I just love these little planes and the take-off and landing were the most exciting parts today. We didn't see any of the big mountains during the flight. It was nice to get back to the Marshyangdi Hotel. We got our stuff out of storage and it is all over the room. I have no idea how I'm going to carry everything to London, but I'm sure I'll figure it out once I start organizing everything.
Shari and I used the internet for a while and then Nar met us there about 1 PM, so we could gf to Thai Air to try to change our flight to London. They weren't able to change it because the flights were full, but they put us on a cancellation list and told us to come back tomorrow morning and check again.
The three of us went to the Kathmandu Guest House to sit and have drinks in the garden area. Very nice. Shari and I decided to go back there for dinner, which we did and we both really enjoyed our meals.
They have 2 banners hanging outside the hotel,congratulating 2 different teams for a successful climb up Everest.I would have liked to talk to the climbers but I think they left this afternoon.
I also forgot to note that we each had a Baskin-Robbins ice cream when we went over to Thai Air. That was my first ice cream in Nepal,except for the not very good ice cream outside the monkey temple. It was delicious.
6/03: After breakfast at the hotel, Shari and I walked back to Thai Air to see about our flights. Success! We got the tickets changed (no charge) for tomorrow, so we have the same schedule of flights, just two days earlier. The rest of the day was uneventful - errands, internet and notes.
Nar met us at the hotel at 5:30 and we went to a couple of stores and the internet before dinner. While Shari used the internet, Nar and I sat outside on the sidewalk and watched the street scenes. It was just amazing that there aren't more accidents with the number of cars, bicycles and motorcycles, and they all just honk and drive around each other. Shari and I had been near a school in the afternoon and it was a madhouse. Some parents meet their kids and walk them home, but a lot of them pick them up on motorcycles. The older kids ride on the back of the motorcycle and the little kids ride in front. Nar and I also watched people of every size, shape, nationality and dress walk by. People have some really strange hairstyles (dreadlocks are my least favorite) and wear some really weird clothes, but it is really fun to watch. This young (maybe 15 years old) boy, Samil, talked to us for a while. He knew the capital of every country in the world, all sorts of anatomy facts (# of bones in the body, # of teeth, etc). He said he was a street kid and had never been to school and he learns from the tourists. He didn't ask for money, just food. Shari gave him a package of biscuits.
We went to the Thamel House for dinner. It is a Newari and Nepali restaurant set in a beautiful old house. We sat on cushions on the floor around a low table with pretty soft lighting and candles on the table. We got the non-vegetarian set menu and it was quite different food. We had some kind of soy meal mixture as a first course, followed by a potato/lentil soup. Then about 5 different waiters came around to dish out the main course - rice, spinach, vegetables, a mutton dish, a chicken dish and lentils. They also served a local alcohol that they pour from what looks like a silver tea pot into small ceramic cups. They pour it by holding the pot about 2 feet or so above the cup. Very dramatic, and they don't spill a drop. Dessert was chunks of coconut in a tangy yougurt sauce. It was a lovely last evening together.
6/04: We did a few last minute errands and then Nar met us at our hotel about 11AM with the cab for our ride to the airport. It was very sad to say goodbye to Nar. He took such good care of us, and I will miss him a lot.
We had quite a long wait at the airport and our flight left about one hour late. What a difference in planes from our tiny 18-seater in Nepal. The Thai Air jet was huge. It was about a three hour flight to Bangkok and then a 6-hour wait for our 1:00AM flight to London. The time actually went pretty fast. We used the internet (it was pretty inexpensive and reasonably fast, so I looked at my Nepal pictures), made a couple of phone calls, ate dinner and read. It was so nice to talk to Joshua and Susan. I haven't talked to anyone from home since New Zealand.
The 12 hour flight to London wasn't too bad because it wasn't full. When we originally sat down, a fellow from London sat next to Shari and we thought, "Oh no, we won't be able to stretch out," but he moved as soon as we were airborne. Right after dinner they shut the main lights down and I laid on the floor between the seats and Shari laid across the 3 seats, and we had a great 4-hour sleep. Later in the flight, we changed places and slept some more and then they served breakfast and we arrived about 7:30AM.
HOME PAGE
HOME PAGE
ENGLAND
JOURNAL
NEPAL
JOURNAL
EVEREST
REGION
JOURNAL