Kate's Poem....

One hot night in Kathmandu a bunch of strangers met,

All excited for the adventure ahead and monsoons getting us wet!

Jodie and Paul gave us a briefing then we ate momos for tea -

We stocked up on water and snacks, not sure what the local food would be.

On day 2 we met Josh, our loveable truck with a serious leakage issue,

We wound our way through some amazing mountains and stopped to bush pee with tissue.

 

Everyone played the waving game and loved seeing gorgeous Nepali people smile,

Then we arrived at the Royal Beach Camp where we drank Everest and chatted awhile.

Some cool people went rafting with Hemal and his crew,

the best part was Lee falling out and riding on a bus roof too!

 

Over buffets and beers and beach fun we got know each other a little more.

There's 2 Canadians, 3 Aussies, 2 Estonians, a Kiwi, a Swede and Poms galore.

 

Let's start with Karl the quirky pom who makes up random games and loves to dance,

His photo taking is hilarious and he does a great Indian accent when given the chance.

 

There is Ken, the quiet Canadian with great knowledge and insight,

he has many great stories of his travels and dared to get an indian haircut one night.

 

Next is our mother hen and worry wart Wendy who is so gentle and kind,

She loves a good shopping trip and joined in ring of fire when we all got blind!

 

There is Susan the well travelled Aussie with cheeky sarcasm and wit,

She is a gun at finding good markets and hunting for foreign men with visas is her shit

 

The Kiwi with a thousand bags is Clare or Cleo or Clee,

"I will take Indian mangoes please, a pool session and enough wine for 3!"

 

How could we forget Frederik, our beloved Swede known as Goon Bag,

With hilarious one liners, banana eating skills and the occasional drunken fag!

 

We all love good ole Warren, the well pierced Aussie with 13 tattoos,

Two coffees and a cigarette for our shopaholic who becomes Captain Queen with enough booze!

 

Captain Unco is our gentleman Lee who sounds like a thunderstorm when he snores,

his speciality is insect bites sitting in wet paint and stubbing his toe on doors!

 

By his side is beautiful Caroline whose smile will brighten your day,

The rummi and monopoly queen, who hates photos of herself and always has something clever to say!

 

Monkey man is our quiet pom Joe, who attended the Ganges pissed,

He tore it up on a local cricket pitch and his rockstar sunnies will be sorely missed!

 

Sigy our honeymooner has so much energy, eats anything - until she gets the shits,

her hubby is Mr Money or Lurch who loves his camera and always has us in laughter fits.

 

Our pakora loving leader Jodie is a tower of strength with beautiful eyes,

the queen of problem solving and organisation - maybe it's the wine that makes her so wise?

 

Paul is our pommy driver extraordinaire who you'll always find listening to dance music up the front

He will always get Josh out  of a traffic pickle using colourful language such as 'you fucking c***'.

 

Now that we're all acquainted let's remember Chitwan National Park,

Where we saw pretty much nothing on safari so got some local booze after dark.

This led to several 'Karl games', a plank off, Ring of Fire and much much more...

The next day was more successful with elephant rides, rhino spotting and Nepalese dancing galore

 

We continued along bumpy roads to India, stopping for a roadside Thali,

with weird truck horns and crazy traffic all the way to Sonauli.

We had a border crossing comp and Captain Unco paid a bribe of 850 ruppees,

our intro to India was a shitload of cows, shitload of shit and men doing poo and wee.

We found more shit at our amazing Sunrise Hotel stay,

With bathrooms of mould, creepy men and several rats at play!

 

We continued on our journey passing inquisitive people in colourful towns,

With a pool and yummy food our Varansi hotel got rid of our frowns.

We ate paneer burgers, Karl spilt his banana split and we met a barman named Sanjay,

After cocktails and Kingfishers we were all struggling big time the next day.

There were ghats, dodgy temples, cremations, oil and silk early one morn,

but the highlight had to be the carpet mullet man whose dance moves verged on porn!

 

Our next stop was Ken river where we camped with shitloads of frogs,

then we headed off early after curry breakfast and avoiding 25 dogs.

 

We didn't make it very far before Josh had a small heart attack,

So Jodie got jeeps to take us to sexy time at erotic temples and back.

Josh was out of action so we stayed in Ken river one more night,

We had cool log cabins, then Waz hit his leg - the sunset was a beautiful sight.

 

Our next stop was Agra where we saw the stunning Taj Mahal,

We also went to the fortified city and ate a bit more dal.

We got saris and henna and got fed breaky at Ali's place,

then the rickshaws took us shopping to over fill our suitcases.

 

Next we went to Jaipur with great toasted sangers by the pool,

I was too lazy to  go along but I'm sure the fort was cool.

 

The journey ends here in the huge arse city of Delhi

And tonight we will eat together and not get sore bellies.

 

Now we say a big thanks to Jodie and Paul and goodbye to some of our news friends,

the journey has been sweet, everyone has kept upbeat and we wish it wouldn't end.