Well here we are in Nepal! We had a very early start to leave Colombo to get here, and our fantastic host Keerthi drove us through the foggy and relatively quiet streets of Colombo for our flight to Delhi and then on to Kathmandu. The flight was a little over 3 hours (it was supposed to be 4 - so we weren't complaining) from Colombo to Delhi on Jet Airways.
One of the interesting things we experienced was that Jet Airways do things differently to how we travel in Australia. Once you check in and go through to the departure gate, you get on the plane straight away. There is no lining up until the open the gate etc. As long as the plane is there, it's open and waiting for you. We didn't realise this and went and sat down at the departure gate and one of the flight attendants told us we could go on the plane. Awesome - it's such a better way of doing things rather than everyone rushing to board a plane when they had allocated seats anyway. I've never figured our why people line up in desperation to board a plane in Australia, it's not like a bus, your spot is assured. We got the full security check, a bit of the touchy-feeling again. We flew for the first time with Jet Airways, which are an Indian airline. The aircraft was in impeccable condition, and the service was fantastic. I can't say enough about the food either - Australian airlines really need to take a look at how we define 'full service' on our airlines.
One of the interesting things we experienced was that Jet Airways do things differently to how we travel in Australia. Once you check in and go through to the departure gate, you get on the plane straight away. There is no lining up until the open the gate etc. As long as the plane is there, it's open and waiting for you. We didn't realise this and went and sat down at the departure gate and one of the flight attendants told us we could go on the plane. Awesome - it's such a better way of doing things rather than everyone rushing to board a plane when they had allocated seats anyway. I've never figured our why people line up in desperation to board a plane in Australia, it's not like a bus, your spot is assured. We got the full security check, a bit of the touchy-feeling again. We flew for the first time with Jet Airways, which are an Indian airline. The aircraft was in impeccable condition, and the service was fantastic. I can't say enough about the food either - Australian airlines really need to take a look at how we define 'full service' on our airlines.
Flying into Delhi was an incredible sight - the city seemed to go on and on forever, not unlike Bangkok when you are coming in to land also. Indira Ghandi International Airport is easily the biggest I have ever seen - and I thought Suvarnarbhumi Airport in Bangkok was big. Whoa. Delhi wins, hands down. The place is so big that planes don't always have a gate to arrive at, and they park out on the tarmac and buses collect the passengers and drop them at the terminal, which was the case for us. Because we were in transit, we passed through relatively easily after having another full body pat down and a scan of our carry on baggage and made our way through to our gate. This airport is so big that there is a sign showing a 15 minute walk from gate 1 to gate 14 and there were something like 50 gates in total! Luckily we were at gate 4. The opulence on display in this airport is second to none. It was not what we were expecting and were more than pleasantly surprised. I guessed because India was host of the Commonwealth Games recently and also co-hosting the Cricket World Cup, they really wanted to grab peoples attention. That they did! Another bus took us to our second Jet Airways plane of the day, for our third country for the same day also.
The flight to Kathmandu was really quick, a little over 1 hour and 10 minutes. As we came to land at Tribhuvan International Airport we got a glimpse at the ancient looking Kathmandu. Customs and immigration were almost non-existent and we were very glad to have already arranged our Nepalese Visas, so the process was quite quick. After jumping in a taxi we arrived at our accommodation, Hotel Shakti. This hotel is part of our prearranged tour with Geckos that starts on the 12th, so I figured it was easy to stay here the extra nights beforehand, so we didn't have to change hotels. The hotel is basic but more than meets our requirements, there is a beautiful garden area which is quite a little sanctuary from the hectic, dusty streets of Kathmandu. Kathmandu is unlike any other Asian city I have seen. It is extremely underdeveloped, disorganised and hectic with traffic. The roads are a very poor standard (I'll take the Bruce Highway to North Queensland anytime) and there is hardly definition between the streets, the footpath and the gutters. I wasn't aware that the city was so dusty, and I now realise why people were wearing face masks, as this morning (day 2) I woke up with the sorest throat, which I later read in the Lonely Planet Guide is a very common occurrence due to the dust. Another thing I was glad to have researched before arriving here was the city's load shedding issues. Growing up in Cairns we used to suffer load shedding during summer so I was familiar with how inconvenient it could be. Thankfully Kathmandu is quite cool (bordering on cold, we are now wearing fleecy jumpers and jeans, gone are the boardies of Sri Lanka), so we do not need airconditioning. We have had more time here without electricity than with it. Our hotel thankfully has generators but they only supply the basics and that works out to be one light per room, which is more than enough really if you're not there to notice it. For example, today (day 2) we only have power between 11am - 4pm and again from 11.30pm - 2.00am tomorrow.
After we got settled in our hotel room we ventured down the streets of Thamel and I bought a few items of jewellery and we wandered around taking it all in. We were both pretty thirsty and found a bar across from our hotel (by then the power was gone too) so we grabbed a 'warm' beer on the rooftop drinking area. We tried the Everest one. It was pretty good too! We watched from the roof a wedding precession with an extremely loud band wander past and figured we should try some of the local food. Everywhere you go you see signs for Momo, which are like dumplings but done very nicely here in Nepal. We really enjoyed them, with a spicy tomato dipping sauce. Yum!
The flight to Kathmandu was really quick, a little over 1 hour and 10 minutes. As we came to land at Tribhuvan International Airport we got a glimpse at the ancient looking Kathmandu. Customs and immigration were almost non-existent and we were very glad to have already arranged our Nepalese Visas, so the process was quite quick. After jumping in a taxi we arrived at our accommodation, Hotel Shakti. This hotel is part of our prearranged tour with Geckos that starts on the 12th, so I figured it was easy to stay here the extra nights beforehand, so we didn't have to change hotels. The hotel is basic but more than meets our requirements, there is a beautiful garden area which is quite a little sanctuary from the hectic, dusty streets of Kathmandu. Kathmandu is unlike any other Asian city I have seen. It is extremely underdeveloped, disorganised and hectic with traffic. The roads are a very poor standard (I'll take the Bruce Highway to North Queensland anytime) and there is hardly definition between the streets, the footpath and the gutters. I wasn't aware that the city was so dusty, and I now realise why people were wearing face masks, as this morning (day 2) I woke up with the sorest throat, which I later read in the Lonely Planet Guide is a very common occurrence due to the dust. Another thing I was glad to have researched before arriving here was the city's load shedding issues. Growing up in Cairns we used to suffer load shedding during summer so I was familiar with how inconvenient it could be. Thankfully Kathmandu is quite cool (bordering on cold, we are now wearing fleecy jumpers and jeans, gone are the boardies of Sri Lanka), so we do not need airconditioning. We have had more time here without electricity than with it. Our hotel thankfully has generators but they only supply the basics and that works out to be one light per room, which is more than enough really if you're not there to notice it. For example, today (day 2) we only have power between 11am - 4pm and again from 11.30pm - 2.00am tomorrow.
After we got settled in our hotel room we ventured down the streets of Thamel and I bought a few items of jewellery and we wandered around taking it all in. We were both pretty thirsty and found a bar across from our hotel (by then the power was gone too) so we grabbed a 'warm' beer on the rooftop drinking area. We tried the Everest one. It was pretty good too! We watched from the roof a wedding precession with an extremely loud band wander past and figured we should try some of the local food. Everywhere you go you see signs for Momo, which are like dumplings but done very nicely here in Nepal. We really enjoyed them, with a spicy tomato dipping sauce. Yum!
Day 2
We woke up bright an early as we had arranged to fly with Agni airlines for a scenic mountain flight taking in the sights of a few of the stunning and monstrous mountain peaks of Nepal. We had a taxi booked for 5.15 and we headed to the domestic airport. The place was completely packed with lots of hikers and mountaineers with all their equipment ready to fly up to places like Lukla (this is the most popular starting place to attempt Everest Base Camp, I'm told). We passed through security (another touchy-feely-grope session behind a closed curtain) and waited for the flight. Andrew grabbed us some of the amazingly beautiful milk tea, that is infused with cinnamon and served incredibly hot and we sat down and did a spot of people watching. I'm constantly amazed at the beauty of the Nepalese people and whilst I don't have access to upload some of my photos at this point in time, I will definitely add them so you can see for yourself. The children and just amazingly gorgeous and love it after I take their photo, to show them the result! We watched flight after flight get delayed or cancelled and realised it wasn't looking good for us. Eventually 20 minutes after we should have departed, the flight was eventually cancelled and we went to get our tax refunded and get the tickets moved to tomorrow. We got a taxi back to the hotel and here we are doing the checking our mail/Facebook/updating the blog in an internet cafe in Thamel. We are going to venture out to a few more places once the rain/thunderstorm (that cancelled our flight) clears and see what else Kathmandu has to offer! Farewell for now :)
Sounds like your having a ball, I'm Jealous!!!!!!! Take Care of each other & keep having a great holiday, you deserve it.
ReplyDeleteBye Love Janiene
Thanks Neeny! Don't be jealous, you're off on a trip of your own in a few weeks too! Love to you all xK
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