Kathmandu, Nepal

The Indian Embassy are being rubbish and have not sorted out my security clearance yet despite it being over a week since I applied. I think it's the people in London who are being slack so can someone go and prod them please? Kthx

I have been amusing myself visiting various places around the Kathmandu Valley but am rapidly running out of things to do. It also appears that the animals here dislike me. I was sat on the rooftop terrace of a restaurant overlooking the huge Tibetan stupa at Bodhnath, when a monkey came sauntering along the rooftops towards me and stopped on the edge of my table. I eyed it cautiously (it was quite a big monkey), but quick as a flash it darted forward and swiped my glass of orange juice from right under my nose! I was all 'Oi!', but the waiter told me not to intimidate it because the monkeys have apparently been known to throw glasses over the balcony into the street below, injuring people. It just sat there slurping my orange juice on the edge of the rooftop, before carefully balancing the glass on the balcony and wandering off. I was more amused than anything, and the waiter brought me some more orange anyway. And at least it wasn't a raccoon, or it might have triggered off some serious childhood trauma or something.

Then the day after the monkey incident I had a bird shit on my head. It had remarkably good aim too as I was walking down a narrow street and it landed right in the middle of my scalp. Fortunately, I was wearing a hat at the time and so the level of bird-crapping-on-head trauma wasn't quite as high as it could have been. It encouraged me to wash my hat too, which I've been failing to get round to for ages.

I have been considering visiting Royal Chitwan National Park on my way to the border, but if the animals continue to gang up on me like this I am thinking that putting myself in close proximity to rhinos, tigers and elephants might not be such a good idea...