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Yesterday we became the proud owners of Indian tourist visas – this had involved 3 separate visits to the Indian embassy, filling out 4 forms and waiting around for a total of 5 or 6 hours. The process took over a week, and has kept us in Kathmandu longer than we'd have probably stayed otherwise. We're thinking we'll leave Nepal over land and visit Darjeeling at the start of October – from there we might head to Calcutta by train (which will hopefully be a welcome change from arduous bus journeys!) and perhaps fly from there to Bangkok, as we've been applying for some volunteering posts in Thailand. That's the rough plan for the moment, anyway.

We've moved guest houses twice since we've been in Kathmandu – trying to find the perfect balance between cheapness, internet access in the room, and peace and quiet. We stayed at the Madhuban for a week, where they ran a cable up four stories from reception and into the window of our very nice room next to the roof terrace. This was great, but the noise from the busy road outside finally drove us away. We're now in a very fetching pink room in the Silver Home (which despite being right in the centre of Thamel is so hard to find that we had to phone them – the lad at reception asked what we were wearing and came out to find us and guide us back!) Once the cover bands we can hear from our room finish their sets in the nearby bars (most things wind down around 10pm) it's much quieter and we're happy here.

Drew spent a couple of hours one afternoon showing the staff at the computer company that sent us the wires (complete with connectors!) how to install ubuntu, and discussing their idea of using linux to refurbish old computers they sometimes end up lumbered with, which they'd then donate to schools like the one in Garimudi. It's a great plan, and Drew's sad he won't be able to help further in person. More to come in a specific techie post.

Between relaxing, eating pizza and cakes, drinking cold beer, catching up with friends and family and doing some sight-seeing, the days have disappeared. There is plenty to see and do in the Kathmandu valley; however, getting around generally involves walking through busy, polluted, dirty streets with no pavements and traffic seeming to bear down on you from all angles with incredibly loud horns blaring. So sometimes it has been difficult to build up enthusiasm for another day trip but we are glad that we made the effort and have been to some interesting places.

One of our adventures took us out to Kirtipur, a small town on a hill to the south of Kathmandu. It is very interesting to wander through the streets here with lots of temples and shrines and the centre of the town is thankfully traffic free. From there, we walked over to Chobar, another hilltop position with great views over Kathmandu valley and more quirky temples. Despite a guide book and three maps we still got lost – oh, how Heather is missing Ordnance survey maps! Down below the village is Chobar gorge, a sudden cutting through the rocks. Many years ago Kathmandu valley was a lake (with Swayambunath – monkey temple – an island) and it is believed Chobar gorge was formed when a Buddhist deity, Manjushri, struck the rock with his sword thus draining all the waters of the valley. There is a suspension bridge over the gorge which was apparently built in Aberdeen in 1903. Heather delighted in leaving Drew holding on for dear life as some local kids jumped up and down swinging the bridge as much as possible while she went round to take a photo! From the gorge, we walked down into Patan, to the south of Kathmandu, where the roads quickly became pretty busy and unpleasant.

As a day of pure escapism away from the traffic and noise we headed up to Budhanilkantha, a wealthy suburb in the north of Kathmandu where there is one of the most important Vishnu shrines in the country – an impressive 5m long stone sleeping Vishnu. There is also a large hotel with a swimming pool open to non-guests which I am afraid was just as much of a draw for us! So we enjoyed a very relaxing and indulgent afternoon swimming and reading by a pretty deserted pool.

Today, we are back from a very interesting day in Patan, a town just to the south of Kathmandu now separated only by the Bagmati river. We picked up a leaflet detailing a walk through the old town and spent a fascinating day following this past dozens of temples and monuments, quiet squares and beautiful Newari architecture with intricately carved wooden detailing. The walk culminated in Patan's Durbar square – a site home to an impressive array of temples and monuments. The walk around Patan and the Durbar square itself are much more easily appreciated than the Durbar square in Kathmandu as it is markedly quieter and traffic is not allowed around the square. We were met at the square by the sister-in-law of one of Heather's work mates, and were taken back to their home for a lovely meal with their family.

Tomorrow, we are braving the world of bureaucracy again, this time to extend our Nepali visas for another month – this apparently should be achievable in one day. The plan is to then tear ourselves away from the hot showers, fridge cooled drinks and vast food choices of Kathmandu on Thursday and work our way to Pokhara (a city to the west and near the Annapurna range where there is actually equal amounts of tourist oriented niceties) via Gorkha and anywhere else that takes our fancy along the way. We are then due to start the Annapurna circuit trek on the 10th September – a 16+ day, 300+km trek around the Himalayas... might try and get in a few training walks before then to work off all those chocolate brownies.

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