Kathmandu

We made it to Nepal! We’ve spent the last two nights in Kathmandu, the capital. There are about 3 or 3.5 million people here. Most of them spend the day on the streets honking horns. I have not rented a car here, but I considered it so I could enjoy the creative driving. We did some touring today. Tomorrow morning at 4:30 we meet for breakfast, then we’re off to the airport at 5:00. We fly to Lukla and start walking toward Everest. We won’t climb Everest, but we’ll spend a few days hiking from 9,200′ to 18,000′ feet elevation.

Now is the a Hindu festival that included some animal sacrificing, such as goats, sheep, chicken, etc. I haven’t attended the ceremony, but there are a lot of goats around awaiting the fun and games.

At Kathmandu they understand the concept of car pooling. I have seen several times a van go by, smaller than the smallest minivan in the U.S., containing at least 25 people. They generally leave the door open so some people can overflow a bit.

The infrastructure in Nepal is not the best. There are few roads, no railroads, two highways, and lots of traffic. The electricity goes off fairly often. In fact, it’s off now but I found an internet cafe with a generator. Communications seem pretty good. There is internet service all over Kathmandu, and my cell phone even works here. I’m not sure what we’ll find in the Everest region, though.

Leo Le Bon is celebrating his 40th anniversary trip here. He organized his first trek here in 1967. Maybe that’s 41 years. I found out that it was not only his first trek, but THE first trek in Nepal other than Everest climbing expeditions. There were no hotels here in Kathmandu at the time. They flew to the mountains in an old military DC3. Now, with the start of the trekking season, there are groups leaving daily on scheduled flights.

Bangkok

We got to LAX hours before our flight so we could check in early and get aisle seats. Also, we’d never live it down if we missed this flight, too. We sat, ate, read, checked in, and were at the gate for the filght to Bangkok early.

We were sitting around, but there was no announcement to board, even though they said they’d board 40 minutes early. About 20 minutes before the flight was supposed to leave, I walked up to the  counter. They had been calling for Thai Airways, just not over the PA system. We couldn’t hear it where we were sitting. But we managed to get on the flight before it left. We made it to Bangkok, and we only have one more plane to catch to get to Kathmandu. The odds are getting better all the time!

I am half way through Anathem.

Off to Nepal!

Mike and I are headed to Nepal!

Last week I checked to see when the flight left, Tulsa-Houston-Los Angeles. (We have separate tickets to Kathmandu from LAX.) Continental had sent the intinerary by email, but It didn’t have times on it. The previous email from Continental had the flight from Tulsa to Houston at 8:55. So we went to the airport for the 8:55 flight.

When we got there, we learned we were supposed to be on the 6:20 flight. It had already left. So we caught the 8:55 flight. When we got to LAX we had 11 minutes to claim bags, change terminals, check bags, and hop on the plane to Seoul. So now we are spending the night in Los Angeles, hoping to get to the airport in time to catch a plane tomorrow.

And the 8:55 time I looked up? That was for a Tulsa-Houston-Honolulu flight last May.