Neighbourhood

Well...

What can I say, I'm a bit taken aback by my first three quarters of an hour in Nepal!

It started off with an 8hr flight from Vienna, it went great. We were treated to one of the most amazing things I ever saw from an airplane before. As we approached Kathmandu, we could see the Himalayas shrouded in clouds with an immesnse lightening storm briefly illuminating the peaks - those mountains must've been getting a severe battering!

So then we descended to Kathmandu, normally you'd see rows of street lights and cars gliding along the roads. Here - things were so different. The lights you could see flickered like fire, the disorganisation of the city's buildings just gave the illusion we were in a grotto with the light glistening off of wet rocks. It was amazing.

So then an hours wait while we got our Nepalese visas sorted... bursting to get out and see Nepal, we walked through customs to the shouts of a hundred guys touting cab rides. Luckily we spotted our man with our names on a card. We jumped in what must be a 1985 Datsun - the boot barely closed to hold our bags in... the excitement turned to insecurity! We drove from the airport past a bunch of armed guards, on to a roundabout made of a few barrels and past a few wild dogs. Into the chaos of the streets it seemed as if we were going off-road, then back on road! We turned another corner past 3 wandering cattle - crazy. The driver scared the s**t out of us at first - head-on with a motorbike - with the mororbike darting out of the way at the last minute. Past some nightlife there were a lot of poor looking Nepalese taking a night time stroll - most of the buildings derelict, we suddenly stopped at a 20ft metal gate.

The "co-pilot" got out and asked to be let in, as the metalwork rose, our hotel sat behind it. A guy out front panicked and switched on the sign illuminating "hotel Centre-point". We had arrived. We dropped our bags in our room and came downstairs to talk of what to do. We decided on a beer and some internet time from the confines of our 3* hotel.

We're completely overwhelmed right now, so a few beers now and an early morning to gain some orientation are required... Thursday we leave for the Annapurna circuit - tomorrow we will look around Kathmandu - I'll see if I can't get some photo's uploaded. The great news was that it was 18 degrees upon landing at 10pm-ish - it should be about 30 tomorrow so I can start working on my tan :p