Another great adventure unfolds.
It is now 3:15 PM Sunday here in Kathmandu and we are nearly recovered from the long journey to get here. Susan and I are here with our great friend Paul Bucca and his son from Denver, Brian.
We were up at 4:00 AM on Thursday to catch a cab at 4:30 from our town house to the airport. We took a 6:00 AM one hour flight to Portland. After an hour and a half layover we took a two hour flight to Los Angles. After a fourteen hour layover (that's not a misprint) we took a fourteen and one half hour flight to Guangzhou, China crossing the International Dateline somewhere in the Pacific. After a three hour layover we took a four and one half hour flight to Kathmandu arriving here around 11:00 AM Saturday the 30th. It took about three hours to get through Customs collect our luggage and arrive at the Radisson Hotel.
We were introduced to our guide for the trek to Annapurna Base Camp, Sanje and went with out luggage to our rooms. We were exhausted but were determined not to sleep until after dinner. After a quick shower the four of us went for a beer. We then had a two hour wait until dinner and Susan and I succumbed to temptation and took a 90 minute nap. The four of us had the buffet dinner at the Radisson and went to bed. Finally!
We met for the hotel's buffet breakfast at 8:00 and then headed out to Thamel which is the tourist shopping district in Kathmandu. The area is very hard to describe with its very narrow streets filled with tourists, cars and motorbikes. There are hundreds of small mom and pop shops selling everything imaginable with the owners standing just outside their shops trying to lure you in.
We are now beside the hotel swimming pool enjoying a beer before the 5:00 PM trip orientation. We learned yesterday that there is only one other person on this trip with us. All I know at this point is that her name is Karen and she is from the US.
Tomorrow after breakfast we get a guided tour of the city. I'm sure it's the same on Paul and I took in 2012.
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