We spent a few days in Tansen, Palpa district. Phil's tummy started feeling off on the bus from Kathmandu. Jenny had the bug a day later. So we ended up having 2 days rest on the hotel toilet after we got there. We stayed at the Srinigar Hotel on top of the ridge above Tansen. This has really good views across the valley - one direction from the hotel then just across the ridge road you can also look out over the northern valley. Apparently on clear days (not now in the monsoon) you can see the Annapurna range in the distance. However the hotel is the most expensive we have stayed in yet in Nepal (1500NRs = $A30 per night) and there was still no hot water and half the taps in the bathroom leak! But the toilet was a good flusher, rare in Nepal and very good for us in our condition.
There is a nice pine forest on the ridge above town with park land in it - very peaceful to go and sit for a while, unless you meet a bunch of university students who want to practice their english. From the ridge there are plenty of dirt roads and tracks visible in all the valleys - this looks like a great place for mountainbiking. The lazy people could even ride down about 900m to the main road in the valley then get the bus home, putting the bike on the roof!
We visited the mission hospital later in the week and had a look at the infants/primary tutorial group (= mini-school).
Tansen has one of the best restaurants in Nepal - the Nanglo West. There is plenty of atmosphere, the club sandwiches are great, they bake real bread (smells wonderful), cold coffee and the Nepali food is good also.
On Sunday we took the local bus down the hill to Butwal. The bus park in Butwal was very good and friendly, people wanted to find out where we were going next and show us where to buy a ticket. We got there at 9:30 and the next bus to Nepalgunj went at 10:00 so it all turned out very easy. 6.5 hours on the bus got us the 270km to Nepalgunj, in the mid-west on the plains with heat and humidity.
