Tuesday 02 December 2008
We got up earlyish and ventured back to Ramas for a last south Indian breakfast. The south indians certainly know how to do that.
We headed back to the hotel and finished packing and got our driver to take us to the airport, whcih strangely was less than the usual adrenalin rush. check-in was also orderly and smooth – something never experienced at an Indian airport before. Also note that you can’t take more than RS100 notes into Nepal and you can’t buy Nepalese currency at the airport.
The plane left nearly on time, but as the flight was only a couple of hours it wasn’t a big deal. My vegetarian meal was on the plane – except it contained chicken? So luckily the main meal was vegetarian so I did a swap with Scott.
The scenary was very mountainous on the way – all looks a tad hilly for my liking 🙁
Kathmandu is also a huge sprawling city, not at all what we imagined.
We whizzed through immigration, already having got our visa from Australia. Only to be held up waiting for our luggage. I had truly given up on ever seeing my backpack again, but it finally came through. Whew. We struggled through the hoards of taxis and foudn our name (2 out of 2 for airport pick-ups). The drive from the airport to the Hotel Ganesh Himal was amazing, just so much to try and take in. There is a mix of fancy western style houses next door to slums.
We got our room and ventrued stright back into the fray and found an ATM taking out what felt like a million dollars – sometimes the exchange rate isn’t too bad.
There are so many shops, trekking companies, shops, trekking companies, it makes your head spin. I am already thinking of what I can ship home.
We found a small place for an Indian meal, which was nice, but nothing fancy before heading back to teh hotel in the now pitch black and with my sense of direction at its best we got lost and had to backtrack – Note: take torch next time. The weather isn’t too bad, warm during the day and a bit chillier at night to we don’t have to sworry about rugging up too much.
We finally made it back to the hotel in one piece and the hotel seems fairly quite and has a huge garden – all very tranquil. especially considering the noise at the end of the street of horns from all the competing traffic.