I recently travelled to east Nepal to Ilam, the country’s tea growing district. Ilam shares its border with India and Darjeeling,  another albeit, less beautiful setting for tea. I am not sure if you can buy Illam tea in the West, but it certainly is delicious.  The photograph here, a little hazy with the pre-monsoon heat, shows the road as it twists and turns up until we reach a sufficient altitude for tea production.  I’m investigating organic tea and the over use of pesticides in the West compared with the pure tea over here in Nepal.

Locals often infuse the tea with spices, or my favourite: Illam tea infused with black pepper – it’s not a simple process of just adding pepper, instead the pepper has to be heated, crushed and then slowly fermented within the tea.  Next time you are in a supermarket, maybe check if they stock Illam tea, in my humble view, the purest and best in the world.

In Nepal there is such thing as a ‘wedding season’  where there is an abundance of weddings, at least more than usual. Here is one that I was invited too, and as you can see it’s a fun affair.  Most ceremonies (particularly for Hindu marriages) are a three day event.  The first day, the bride is collected from her family home; where she usually appears a demure figure among the throngs and processions of the smiling groom’s family who collect her. After rights and rituals, the party begins, and here you’ll see one in full swing. This was a ‘love marriage’ as opposed to the more common arranged ones. What a lovely day!

Up here on holiday in the Himalaya some of us went on a half day hike to see the Annapurna range of the Himalaya.

Here’s a shot I’d taken. Incidentally, the first paperback novel ever published was ‘The Lost Horizon’ a fictional novel about a British team who crash landed somewhere up there and discovered a city where you never age.  How unglamorous cities like Swindon by comparison seem!

Back to reality and it’s also possible to go micro-lighting as well as paragliding from here – you’re strapped in with a professional pilot – as the thermals are so good you can stay up gently for quite some time. There’s a new trend in ‘para-hawking’ here in Nepal too, where para-gliders follow the flight of trained hawks as they glide through the air – it’s quite spectacular.  Here’s a shot of a micro-lighter as he or she flew over us. It’s not often you can look across at some of the highest peaks on the planet.

That same afternoon the group returned to ‘Basecamp’ to enjoy beers and champagne: which, given the views, was quite fitting.

Here’s our group on our Autumn 2014 holiday to Nepal. Twenty four people from all walks of life and all ages, all thrown together on the adventure.  We’ve been on rickshaws and elephants, jeeps, dug-out canoes, bicycles and light aircraft around Everest on this trip thus far.  And we’ve all gelled together as one big family on our colourful holiday in Nepal! Thanks for being such a lovely bunch.

Dinner the other evening was in the Pagoda room overlooking the city. Here, are some of the group in mid discussion getting to know each other. Travellers have flown in from California, as well as Australia and Sweden this year. The dining room, with Tibetan paintwork dating back from the centuries created a wonderful atmosphere for the start of our holiday to Nepal. Our heritage hotel has a library, theatre (they are currently rehearsing a play) as well as mature gardens and ancient trees where you can sit under for breakfast or a midnight drink.

Out here on our current holiday to Nepal, some of our group are getting very excited.

We’re all enjoying it here!  The local rickshaw drivers have been working hard to get us around in the warm sunshine. There’s 24 of us in this group, of all ages and backgrounds and the country is bringing us all together. We’ve retired folk as well as youngsters on this years’ holiday to Nepal. We’ve had colourful nights in Kathmandu and enjoyed two nights in the ancient city of Bhaktapur spending time inside the medieval houses of local people.  Last night, all we had was the twinkling stars and a half moon above an ancient silhouette of the city that hasn’t changed for a thousand years. Quite remarkable. Soon we head for the jungle….

Nepal’s version of Christmas is just coming to an end now, the year here is 2071 and it’s the festival of Dashain.  Like Christmas it’s a great time of feasting and the coming together of families, it lasts over a week.  There are quite a lot of animal sacrifices over the period, as well as blessings within families and even the anointing of cars and motorcycles – these are decorated with flowers, garlands and red vermilion powder.   Even the animals have a sense of getting together, here is a picture from a street in Kathmandu. Happy deshain, and happy holiday in Nepal.

When it comes to healthy food perhaps Nepalese cuisine has some of the answers. The national dish ‘Dhal Bhat’ can be quite healthy.  The main ingredients are Dhal; a lentil curry and Bhat; meaning rice. It’s the lentils that provide the good news. There are a wide variety in Nepal and like many pulses these provide a good low calorie source of proteins, fibre, vitamins and minerals – they can also lower cholestoral.  So the next time you go for a curry, perhaps try the healthier Nepalese version. On your holiday to Nepal, I am sure you’ll like to try this tasty Nepalese food.

Vaishya Dev is known in tourist books as the God of toothaches here in Nepal and is represented in Kathmandu.

Here it is in an alleyway, in essence a large collection of metal washes nailed to each other at the base of what was once a sacred tree. Hindu mythology, its culture, combined with Buddhism gives Nepal an endless array of festivals and unusual practices that have long disappeared in neighbouring Asian countries.

On a holiday to Nepal, you can get very modern dental treatment (much more cheaply than the West) with European trained dental technicians in very clean, modern clinics. What’s nice, is that dentists also examine your tongue and advise on diet, sleep and other factors. There is an ‘interconnectiveness’ with treatment, much like Buddhist karma, looking not just at the symptom but also the cause from a lifestyle perspective.

However, traditions still remain, here a boy enters his head into the symbol to relieve toothache. Shamans too also perform ceremonies around toothache patients, dancing with yak tailed sticks and chanting but they are often more expensive than the dentists

With just two places remaining for our holiday to Nepal this October, we’re celebrating by giving £50 to anyone from our 301 Facebook followers who recommends the trip to someone who books.  We’d like to think that you’ll use the money to enjoy a meal for two at any local Nepalese restaurant; perhaps some delicious ‘Nepalese momos’ to start, ‘Royal Dhal Bhat’ as a main (with all the pickles) and a flavoursome Nepali curd as dessert – and good wine.  Already mouths are watering!  If you’d like to take advantage of this offer, all you have to do is recommend the trip and when that person(s) books, tell them to mention your name. We’ll follow it up by contacting you and sending a cheque.  Happy eating!