Kathmandu

I arrived in Kathmandu yesterday evening. As it is situated in a valley, the mountains provide a beautiful frame for the city - making for quite a pleasant final descent into the airport. The airport itself is filled with carved-wood framed mirrors and plants and feels oddly like an entrance hall to a house I once saw in Ginger Creek. This was an interesting contrast the to Delhi airport, which seemed to be under semi-permanent construction, although this may just be the case in Terminal 2 (International).

I am very fortunate to be staying with Misty's family in Kathmandu. Their house is beautiful and Misty's family members are making my stay most pleasant and low-stress. The Bengali food which greeted me for dinner was my ultimate comfort food - dal, bhat (rice), brinjal (eggplant) medallions. This is the dish I unsuccessfully tried to describe in my second grade class on the day we had to draw our "favorite food." I suppose dal/bhat doesn't really slide in right next to macaroni and cheese, pizza, and spaghetti and meatballs. Odd, no? If you haven't had this before, remind me next time I cook for you. You will sleep like a baby afterward.

Today we are sightseeing around the city and then tomorrow I will meet up with Campbell before we fly to Lukla on Sunday to begin our trek.

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04/19/08

Yesterday, Suny Aunty drove me to Dulikhel outside of Kathmandu to see the mountainside resort where Misty was married. The resort itself was beautiful and the drive there was a new experience... Unfortunately, there are no regulations on emissions in Kathmandu. This causes major issues with pollution which has made breathing a bit difficult for wimpy me. The Ladas I saw in Sofia (the ones that run on a mixture of petrol and oil) have nothing on the emissions from buses in Kathmandu. Driving is also not for the faint of heart. Navigating traffic in Kathmandu appears to be an elaborate and unorchestrated version of chicken among the cars, trucks, buses, motorbikes and pedestrians. When a vehicle wishes to pass or make some other creative maneuver, they simply honk their horn (or yell) and plow through their path with only moderate regard for the other vehicles and no regard for the direction of the flow of traffic. Surprisingly, I felt very comfortable in the car with Suny Aunty at the wheel and managed to snap some good photos. If I had been one of the passengers that ride on top of the buses, my story would probably be different. If my mother ever visits Kathmandu, however, we will have to purchase her a blindfold for transportation purposes…

Today I met up early(ish) in the morning with Campbell and some people from the trekking company to rent gear. I didn’t really feel like packing a sleeping bag and parka --- anyone who has travelled with me before knows my aversion to large suitcases.

After we rented gear, we headed off for some walking tours through Thamel and Durbarmarg. Clearly tourists with our cameras in hand (Cam has a new Canon SLR of which I am extremely jealous…especially with the profusion color in the area) we were approached by a number of overly polite locals wishing to sell us tours of the square. Sitting atop one of the temples, we were approached by a ‘guide’ who took it upon himself to strike up as a method for gaining our trust/business. The prospective guide tried to figure out where were from, initially claiming that Cam and I both look Nepali. (Me, maybe, but Cam?) He quickly narrowed down Cam’s origins, but took about ten minutes trying to guess my ancestry as both Cam and I chuckled at his persistence. I think he rattled off every country in Europe and South America before I finally told him where I was from and that we were definitely not buying a tour from him. I think my ‘miscellaneousness’ combined with my inherent mischievous nature took too much delight in watching his confusion.

Tomorrow we have an early morning flight (read: 6h30 am) to Lukla from where we will begin our trek to the base camp of Everest. Another woman, Katie (an 18 yr old English college student), is joining us. Neither of us have met her before but she seems very nice. I am so excited for the start of my trek, I hope I can sleep tonight.