Veronika Wild

In case you have been wondering why you haven't heard much from your intrepid correspondent lately, it's because I have been in Vanuatu for the last couple of months. Not only are there hardly any computers - only two out of 84 islands have internet access, but most places do not have electricity. I must admit, I was a little shocked at how little I knew about one of our nearest neighbours. Usually I do a bit of research first but, not wanting to sit home alone when the axe fell on my 25 year marriage, I left on only a couple of days notice expecting that I'd be able to find everything out from the internet or a library when I got there. Not true. Not even the tourist bureau could tell me much, as I doubt that the staff have ever been to the outer islands. Yes, there are brochures about expensive resorts, sapphire beaches, volcanoes and palm fringed islands, but most of Vanuatu is geared to wealthy tourists and tax evaders not budget travellers, so here are a few th...

Must be something there in the water, or is it living amongst all those public servants in the fishbowl of our nation's capital, but all those Canberrans are a little different -see last year's post around this time. At least they know how to throw good parties. Everyone comes as something different, just not themselves. Yep, that's a Llama in the back of this car! (Sorry, not sure who took this photo. Let me know and I'll be pleased to acknowledge you as the source of this fine picture). There's also a rumour of mysterious olive nappings in the region. Apparently, olive groves are being silently raided at night and secretly divested of every last olive. The mind boggles. Not even you party animals can eat that many olives!

Young Karen girl shows off her neck rings After Nepal, Bangkok is thoroughly modern with its skyscrapers, freeways and late model cars and buses, but it's peak tourist season now and a sweaty 39oC. The place is full of Aussies escaping the winter and who probably got the same cheap airfare that I did. The only hotel room I can get is a box with no windows and a very noisy airconditioner. I am not looking forward to spending my last two days here so in the morning I take a VIP bus and head for the hills. The roads are excellent and there isn't much traffic. Although the countryside is green and has attractive flowering trees it is also extremely flat and becomes quite boring after 700 km. Chang Mai is a beautiful city and not just because I have spent twelve hours on a bus. Streets, buildings and bridges are lit up and there is a scent of frangipani in the air. A huge night market is in progress and there are lots of places offering excellent, inexpensive food. Lavish display ...

My last and best view of Everest Because of the forthcoming elections on April 10, I am advised to leave the city early. There have already been enormous rallies and huge traffic jams. A five day holiday has been declared for the elections and alcohol and the carrying of sticks have been banned in in the Valley. Just time for one last adventure. World Heritage Expeditions has booked me into a pleasant hotel at Nagarkot for the night, so I head eastwards on a local bus. At Baktipur I change to an even more decrepit bus that snakes slowly upwards. This area is much greener and more prosperous looking than most of the places I have seen. At last I arrive on the top of a razor back ridge which has a whole string of hotels with names like Hotel Space Mountain and Hotel at the End of the Universe. Mine is called Hotel Viewpoint which is certainly apt since its many terraces overlook mountains in every direction including Mount Everest in the east. It also has gas hot water and excellent foo...

I am embarrassed about this picture now - these days people come to see animals acting naturally in the wild, rather than exploiting them in some way - By now I had seen most of the major ecosystems in Nepal except the jungle. On the advice of Ramesh my host at Pokkhara, I now pay a visit to the Chitwan National Park also located in the southern lowlands of the Terai. The region is rich in wildlife and home to many endangered species including the Royal Bengal Tiger, Sloth Bears, Leopards, Sambar and Spotted Deer and around 450 species of birds. Two young elephants attest to the success of the Government Breeding program. This year there were 28 pregnancies of which 8 ended in stillbirths. The only problem was that many of these pregnancies were due to wild elephants breaking in and not the local stock. When these elephants are two years old they will be trained to transport tourists around the park. There are many things to do here, including rides in dug out canoes for the masochist...

This ancient tower in the Secret Garden at Lumbini 700 km west of Kathmandu, marks the place where Siddharta, later Lord Buddha, was born. I felt a vague compulsion to visit this part of the country because a famous uncle wrote the well known book about Siddharta which was later made into a film. After a long journey on numerous unsprung buses and an involuntary stay in Siddhartanagar, I finally arrive at an unprepossessing collection of villages. Lumbini is in the Terai which is hotter and flatter than the rest of Nepal. The people here are quite different too and have long wanted to secede. Here the women wear saris rather than the loose trousers and tops which women wear elsewhere in the kingdom. They look like red hibiscus flowers as they work the fields. Many of the villages have small blue mosques topped with Islam's crescent moon indicating that much of Nepal's 15% Muslim population is concentrated here. The rest are Hindus and Buddhists. Occasionally you see elephant sh...

Sunrise over the Himalaya The tour company isn't all that thrilled to see me when I arrive back in Kathmandu as they have already paid out the money and can't pay me back for my failed mission. After a few days of abject misery, they send me off on a bus to Pokkhara, one of the most beautiful places in Nepal. It's the well trodden jumping off point for treks to the Annapurna Circuit and the Everest Base Camp. I am surprised to see banana palms and hibiscus flowers all along this route. The rather gothic hotel is beautifully appointed and set near a lake. Although it's rather touristy the bonus is that the town is clean and tidy, the menus are all in English and there is a German bakery. There is even an ATM, the only one outside Kathmandu. This is just as well as convivial host Ramesh soon signs me up for a sunrise glimpse of the mountains and a day's sightseeing on a motor bike. Pokkhara Lakeside The Hotel Grand Holiday. This crazy paving style of decoration, ver...