Day 46 - Kathmandu, Nepal

Day 46 – Hers.

I was awoken by the alarm at 5 and helped Rob get his act together.  He was off down to the lobby by 5:30 – and I tried to go back to sleep, but gave up and watched from the window as he and the rest of the group piled into a minibus to begin their Everest adventure. 

I had a (nearly) warm shower – since the hotel is full now, the electricity and hot water are more reliable.  We have (nearly) warm water all the time and the electricity only goes off for about 4 hours in the evening. I read for a while and went down to breakfast at about 8.  The hotel clerk nabbed me, worried that I wasn’t aware that I had to change rooms – I was aware and ready, so it wasn’t a problem; he asked if I could be moved by 10:00 so that the old room could be prepared for yet more guests arriving this afternoon.

My new room is up a floor – irritatingly beyond internet access – and around the back of the hotel, so missing the mountain view.  It is also a twin share – and I awaited with some trepidation the arrival of my roommate for the trek.  I haven’t shared a room with anyone but my husband since 1980 - - I’m sure it will be fine....

My roommate is a bubbly Vietnamese-Australian named Tien, aged 32, and a lot of fun.  We went window shopping this afternoon...we didn’t buy anything but were both severely tempted by paintings of children in one of the galleries.  I have taken the gallery’s card to think about it a bit more....

We had our group meeting at 5 – the others on our group are an Australian couple, probably a bit younger than me, but I’m guessing – who are using this trek to prepare for Everest.  Good luck to them....  We have all 4 previously done the Inca trail.  Tien and I have both decided that, after that, this is enough of a challenge.  The other couple – Barry and Cindy – seem not to have been put off quite so much. 

 

Barry and Cindy had dinner with a friend of a friend this evening so it was only Tien, Tek (our guide) and I who met at 6:30 to go for dinner.  Thi and I had asked Tek to choose someplace where we could try some of the local food – with Western standards of hygiene.  The restaurant he chose was great – but clearly aimed at tourists and accordingly quite expensive  by local standards.  It did include a floor show of typical dances of the region, though, and enough food for an army.  Tien and I agreed that we could have just bought one platter to share between all three of us!  I’ll make up for it tomorrow by eating the things Rob and I bought for picnics....