Kathmandu – Do or don’t
Feeling ever-so-slightly trepidatious that we were about to board a flight with an airline that not only had we not heard of but neither had anyone we knew – Jet Airways – Andy and I swallowed our fears and got on the plane, waving a final farewell to the UK. Thankfully, those fears were completely unfounded. The flight was on time, we had good seats, the plane was clean and the on-board movies (and you know that matters) were up-to-date. We both went highbrow, I watched “He’s just not that into you” and Andy was disappointed he didn’t have time to get through both “Gran Torino” and “Happy Feet”.
After one of the best plane meals ever, and not much sleep (not the plane’s fault), we touched down at Delhi Airport, and were blasted by the furnace-like heat. As we were on an internatonal transfer, we were corralled and herded by Jet staff, but they made up for it by giving us free food – as you will know if you’ve read more than one entry on this blog, free food is ALWAYS the quickest way to my heart. Eventually, we passed through the over-staffed, under-speed security gates, and boarded for Kathmandu, feeling very anxious once again, not about our flight this time, but about our bags – would they make it all the way with us?
The lovely check-in woman at Heathrow had baggsed us the best seats on board, extra leg room plus on the left-hand side, thereby guaranteeing us good views of the Himalayas as we came in to Kathmandu. After having our foreheads scanned by a man in a mask (presumably testing our temperature, but considering by this time we were sweating like the proverbial, one wonders how effective this was as an anti-swine flu measure), and getting our visas in our pristine new passports, we were astounded to get to the baggage hall and instantly see our bags. Moreover, the pre-arranged pick-up from our guesthouse, the Hotel Ganesh Himal, was there already.
On to the mean streets of Kathmandu in the pick up, it was a real culture shock, despite the fact that we had both spent many, many months previously in Asia. The death-wish traffic, the millions of people all crowded into a small corner of the earth, the smells (Kathmandu’s rubbish collectors are currently on strike, meaning it all collects by the side of the road), the cows wandering the streets… we could be nowhere on earth but Asia, and it really felt we were in at the deep end all over again, and definitely without our armbands.
We spent a day or so getting our bearings, getting on Nepal time (bizarrely, 5 3/4 hours ahead of GMT, figure that one out), enjoying the cheap food – our new favourite is Tibetan MoMos, a plate of dumplings, and trying to find our Asia feet. Knowing that we would have to return and spend a good chunk of time in Kathmandu sorting out our India transit visa, we decided to push on sooner rather than later to Pokhara, a much more chilled-out city towards the east of the country.
As we were waiting for the bus early that morning, we were accosted by the usual hawkers, carrying trays not dissimilar to the old ice-cream sellers in theatres. One in particular was very tenacious, not being brushed off by our polite “no thankyou’s”. Instead, he kept muscling in on our conversation,
Him: “You have lots of luggage”
Me: “Yes, it’s very heavy”
Him: “You must be rich to have so much luggage, you want buy digestives?”
Me: “No thank you”
Andy: “Oh I’m really hot after walking with my backpack”
Me: “Me too, I’m really sweating, I didn’t know it was going to be so hot. Ha ha!”
Andy: “We should have researched. Ha ha!”
Him: “HAHAHA!!! Tiger balm?”
Oh yes, we were definitely back in Asia with a bump.
Tags: Nepal, Travel
Suzanne
I’m sure Andy could have found space in his back-pack for some digestives and tiger balm!
Hi Suzie,
Wow it must have been hard getting onto the aeroplane saying goodbye to the UK for good. I hope you are having a good time already. It must be strange having cows walking into the streets. I have never heard of Kathmandu I hope it is a lovely place for you. Have a good time wherever you are and remember we are all cheering for you to have fun whatever you do. I will miss you terribly but I hope the best for you and Andy.
Lots of love and Kisses
Gabi x x x x x