Sunday, October 5, 2008

Kathmandu


Well I have arrived safely, trip was pretty good as far as long flights go. Arrived yesterday about lunch time, and the trip from the airport to our hotel gave us our first taste of the colour, smells (good and bad), hustle and bustle, and traffic chaos that seems to work despite itself).
This week is the festival of kites so yesterday, all the locals were out in the best clothes, the mix of vibrant colours was amazing.

Once we settled into our hotel, had a very much need shower and lunch we caught a taxi out to
Putan an area on the outskirts of Kathmandu. We spend the afternoon wandering around the many temples in the centre of town, and through all the narrow lane ways away from the hustle and bustle of the main area. From the tops of the buildings we could see all the children flying their kites. The sky was full of kites swooping and soaring.

Our evening consisted a drink and momo's (dumplings) at the bar on the corner near out hotel. The eyelids got the better of us and it was back to our rooms for a well earned sleep.

To day I am off exploring on my own, bottle of water, suncream and hat in hand. Have spent the morning wandering the stalls of the Tamil area, and perfecting the art of saying"no this is my first day, I am just looking at the moment".

Friday, October 3, 2008

Dday or should I say N (for Nepal Day)!!

It is all a bit unreal at the moment. Bags are packed, and I am off to the airport this afternoon. Firstly a flight to Brisbane then late flight to Singapore and onto Kathmandu. Steve is picking up a late parcel from my sister this morning. Some special high altitude undies!!! The mind boggles!! I imagine they are nice and thick, perhaps a little on the dowdy side, and will keep me warm. Was very hard to focus on the few final tasks at work this morning. Next Blog I hope will be from Nepal (if I have email access).

Thursday, October 2, 2008

One More Sleep to Go!!!

One more sleep!!! This week had been a little frantic, finishing off all the bits and pieces at work, chasing up the last minute items to take and packing.A couple more donations have come in. Thank you all very much.

The Australian Himalayan Foundation advised us yesterday that we have almost reached the $4000 mark with out fund raising.

This morning I dropped into the discount bookshop and selected a few of small soft covered books to give to the schools in Nepal while we are there. I guess I won't be posting anything else on this blog for a while. Hopefully I will have access to make a couple of posts while I am away. The main blogs will come when I get arrive back and transfer stories from my diary.