Nepal

Has anyone been to Nepal?  Would be interested to hear if yes...or if anyone you know has...

I will ask Steve if my in-laws have ever been.  They are off to Senegal & the Gambia right now & it'll be a couple weeks before they get back so I can't talk to them until then.

...so does this mean you are going to try and swing the extra time off?? Cool!

I wanna go!!!

Nah, I might make two trips.  There's definitely no way I can take 4 weeks off.  I might go with DH then come back once the wedding is done.  We'll see.  Probably can't afford it though. 

I spent three months there in the late eighties, did Kathmandu, lots of river rafting and Everest base camp (actually i think it was the base camp to the base camp..lol) and loved it. I recall meeting a few Californians among the numerous hippies in the appropriately named Freak St area of Kathmandu who had been there since the 60's.

In more recent times though it has been problematic to see much of the country due to an anti-monarchist/maoist rebel element that has kidnapped tourists. As you may have to stick to the cities it may not be as good but the country no doubt remains quite a chilled out place to be, certainly more so than cities i visited in India.

Lonely planet guide is always good for up to date non touristy advice - they have a book just on Nepal.