And another thing PHIL BROWN

What is the most memorable overseas trip you have had? For me it remains the month my wife and I spent in Nepal in 1991. That was the year before we got married and I guess it was a bit of a test.

I mean if we got through that we could get through anything! It was … what’s the word? Arduous. Yes that’s it. Because we went trekking up in the Himalayas. In the Langtang Valley which was, some years ago, decimated by the terrible earthquake that hit this amazing country.

My wife had already visited Nepal and suggested the trip. When I asked her what was involved with trekking there she said that you just walked from hotel to hotel and that sounded fair enough. But for hotel read hut, for walk read trudge. It was an incredible experience but also challenging although when you’re high in the alpine valleys of Nepal staring up at the tallest mountains on the planet it’s worth it. I recently wrote a poem about the experience entitled A View of the Hills, which has been published in Quadrant magazine. I’ll share the opening stanza.

“On a bone-shaking journey from Kathmandu / Winding through the hills / I closed my eyes. The driver shook his head. / “No mister, you miss the view.” / I opened them and prayed / All the way to Dhunche.”

That was the most terrifying six-hour taxi ride I have ever experienced. But it has stayed with me and I can remember it all like it was yesterday. I kept a detailed travel journal which helped me write a chapter about it in my book Travels with My Angst. The chapter was entitled A Trek Too Far. It was gruelling but so utterly memorable and now I am working on a new poem entitled Arrival in Kathmandu. It’s such an exotic place, I couldn’t believe I was actually there.

And when I told my brother I was going there he insisted on singing that 1975 song by Bob Seger entitled Katmandu. (Some people spell it differently). It begins … “I think I’m going to Katmandu / I think it’s really where I’m going to / If I ever get outa here / That’s what I’m gonna do.”

Not sure if he went but I did. Amazing.