Dalama Adventures Tale of two corporate types ditching their jobs and traveling the world for 14 months... check out all photos, blogs & interesting tid bits at http://www.dalama.net

We did our pre-trek training- a whole 2 hour trek up and down a steep hill to the World Peace Pagoda which was constructed by Buddhist monks form the Japanese Nipponzan Myohoji. We hired a canoe with a 'rower/driver' for 500 NPR, and he paddled us across the Phew Tal Lake to the shores of a steep hill, that was the upward staircase (literally, trail with flat stone steps laid) of thousands of steps. You can no longer climb up the steps of the grand monument, as a tourist was killed here a couple of weeks ago, when a chunk of the plaster gave way, and crushed the poor guy. We saw some incredible views of Pokhara, but the clouds and haze at this time of year (pre-monsoon) had fallen over the Annapurna range, so now peeks yet, of the snowy mountains that we've come all this way to see. On our way up, we get hit up by a Sadhu to smoke some weed... we continue to get propositioned for drugs on the streets, and in the most bizarre areas - like the wooded path to the Peace Pagoda. We've been advised that penalties for drugs in Nepal are very steep- we've been told that three Dutch citizens were thrown into a Nepali jail (not released, despite requests from their government) for 15 years for lighting up. We haggled at the markets later on, Darrin has finally scored his choice "walking stick," like a ski pole with shocks, along with a rain cover for my backpack for a whole 450 NPR, down from 750 NPR. We stepped into the Women's Skill Development Center shop to learn more about their organization and opportunities for importing to the US... a great sounding organization that i plan to visit again in Kathmandu, when we're back. It would be a great product line for my new business plan of importing crafts from women's hill tribe/ remote village organizations who support fair trade and fair labor practices. That afternoon it dumped buckets of rain, and we dove into a little cafe, "the Lemon Tree" for a beer and cappuccino. We feasted on fine Italian food at the Cafe Concerto, including the very indulgent chocolate mint chip gelatto. Last good food fix before we hit the road for our 10 day trek, where we know we won't be doing any fine Italian dining.