As we stood at the top of the ridge at Karki Neta we looked out across the valley towards Annapurna South and Machapuchare and drank greedily from the bottles of beer we had purchased from the townsman who had carried an enormous basketful up from  bottom of the hill. Children ran all around us screaming and laughing and greeting us with cries of
       "Hello, gimme pen !"
I told one scruffy urchin that I had no pens. He grinned at me.
      "Gimme ten Rupee, I buy pen."
Cheek like that deserves to be rewarded. I gave him twenty and told him to buy two. As he ran away Frank, who had been photographing everything, sighed heavily and said
     "This is the best Christmas Eve ever."
Until that moment I had forgotten that today was Christmas Eve.
At Pushupatinath the bodies of the deceased are wrapped in Saffron robes and burned and the ashes tipped into the river. Further along devotees are bathing in the same water.
The temple decoration may sometimes seem a little grotesque but it is always elabarote and skillfully executed.
Holy men can be found on evry street corner, all of them willing to overcome the language barriers and barter for a few Rupee in exchange for a photograph.
We setout for our trek from a calm and tranquil village...
... and were soon up in the mountains...
...working hard on the difficult climbs.
Christmas day breakfast may have been a little basic...
... but I couldn't imagine a better spot for Christmas Lunch.
Finally, after several days we reached 'civilisation' again.
And went rafting. The clothes are particularly chic, especially my Kamikaze goggles.
Traditional life in a Tharu village, as the villagers wonder who all these people are and why they are taking pictures of the washing.
You wouldn't fancy finding this in the pool for your early morning dip !
The elephants get their early morning hose down...
...before taking those pesky tourist off into the mist.