First Day in Nepal
Since I had left the Bangkok airport, I had to pay the airport tax when I went to get my boarding pass for Kathmandu. The flight was around three hours, but we ended up circling Kathmandu for another 30 minutes due to weather. It seems that the pilots aren’t trained for instrument landing and can only land if they have a clear visual of the runway. As we touched down, it was a bit disturbing to see scrap planes along the runway! After getting my Visa and exiting immigrations, I hollered for Gopal and Goonja. They found me right away and presented me with a garland of marigolds. Earle was also there to meet me.
Driving to the guest house took a little while, but I barely noticed since I was staring out the car window. I couldn’t believe how dirty the streets where. There were piles of trash everywhere, many of which were being burned. Mangey dogs were ever present, as were several dirty cows that were eating garbage. Earle must have read my thoughts because he reminded me that Kathmandu was in a developing country.
I no sooner got to the guest house and the sky opened up with a tremendous thunderstorm, which knocked out the power for a while. My room at the guest house had a padlock on the door instead of the usual keyhole. The toilet seat keeps falling off and there’s no place to put things if I decide to unpack my bag. The shower is cold and is just a nozzle sticking out of the wall in the bathroom, so everything gets wet.
The people here are very friendly, though, and go out of their way to make me feel welcome.
It’s about 8pm. It’s been a long day and I’m ready for bed.
