Every time we got on a public bus in India there was a small part of me that was waiting for someone to get on that same bus with livestock. It wasn’t a totally unrealistic possibility, in fact it’s pretty much the stereotype of Indian public transport and would have been expected as it was a public bus. What I was not mentally prepared for was a tiny little Nepalese couple to board a private bus in Kakarbhitta (the border town in Nepal), with a basket of chickens! It was literally my worst nightmare as anyone who knows me will understand. I have a huge fear of birds and the only thing worse for me than chickens are pigeons. I know it’s weird but everyone has something weird and irrational they’re afraid of and for me it’s birds! Having to spend 18 hours on a bus with 2 pairs of beady eyes staring down at me from the overhead storage, after the already traumatic morning jeep ride where 11 of us had been crammed in (that number doesn’t include the driver) for 6 hours and an old man had made a huge deal about how much space my hips took up, was really the cherry on top of quite a terrible cake. Add to that the fact a group of kids threw a paint filled water balloon at our bus as we drove through a village, which splattered through my open window, I wasn’t sure how mentally prepared I was for the craziness of Holi! Thankfully the spirit of the day is totally infectious and we had the most AMAZING day! 
The Hindu festival of Holi is a celebration of colour and water to mark the coming of Spring and takes place at the beginning of March every year. What with the excitement of the wedding, we had almost forgotten the existence of this awesome festival and how much we had been looking forward to celebrating it. Luckily for us, it is just as big in Nepal as it is in India and on the day of the festival the whole of Kathmandu comes to a halt and everyone goes totally nuts. When else would it be socially acceptable to walk up to total strangers shout “Happy Holi” at them and then smear brightly coloured paint powder all over their face! Add to that the music and the day time drinking and you have, in my opinion the BEST religious festival out there! 
As soon as we arrived in Kathmandu we forgot about the horrendous journey (and the chickens) and were immediately overcome with the spirit of the festival. Our hostel was overbooked so we had to walk through the city with all of our stuff to their sister hostel, which meant everything we owned along with ourselves got totally covered in paint as we were unable to defend ourselves. The streets were running with purple paint as all the colours mixed together and we couldn’t wait to join in!
The whole day was spent taking advantage of the music, paint and beer. With no idea where to go or what to do we just followed the crowd and happily covered everyone we saw with our pink, purple and orange powder. It didn’t take long to find a square where music was playing and paint was flying everywhere. It was here we made friends with a group of Dutch guys who formed our Holi Crew: they gave us tips on trekking and bought us food while we added more variation to their colour as they were looking far too pink when we met them. In the spirit of Holi I was given a free beer by the guy who worked at the brewery but I noticed it was low calorie and low carb so I wasn’t sure if he was trying to hint at something… 
As the party in our current square died down we moved on to the next and then the next, following the people and the music. It was on the way to our final destination where I was reminded that Holi is not only the festival of colour but also of water. Someone thought it would be hilarious to throw an entire bucket of water down my back, which it would have been had it not been getting dark and therefore cold. Within 5 minutes of this incident I was hit full in the face with a water balloon, so hard it bounced straight off and left me blind in my left eye for what felt like a really long time! Lucky for them because had I been able to see I would have gone after the culprit with my remaining paint! Instead we settled for making more friends and watching young boys not be able to handle their drink. When this got too much for my motherly instincts we, being older and wiser went off in search of refreshment that we were able to handle. 
After the most incredible day we were absolutely exhausted and in DESPERATE need of another shower before we could even consider getting into the clean hostel sheets. I cannot put into words how much fun we had the day of Holi. The whole atmosphere of the city was so vibrant and full of life. Everyone is genuinely in the best mood and so over excited about life- we even broke the golden rule about selfies and took them with pretty much anyone who asked and even those who didn’t! It truly is something I wish everyone could experience at least once in their life as there is nothing else like it. What the heck it’s Holi so anything goes! 
The next morning the city was back to normal and there was barely a sign on the streets that anything out of the ordinary had occurred. Our skin however, told a different story and it took another three showers to get the pink and the green off my chest. Not that we had time to dwell on such things as we were on a mission. Our trek was booked, sleeping bags were rented, Yak blankets were purchased and pre-trek massages were had. 48 hours after the craziness and colour of Holi we were sat on the tarmac of Kathmandu airport about to take off for the most dangerous flight in the world and face the biggest challenge of the trip so far: trekking to Mount Everest Base Camp…
TOP TIP FOR HOLI: Watch out for those balloons or you may end up with a black eye!
hrhtravel 