First, we want to apologize for the radio silence during our last two-plus weeks on the road. We’ve had some serious travel challenges to contend with — multiple illnesses, volcanic ash over Europe (yes, it impacted us even in Asia), developing world chaos, the near-complete shutdown of the entire country of Nepal, and now a serious lack of reliable internet in our hotel in Thailand — but we’re back in our (mostly) happy place and trying to catch up on catching you up on our travels.
Sydney
After changing our plans (again) and leaving Vanuatu a couple of days early, we spent a much-needed GSD day in the suburbs of Sydney getting ourselves ready for our four weeks (or so we thought) in Nepal and Bhutan. We found a hotel with super fast internet for email, travel planning, backups, etc., and we decided to rent a car for the day (more fun driving on the left side of the road!). We headed to the nearby Westfield mall to take care of some really exciting errands like me getting a haircut, mailing a bunch of souvenirs and unused gear back home, buying toiletries, shopping for some last-minute trekking gear (we found a store called Anaconda, the Aussie equivalent of REI, and it was so great!), and getting Laura in to see a doctor for a quick check up (who knew they had medical clinics in shopping malls in Australia?).
After such a productive catch-up day, we couldn’t stop singing Let’s Go To the Mall (from our favorite television show How I Met Your Mother), and we left Sydney on quite a high (no pun intended), flying to Bangkok with a short overnight at the airport hotel. Both the hotel and the Bangkok airport the next morning were a complete zoo due to the volcanic ash in Iceland that shut down pretty much the entire European airspace. There were so many travelers stranded in the Bangkok airport that they were literally camped out in long check-in lines for many of the airlines. I was happy to have burned a few extra United miles for business class tickets between Bangkok and Kathmandu, because our check-in was a breeze (we did feel a little guilty, though). Oh, and the Thai Airways lounge wasn’t bad, either. :)
Kathmandu
;)
Reunited… in Kathmandu, of all places!One of the happy coincidences of our travels to the Himalayas was that we had a chance to see our ex-coworkers and good friends Stephanie and Jayson from Room to Read. Room to Read started in Nepal ten years ago, and as luck would have it, the two of them arrived in Kathmandu the same day we did. They were there to help coordinate a two-week 10th anniversary trek that Room to Read had organized for 20+ high net-worth donors and long-time supporters. I can’t tell you how nice it was to arrive at our hotel in Kathmandu — the Hotel Royal Singi — or as it came to be known by us later, the Royal Stinky — and see Steph and Jayson hanging out in the lobby. After exchanging lots of hugs and getting quickly settled into our room, we headed out with them to explore the Thamel district of Kathmandu (the touristy area), grabbed a long, sloooooow (but tasty) lunch, and caught up on all the latest gossip back home. We also shared some of the highlights from our trip so far.
For the uninitiated, Kathmandu can be pretty overwhelming. I was there for work back in 2007 for a few days, but this was Laura’s first time seeing the city, and it definitely made an impression. There are a gazillion cars and buses on the road, bumper to bumper and honking constantly, spewing dirty exhaust fumes, with no discernible traffic rules or signals, and pedestrians risking their lives on a daily basis just to cross the streets. Many of the main roads are paved, but many of the side roads are not, and those that are paved are in pretty sad shape. There’s also garbage everywhere — in the street, in the gutters, on the sidewalks, and in burning (or rotting) piles by the side of the road. Clearly, trash collection is not an element of basic infrastructure that the Nepalis have figured out yet. Unfortunately, all of this traffic and trash contributes to the worst air quality I have ever encountered anywhere in the world. It literally burns your eyes after only an hour or two of walking around, so we weren’t too excited about spending a lot more time walking the streets of Kathmandu.
The next day, we took care of some logistical planning for a short trek we wanted to do northeast of Kathmandu (hoping to get some last-minute training and acclimatization for our much longer, much more difficult trek in Bhutan), then joined Steph and Jayson again to see one of the largest Buddhist temples in Kathmandu — Bodhnath.
;)
The impressive Bodhnath stupaSadly, this is where things started to go downhill for us. The cab driver got confused and took us to the Monkey Temple instead, which unfortunately is on the complete opposite side of the city. He agreed to take us to Bodhnath after all, but the cab ride turned into an hour and twenty minutes of hell on wheels (literally) — the four of us crammed into a tiny cab during rush hour, bumper to bumper with busses spewing disgusting black exhaust, and the bumpy roads under our wheels jarring our brains and spines with every kilometer. It was pretty much Laura’s personal worst nightmare (I could see her biting her tongue and trying not to open the car door and run away screaming), and even seeing Bodhnath (now mostly in the dark and raining) and enjoying a quiet Tibetan meal at Double Dhorjee with Jayson and Steph didn’t quite put us back in a truly happy frame of mind.
Little did we know that this was just the beginning of our downhill slide into developing world chaos. And sickness. And misery. Stay tuned for our next happy installment, but in the meantime, check out our Kathmandu photo album.