Life of Wry

Trip Day #4

* People say rhymy things about Kathmandu all the time here..  heard this one a lot.

Day 4 was a simple travel day, with lots of time for talking with my travel pals… and many fun and interesting conversations were had.

After all the rejuvenation of the previous day, we’d pretty much adjusted to the time zone, so the 6:00am get up and hustle to the Abu Dhabi airport wasn’t so bad.  We were kind of late, but frazzled nerves were easily soothed by Coffee Costa (the UAE’s version of Starbucks).

Etihad, the airline of the UAE is great–great service, great food  (maybe I’ve mentioned that already).  I’d unfortunately gotten stuck on an aisle in a row that didn’t even have a window, so viewing the creatively shaped man-made islands of Dubai was not an option (have you heard of these?).  Instead, I made great progress in my book (but I’d end up ditching it before our trek because it was too big and heavy to carry).

This was memorable: Landing in Kathmandu, Nepal.  It was very cool to walk down the steps onto the tarmac and 1) feel the warm, humid air, 2) smell the spicy foreign-ness, and, 3) see the foothills of the Himalayas against a brilliant blue sky.  Actually teared up.  It was just such a rush on all senses, we had finally arrived, and it was too magnificent for words.

We spent the rest of the afternoon, it seemed, dealing with third world airport bureaucratic inefficiency.  First, after deplaning, we were directed onto several buses that shuttled us all of 50 yards (I kid you not) to a big brick building with ancient tile floors.  We, and several flights-worth of other passengers, sort of milled about aimlessly before realizing we had some Official Business to tend to.  We crowded a bunch of tall round tables to fill out scrappy immigration forms using dysfunctional ballpoints, then found our way to the back of one of a dozen barely discernible lines, clutching our forms, passports and extra passport photos.  Two hours later (yes), when finally at the front of the line, our forms and passports were processed, we were issued entrance visas (very cool looking), and were then summarily dismissed by surly immigration officers and told to hurry out the door and into the baggage claim area where we would roam the floor looking for our own–among a million–bags.  I’m pretty sure my luggage wasn’t checked (grateful, as I’d anticipated issues with the macadamia pods I was carrying for later delivery to Bill Cavins’ former Peace Corps friend) .

Then, at last, back out to the daylight where an eager crowd awaited, waving signs with people’s names on them.  Such the cacophony of yelling, whistling, and horn honking!  We found the sign with our names, and our guy, Homnath Bhatta, briskly led us through the swarm and across the parking lot to our van.  Homnath hung fresh floral leis around our necks (who knew?) and was all smiles, but also all business.

Then we drove off.

Our driver drove crazily through busy streets (on the wrong side, incidentally) crammed with cars, motorcycles, bikes, carts, people, cows, goats, chickens and even monkeys.  It was exhilarating.

We stopped at an ATM with a guard out front (we would return to this particular ATM numerous times while in Kathmandu) to change some money (rupees), and then checked into the Hotel Shanker–a colonial looking former palace with lovely gardens and impressively attentive staff.

Here’s a fun thing: Traveling half way across the world, checking into your hotel, and acting all cool when the desk clerk says, “Hello Ms. Peterson, welcome. There is a message waiting for you.”

It was from Hari Thapa.  Hari is a friend of my Davis friend Bill Cavins who served in the Peace Corp in Nepal 40 years ago.  Bill has kept in touch with Hari all these years and let him know I’d be visiting.  Further, Bill asked me to deliver a box of macadamia pods for Hari, who will likely become Nepal’s first macadamia grower.  More on Hari later.   In any case, it is nice to have a connection to the local scene.

Leslie and I again shared a room–fancy schmancy– with a granite bathroom and a western toilet (score).  We read a bit of newspaper in the lobby (this is when we learned that the newly married British royal couple was planning to honeymoon at the Everest View Hotel… a place we would visit a few days later), listened to excited people in the bar watching the finals of some cricket tournament (I think a big world event, actually), and after a while had a hotel buffet dinner… not that good, but loved the beer.

So far, so very good!