Day 1
The day started with a 4:30 am alarm. After a quick
breakfast and shower, we were out of the house by 5:15 am. Arti dropped me at
the airport and with no traffic reached airport early enough so that I had
almost 2 hrs. before the flight departed. I slept through most of the 2.5 hrs.
flight to Delhi. I had just 80 mins before the next flight to Kathmandu and so
had to hurry up with the international transfer. Thankfully there was no crowd
and I reached the gate just as they had started boarding. I was very impressed
with Delhi international terminal. It
was refurbished in 2009 and it is truly world class. The next flight was a
short 1.5 hrs. flight. The highlight of the trip was during boarding. I was one
of the 1st to board and was seated in the 2nd row - so could observe others as
they boarded. There was this family - husband, wife, small kid and wife's
parents. A soon as he entered, wife's dad saw a couple of empty seats in the
1st row and asked the person seating in the occupied seat "seat khali hai
kya?" he was all ready to dump his luggage on the empty seats. The poor
guy in the 1st row was speechless for a moment. Thankfully the wife realized
her dad's gaffe and took out the boarding passes and pointed her dad to their
seats. Other than this memorable moment, it was an uneventful journey.
Unfortunately I had an aisle seat and couldn't see the sights from window.
After a smooth landing in Kathmandu, I applied for and got a 15 day tourist visa
(needed since I am a US citizen). The one thing to be aware of is that in Nepal
they are very wary of exchanging 500 and 1000 rupees notes to Nepalese rupees.
They strictly do not accept these bills at the airport (due to large amount of
counterfeit bills coming in). I got to know of this the night before I was
leaving and had already packed more than Rs 50000 in 500 rupees bills. Fortunately
I had some US dollars and 100 rupees notes to cover the $25 required for the
visa. I had talked with my tour organizer and he was fine with accepting 500
rupees bills and he said that he would find me a place to convert those bills
into Nepalese rupees for my other trip expenses. Anyway, after finishing my
visa formalities, I went to the baggage claim area. I waited there till almost
everyone else had gone and there was no sign of my bag which had all my
trekking related stuff. I filed a claim for lost baggage and was told to wait
for 45 mins since there was one more jet airways flight coming from Delhi. So I
had a lot of time to admire/critique my surroundings. To say that the airport
had seen better days would be an understatement. It reminded me of some small
city (hyd or blr) airports in the 80s or early 90s. Anyway I waited for the
next flight ruing my inauspicious start in a different country with me carrying
a lot of cash that was not easy to exchange and with no cell phone coverage to
contact anyone. People from next flight came, picked up their bags and left. So
I went back to the lost baggage counter. There was a jet airline rep and she
mentioned that she remembered my name as they were looking for my bag in Delhi.
That somehow made me feel better - knowing that someone else was also concerned
and looking for my bag. However when I thought about it in the car on the way to
my hotel, her statement actually meant that they did not have a clue of where
my bag was and that didn't seem very comforting. There was nothing for me to do
at the airport and they told me that the next flight would be next day morning
and to come and check for my bag around 8:45 am. They gave me a few phone
numbers to call to find out the status of my bag. So I came out of the arrivals
fervently hoping that the person supposed to pick me up would still be there. I
don't know about you but I find it very comforting to find someone holding a
placard with my name in a new place. My trip coordinator had been patiently
waiting for 2 hrs. for me to arrive. Before I sat in the car, he put a garland
on me and gave me a big welcome! I am not the kind of person to be comfortable
with being publicly felicitated, nor have I had that experience many times
before. However it felt good to be garlanded and I had to control myself from
delivering a thank you speech :) The car ride was for about 40 mins. If first
impressions are anything to go by then Kathmandu wouldn't figure in the top 100
cities that I would like to go to. It is very dusty, very dirty, very
disorganized and seems to be falling to pieces (nothing new caught my eye).
This coming from someone who has been staying in India for the last 6 months.
It seemed like a poor cousin of a small Indian city (like Agra, Kolhapur) in
late 80s - huge open nallahs with plastic bags and garbage all over the sides,
old buildings nearing a state of collapse, narrow roads with potholes, etc. It
seems that a vast majority of Indian cities have moved away from most of those
things with movements like no plastic bags, etc. However Nepal seems not to
have caught up with that and going through Kathmandu reminded me of my
childhood days of visiting places outside of Bombay. We then moved to the
touristy part of Kathmandu (area called Thamel) and there was a marked
improvement in the scenery. The place is lined with small shops on both sides,
the roads are narrow and filled with tourists and local people. Every 5th
shop is catering to trekking needs and every 3rd shop is a souvenir
shop or so it seemed. Finally reached the hotel (Samsara Resort), did paperwork and payment with
the tour guy and was told to be ready at 7:30 am the next day. When that guy
left, I was glad to find that the hotel would exchange my 500 rupees notes to
Nepalese currency. I was given a temp room while they were installing a flat
screen TV in my room. Freshened up and then went out to get SIM card and basic
toiletries. Came back to find out that the room was still not ready and there
was a power cut (with no backup). After 10 mins, I was given the room. Since I
was sweaty and there was no electricity, took a refreshing cold water shower.
The water smelled of rusted pipes but it felt very good to take the shower.
Feeling somewhat refreshed, I spoke with Arti. My legs were killing me and I
figured it wouldn't be a great start to a trekking expedition. So asked the
hotel for a good massage spa and there was one nearby at a 10 mins walk. Felt
good seeing people and all kinds of shops on the way to the spa. On the way saw
a board for "Bebo dance bar" with a picture of Karenna holding out an
alcoholic beverage. Tempting though it was, I gave it a pass. The massage felt
really good. My only complaint was that the masseur had cold and she kept on
blowing her nose on the sheet that she had over me. Yuck! Initially I had
thought that she had a hankie or something near my legs but when I turned over
I saw that she was actually blowing on the sheet. No prizes for guessing who didn't get any tip.
After the walk back to the hotel, I met with my brother in law's colleague
(they have an office in Kathmandu). He took me out for dinner. Had spicy
chicken mo mo with Gorkha beer. Absolutely mouthwatering stuff. After eating
and chatting to our hearts content we walked the small and posh darbar street.
It has two 5 star hotels, pastry shops, western fast food like KFC, etc. and
high end brand name shops. After that it was back to the hotel, some IPL on TV
and then goodnight.
Random facts
Cost of bottled water in Kathmandu - Rs 20
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