrived back in Tingiri, that awful town we had stayed in some weeks earlier. Well, it hadn't changed bit… still a dump, no sight seeing for us here, the only view we wished to see of it was the view in the rear view mirror! So, after another ‘delicious’ breakfast there, we departed for Zhangmu. This journey was eventless (for a change) and took only another 7 hours in the bus. The journey was quite tiring but it was great to get a chance to see the section of Friendship Highway just before Hangman. This is very spectacular and somewhere we didn’t think a road should ever have been built, as the vertical drops at the side of road are enough to scare anyone (even hardened mountaineers like ourselves!)

We finally arrived in Zhangnmu and, as we had predicated, the border was closed. This meant an over night there, which was rather unsurprisingly not met with a great reception; however that was it as we didn’t really have any other choice.

9am next day we queued up at the passport control keen to leave China behind, then remembered that there had been an admin error with the group visa and Kate’s name… the rest of us queued up and passed through the control without any problems. Then it came to Kate’s turn, well to cut a long story short, after quite a few tense minutes with many threats of fines and jail, they simply said "don't do it again" and she was off through the control (at speed) to re-join the rest of us.

We crossed the Friendship Bridge and were met by our two Nepali Land cruiser drivers, then off down the road to Kathmandu. The only event on this journey was being stopped by the nice Maoist people, who were having a street collection for their awful cause. Our drivers ‘suggested’ that it would be better to pay them than argue!

Anyway a few more hours passed and we arrived back at the Shanker Hotel in Kathmandu, very happy people. That evening we decided to visit the Everest steak house for our evening meal and ordered up the largest steak available, now this showed very poor judgment on our behalf as no one (except Jonathan) could eat even half of it. The rest of evening was spent ‘relaxing’ in a local bar until the early hours.