Three public holidays in a row, plus a weekend, meant 5 consecutive days off. We took a days leave as well and made the 4 hour flight over to Nepal for a nice long 6 day break. It was supposed to be 4 hours anyway, but got stuck circling Kathmandu for an extra half hour or so - lucky the views of the Himilayas sticking out above the clouds were so impressive!
We treated ourselves to stay at a forest (and golf) resort on the outskirts of Kathmandu, so we spent our first afternoon chilling at the hotel, and watching the monkeys roam the fairways.
Into Kathmandu proper the following day for our tourist session. Lesson number one: its poor. Some of the worst roads we've been on in terms of potholes, smoky old trucks, stray dogs, and cows, and all strewn with rubbish.
We got dropped off at Durbar Square, the religious heart of Kathmandu. Its actually 3 interconnecting squares, surrounded by ancient little temples, lots of intricate wooden windows and doorways, pigeons, would-be tourist guides, and of course, a cow.
Together with every other western-looking person in Kathmandu, we did the lonely planet walking guide from Durbar Square to the main tourist hangout of Thamel. It took us past more temples and down some tiny little alleyways that were absolutely overflowing with people, motorbikes, and colour.
Time for a quick stop off for a local brewed beer at one of the many bars in Thamel.
A good afternoon in Kathmandu central, but we were beat, so made our way back to our hotel for a very romatic evening of cards and red wine by the fireplace.
A morning flight meant we were saying goodbye to Kathmandu nice and early for the 25 minute flight to Pokhara.
Or were we... Actually, thanks to more bad weather, our flight was cancelled after spending 3 hours waiting in the airport terminal.
We made the executive decision to head back to the hotel so that they could organise a car to drive us to Pokhara instead. While we waited for the car, the rain came down...
Beirut is a crazy place, still very much recovering from years of war. You are just as likely to come across a bullet ridden deserted building as a shiny new skyscraper:
The central hub of Beirut seems to be its corniche waterfront. So we wandered down there and found a great spot for a quick drink and some quality Lebanese snacks of hummus and bread. 
Just in time too, for a nice romantic stroll along the waterfront, dodging roller bladers and joggers.
By the time we made it back into Beirut we had a few hours to kill before our late night flight back to Dubai. Only available option was to find a bar and have a few drinks!
A trip into "old Dubai" for a ride on the creek and through the spice market.
One of the many nights on the town, this one at a cuban bar.
More of the 5 star hotels we like to walk around and pretend we can afford to stay at. 
Up the hill to the acropolis, thankfully able to drive up the hill, as it was a pretty warm morning!
Our final day on tour was far from the most exciting - we had an hour or so car ride back north to Izmir airport to drop off our hire car and catch a hour and half flight back to Istanbul. We'd given ourselves lots of time in case there were issues with the first internal flight, so had a pretty hefty wait in Istanbul before Nic flew back to London and us back to Dubai.
We arrived in Foca as the sun was setting, and so again dumped the bags and the car before walking back around the bay and into town. Foca seemed to be the place for local Turks to holiday, and all the little restaurants lining the harbour were overflowing. We'd planned two nights in Foca, with a day on a boat in between, so spent our first evening booking the boat tour and having a scrummy dinner harbourside.
Back into town the following day to jump onboard the Gulay for our day in the sun.
