Day 201: Kathmandu – Day 1
We were packed and ready to go before breakfast this morning. After shoveling down our last Chinese fried eggs and toast, we sprinted out of the hotel and into the minivan, making a beeline for the Lhasa Airport. We gave Samdup our postcards to mail, and our unused bottles of oxygen, hoping he could find a use for them. When we got to the airport, we gave each gentleman a well-deserved tip and said our farewells – all my bitching about China aside, we had a FANTASTIC tour with Tibetan Highland Tours. Tibet was definitely the “peak” of our China trip and we are so grateful we had the chance to visit it when we did, interact with the local people and witness their vibrant and spiritual culture. It breaks our heart that this region is changing so quickly.
Though our Air China flight was delayed by an hour (Lindsay thought she might start to hyperventilate at the thought we might be suck here another day), we finally took off! After a scenic flight over the Himalayas (hey! I think that’s Everest!) we landed in Kathmandu. Even though we only flew West for about 600KM, we gained 2hrs and 15min, since the entire country of China is on one time zone (and a weird one at that – what’s with the extra 15min?). After we landed, we made our way through Immigration where we paid our USD $40pp for our 30-day travel visas (luckily, Igor had brought a collection of pre-cut passport photos – you need them for the Nepal visa!). We quickly collected our checked bag and met up with Reginald, from Wind Horse Tours at the Arrivals exit. WE FINALLY MADE IT TO NEPAL!
Flying over the Himalayas – we can’t be positive, but we’re pretty sure that solitary peak is Everest
Reginald (who has a *fabulous* game-show quality British accent, BTW) dropped us off at our hotel – the Royal Penguin in Thamel – and made plans to meet us the next day to introduce our guide and finalize our tour payment. We had the rest of the afternoon at leisure, so we decided to start repacking our bags in preparation for our upcoming 15-day trek to the Nepali Everest base camp. As there are no roads on the trail, EVERYTHING from food to toilet paper is brought in on foot or yak, so we needed to stock up on essentials or risk paying an arm and a leg in the mountains.
We were tickled to discover that the Royal Penguin had upgraded us from a Standard King to a Junior Suite! The hotel has a bizarre, uber-modern interior design, but it’s comfortable, the staff are super friendly, and there’s even 24-hour free breakfast! We took our time unwinding in the room before heading out into the street to run our errands. Unlike our many failures in China, we found navigating Kathmandu to be a *breeze*. While there are no Western-style, Rite Aid-like pharmacy shops, the neighborhood has tons of pharmacy stalls. We went up to the first one and were able to buy almost everything on our list: cold medicine, Vitamin-C tablets, altitude-sickness pills, aspirin, hand sanitizer, blister pads, and anti-diarrheal medication. True, none of the familiar name brands were available, but the active ingredients were the same. No more herbal voodoo for us, thanks! We quickly found other elusive necessities – replacement camera equipment, quick-drying socks and sparkling wine! – and headed back to the hotel, completely triumphant. Nepal…you *get* it.
Granted – the décor is strange, but in a luxuriously quirky way. This suite feels like *heaven* after some of the bare-bones lodging we’re had in China.
The Thamel neighborhood in Kathmandu is a traveler’s paradise – we find a camera store in no time that sells replacement batteries, GoPro accessories and camera straps
In under two hours, we haul back a huge pile of toiletries, medication and other items we had been missing in China
While we have every intention of soaking in the Nepalese cuisine and culture over the next three weeks, we decided to indulge in the international offerings the capital city has to offer. We found an Italian restaurant that could have easily been located in the East Village, and later vegged out to HBO until late in the evening.
While we love Indian food and are sure to love Nepali food, we know we will soon be eating dal bhat for 15 days straight, so we take advantage of the enormous selection of international cuisine in Kathmandu and treat ourselves to a delicious Italian dinner at La Dolce Vita.
LOVELOVELOVE this hotel! Not only to they *enforce* their “No Smoking” policy, but they have actually designated the hallways as “Low Voice Zones”! Oh, I think we are going to sleep well tonight…no earplugs necessary! We pop open a bottle of bubbly to celebrate our escape from China, and the start of a whole new stage in our travels – the Indian sub-Continent!