Right time, right date, wrong place

It’s Saturday 7.00pm and I’m sat in front of the legendary Rum Doodle bar in Kathmandu waiting to meet up with Nicky – my potential trekking partner who’d contacted me through Trekinfo.com. The bar is closed. I wait, clock watching, before finally giving up 40 minutes later.

Finding an internet café, I drop Nicky a line explaining that I’ll pop into her hotel later that evening. I head off to find something to eat, slightly nervous that my plan to trek with someone other than a guide or porter is about to fall through.

Fortunately, when I arrive at Nicky’s hotel, they hand me a message saying that she at Sam’s bar. Arriving at Sam’s Bar, all becomes clear: Rum Doodle had moved premises and she’d headed to the new place whilst I’d followed the Book ‘o’ Lies to the previous address.

A few beers and a little planning later and we decide to arrange bus tickets to Besi Shahar (the starting point for the Annapurna Circuit trek) for Monday morning.