Day Three (Email Home)
Submitted: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 | Views: 4 | 0 comments
November 3/2009 Email home.
"KTM"
Hi Kitty
Well we made it to Kathmandu and it was great flight again.. Jet Airways is awesome! It is nice to get out of Delhi..It is filthy and full of utter chaos. Beggars with babies and everyone wanting to lift your baggage and then expect a tip for everything. The place is jammed with traffic and dirt and noise. KTM is much better...still very very busy with traffic etc..Still dirty but also beautiful. Our hotel is the Hotel Ganesh Himal and it is awesome.. a real oasis. Gardened court yard, roof top terrace, good food and friendly! We have met many nice people and had a nice chat in the garden having dinner. I talked to a guide who was cool and told me many tips for our trip. The beer here so far has been great! I am having trouble sleeping at the right times..as I was up before 3 am today and have watched the city wake up..which is awesome. The noise is crazy...thousands of wild dogs bark all night long. Parakeets land on the roof tops near me...cattle walk the streets. There are no lanes of traffic just a mass confusion cars, motorcycles, trucks, bikes and people just go wherever. We have arranged a car to take us to Besi sahar today around 12 noon...a day early as we were able to get all of our permits through this excellent hotel. We plan to walk to the shops in Thamel and see about trek poles etc. Thamel is wild, very narrow winding streets with hundreds or thousands of tiny shops, some are just stalls with stuff piled on the street for you to buy. Fruit and veg stands pop up everywhere overnight and all kinds of food vendors with little stove make a wild array of unknown foods. I had steaming momos last night...a type of dumpling stuffed with who knows what...ginger was in it and some tomato..I really enjoyed it with more than a couple of quarts of Everest Beer. You would not believe the levels of poverty..From very affluent to street dwellers in make shift tents. I think you would be more than a little overwhelmed. I am very excited to be moving on today and get some of this fabulous scenery under my feet. The Himalayas are breath taking. KTM is in a deep valley and you fly into the mountains and drop into the valley very fast. We could see the snow peaks for a long way and then villages on top of lower ridges, with terraced fields..so green and wild! This place is unreal and so we trek it. Can't wait!
Better go..I am having Nepalese tea before breakfast but have to wake up the guys.
Hope I can send more info soon. Love you and miss you.
Love John
