Namaste!

Holy Kathmandu... This city is chaos. The tiny roads are bustling with honking cars, trucks, vans, bicycles, rickshaws, pedestrians, dogs, cows, goats going this way and that. I think they're supposed to drive on the left side of the road here, but pretty much it's just where ever they can fit and the honking never stops. There are beggars all over, mostly women and children (who are often huffing glue), the men hassling you to buy their goods, book a trek, ride their rickshaw, take their taxi, crazy. I was wandering around in this alone for a few hours before running into a girl I recognized from the Bangkok airport. Thank god, it was such a relief to share the shock with someone else and not alone.

We ended up having an awesome time together here our first couple of days. She was from England and had buddied up with a tour guide from her hostel and he ended up being a really good person to have. He invited us to his friends wedding reception where we were welcomed with free food and drink and lots of traditional Nepali dancing and got to talk to and learn about the natives. The next day we did a bit more wandering to some of the sites before meeting up with the guide again and he took us and a few others from the hostel to a Nepali restaurant where we ate like the locals, with our hands. Think rice and lentil soup with a few several different vegetable sides with your hands, it was a mess but once you got the technique down it was quite enjoyable.

As the city is powered by generators when there is going to be electricity is anyones guess. Apparently they can expect to have it anywhere from 8-16 hours/day but different areas get it at different times and even in the same hostel some rooms may have power while others may not. Their is a government enforced curfew at 11pm where police make sure the restaurants and business stops. It's quite nice b/c thats about my bedtime anyway and you don't have to worry about where a noisy hostel. The city is very intriguing and I am really enjoying my stay here after getting past the initial shock.

Day one of my trek was today. I was really nervous about it for some reason, but was relieved when I finally met the others. There are 5 of us and a guide and then plenty of sherpas and porters to carry our gear (a nice catered trek for me). There is a couple in their 50’s from somewhere in England and then another guy and girls (friends, but not a couple thankfully) from London. Today we just took a tour of the city. There are some amazing temples and places of worship (Buddhist and Hindu) on the outskirts and in the center Dubar Square (Old Town) has beautiful old buildings and squares. I leave the city tomorrow to carry out the rest of the 14 day trek and am sooo excited to trek through the countryside and see the Himalayas!!!