Everest Trek, Episode Three - Kathmandu

It was past midnight before we were all counted, draped in marigold leis and loaded onto two small buses at the Kathmandu airport. By that point we had been travelling for more than a day and a half and all I could take in of the trip to the hotel was a seemingly endless chain of narrow dark pot-holed streets, humid heavy air and jumbled buildings of all shapes and sizes. After half and hour or so we turned down a very narrow side street and parked in front of the Radisson Hotel. Our guide explained that this was as far as the bus could go as the road to our hotel was too narrow for the bus. He added that we would only have to walk for 30 seconds or so ... just around the corner... this was our introduction to what we came to call "Nepalese Time".... a wonderful realm of elastic time and endless possibilities!

So down the even narrower side street we trouped and around the corner past the guard house to the dimly lit courtyard of the Hotel Manaslu where we lined up at the front desk to get our room assignments and room keys. My roommate and I stumbled up the three flights of stairs to our room, dumped our gear, cranked up the air conditioner perched in the window, collapsed into our beds and were asleep within minutes!

That was last night and this morning revealed an hotel that had seen better days but featured beautiful Nepalese architecture with intricate wood carvings on the terraces, under the eaves and around many archways. The inner courtyard held a pretty garden complete with a swimming pool fed by a row of stone gargoyles, blooming hibiscus bushes and stone walkways.

We had an orientation meeting this morning with the representatives from Go Way Tours and the two guides from Annapurna Mountaineering and Trekking. They were all very patient and answered a great deal of repetitive questions from the group. I don't think that there could possibly be another question on this earth that could be asked about where we will get water, who will carry the water and how much water we will need! I think our preoccupation with water came from being warned about the high e-coli count of the water in Kathmandu. Being advised to keep our mouths shut and to not let any water get in our eyes while in the shower probably clinched the deal!

The official time table for today included lunch at the Rum Doodle restaurant in Thamel and a welcome dinner back at the hotel. The rest of the day was our own so my room-mate Marcie and I headed off into Kathmandu to find the Yak and Yeti Hotel where I thought there was a collection of Everest summit memorabilia. When we finally found the hotel, we were told by a very patient concierge that we were actually in the wrong place and the Rum Doodle was where we needed to be! So off we went back into the chaotic streets of Kathmandu, dodging motorbikes, rickshaws and cars until we finally found the Rum Doodle: upstairs above a courtyard, off a side street in Thamel.

The walls and ceiling of this small restaurant are draped in pieces of plywood cut out in the shape of a Yeti's footprint, each of which is covered in signatures and comments from the members of treks and mountain expeditions that have passed through over the years. On one wall, behind a piece of glass was the "Everest Summiters Club" which held footprints signed by Sir Edmund Hillary, Reinhold Messner, Chris Bonington, Doug Scott and other gods of the mountaineering world. On the back wall protected by glass is a large sheet of plywood covered in signatures. In the center of the piece is "Sir Ed Hillary" and the other signatures have been added over the years to form what is apparently the largest collection of Everest Summiteers in the world. ... I was in heaven!!

Following lunch a group of 6 or 7 of us headed off through Thamel in search of Durbar Square. In case you are wondering how we might have any trouble finding a large square that is one of the eight UNESCO Cultural World Heritage sites, you just haven't been walking in Kathmandu! Yes there are street signs, but the vast majority of streets do not have signs and they don't run north and south, or east and west, or perpendicular or even remotely parallel to each other! The streets are narrow and stuffed to overflowing with people, dogs, shops, street vendors, motorbikes, bicycles and cars. All the vehicles, even the rickshaws, move through the traffic blowing their horns or ringing their bells. But, despite the chaos and the noise it all seemed to work.

Once we found the square we paid our admission fee and then a young man to guide us through the many temples and palaces that in some cases had stood there since the 12th century. In and amongst these ancient buildings were people selling everything from food to clothing and household items; children begging for money; young men haggling and hounding you to buy their souvenirs; and holy men draped in saffron and yellow robes, complete with long hair, beards and painted faces - all quick with a smile and a pose - as long as a suitable donation was offered in exchange. Weaving their way through all this were men carrying massive loads of store supplies on their backs with tumplines across their foreheads. Our guide explained that these were "Sherpa mountain people" who were known for their "great strength and endurance". This would soon become a common site for us because in a country with very few roads outside of the cities these men were the equivalent to couriers and delivery trucks.

I left the square on my own and wandered through Thamel until a few hours later I found something familiar and eventually made my way back to the hotel. I stopped by a coffee shop not far from the hotel and it was so far removed from the world that I had just been walking through that it was almost absurd. - Soft elevator-type music played in the background, while pin-striped baristas with gelled back hair served coffees, lattes, and pastries. It made me wonder what they all went home to at night.

I returned to the hotel tired, and more than a little overwhelmed by all that I had seen. My life at home is very quiet, orderly and controlled. Life here was not and it would take more than a few hours for me to adjust. The chaos was frightening and at the same time I had never spent a day more filled with colour, sounds and new experiences! My senses were delightfully overloaded and I fell asleep with my mind full of ideas, images and dreams. I couldn't wait for the next day to begin!