15 Jan 2003 Kathmandu, Nepal

I remember all the times I would pass through the airport in Honolulu or LA, you could look up in the departure lounge and see this huge board with flights leaving to everywhere on the globe.  Usually I would be heading somewhere I had been before or somewhere similar.  Some people may have thought where I was going might be exotic like the Philippines or Morocco, we all have our own destination.  I would just scan the board and dream about getting on a different flight to somewhere exotic I had never been with no timeline or itinerary. 

That was the excitement Monday night (Jan 13) at Heathrow.  While we already had a planned destination (Kathmandu), it was probably the most exotic place on the board and we had no schedule.  We were off for four months to wander and explore.  We could stay as long as we liked, change our plan to suit our mood or if we learned of somewhere we hadn't heard of.

We flew on Qatar Airways to Doha, Qatar, had a short layover, transferred planes and flew into Kathmandu. (Qatar Airways is a very good airlines. Good service and quality. The Doha airport is very small with only a few gates.  The Airbus 330 was the only large aircraft in the airport that early on a Tuesday morning.  You could see several US C17 and C130 aircraft at the far end of the airport.  Qatar has been a base for US forces building up in the Middle East.  Just a reminder of what was going on in the world.)  I was surprised to learn that Qatar Airways has a daily flight from Doha to Kathmandu.  The flight was close to full so they obviously have enough business.  The view as we came into Kathmandu was spectacular.  It looked as if we were flying level with the mountains as we were still cruising at 33,000 feet.  As we descended in, the scenery of the hills and houses perched on them and the terraced fields was spectacular.

The airport was very small and we were the only flight arriving.  Getting bags and through customs was uneventful.  There was a car from the hotel waiting just as arranged.

It was a reintroduction to Asia as we were hounded by kids wanting to carry our bags and once in the car they all wanted money.  The guy from the hotel said not to give any but when you are not used to it you feel bad.  I still had some English coins ( We didn't have and Nepal Rupees yet) that I passed out as the car left with the kids holding onto the windows reaching their hands in.

The 15-20 minute drive into town was another reintroduction.  Most of the roads are narrow and deeply rutted.  They drive on the left (hard to tell!) and very chaotic.  The music of Kathmandu is the horn.  Everyone honks all the time for all reasons.  We survived and arrived at Hotel Lily.  They were all very friendly.  We have a fifth floor room in Thamel.  We have two single beds, TV with satellite (CNN,BBC,Cartoon Network, and a few other English channels) and toilet with hot shower.  It is interesting that there is no separate shower, it just comes out of the wall and you shower standing next to the toilet (it is not a squat!).  There is also a lovely garden terrace on the roof with good views of the city.

We wandered through the Thamel area in the evening and had dinner at one of the many restaurants.  The Thamel area is where most tourist stay and there are dozens of places to eat.  It is almost shocking how cheap everything is.  We had a huge dinner (we both had Indian with lots of rice and naan and diet Coke all for about $10.  It was excellent!)  Again we had the shock of poor kids begging, mothers all pleading.  Also all the guys in the street trying to sell treks.

This morning we met the wife of the owner of the hotel.  He is in Japan on business.  We had tea and she confirmed what you can already tell.  Business and tourism in the country is way off.  She said they only had a few rooms with guests.  She then invited us to go with her to their family new year celebration in a town just outside the city.  It is new year for her caste and they have a big party every year.  She is from the Chantyaal caste.  We took a cab out.  They had set up in a field in the town.  There were at least a hundred people and they are all part of the same extended family.  They are from the far west "one day bus trip, two day walk".  They had some music and a lot of speeches by the elder men, all in Nepalese

There was also a big archery contest with the men.  They were shooting from at least 50 meters (much farther than I have shot). They all had homemade bows and arrows.  They are well made.  It didn't take a lot of pressure to get the arrow very far.  They asked if I wanted to try.  Emma was worried about me trying as the rest of the party was right on the edge of the shooting area, no buffer area.  They agreed it might not be a good idea for me to take my first shots from so far with so many innocents nearby.  I did get to shoot a few arrows from about 15 meters.  While I didn't hit the target, I didn't injure anyone.  The guys shooting were very good.  They had two teams and would go several hours.  There was money in it for the top shooters.

A few of her nieces were studying English in school and had a good time practicing with us.  One of the men had been with the Ghurkas and lived in England for 12 years.  After several hours we walked back to town, had another wonderful dinner, including steak, for even cheaper than the night before.  We then wandered the roads down to Durbar Square and back.