Quick break in Kathmandu before starting the trek!

Got up pretty early to catch a cab back to the airport en route to Nepal.  Traffic was much worse (believe it or not!) at this time of day as opposed to late in the evening.  The driver had to stop for petrol (gas) on the way, since his fuel tank was on E.  20 mins later we were back on the road.  For that amount of time, I figured he had filled the tank, but I noticed on the pump that he only bought 2 L of gas!  Talk about being risky... Why did it take so long?

Also en route to the airport, I saw my first batch of monkeys playing around on the side of the road, in an area that was obviously used by the locals as a garbage dump.  I guess they fed on the scrap food there.  Must have been like 20 or 30 of them running around, and quiet a bit bigger than I expected.

"I don't want money, just milk for my baby. Will you buy some for me?"

The airport was a scene.  No set queues once again, and no clear direction as to what the check-in process was.  Several airline employees had to direct me to where I needed to have checked baggage screened, etc.  Customs took over an hour, even though I was ~10th in line, and the guy behind me kept standing too close and rubbing up against me.  Not really that comfortable... I was in no rush though - I had time to kill since Delhi airport is not exactly Disneyland...  Decided to kill a little more time with Subway's version of a local sandwich - Chicken Tikka sub!

The plane ride was only a couple of hours, but we had a full meal of curry that was actually quite delicious.  Other than the people across the row from me that spent much of the flight staring at me, it was a very good experience.  I should expect that I guess, since I am a very tall white guy with a red beard...  I just tried to ignore it as much as possible.

Kathmandu valley is absolutely stunning.  The descent into the airport takes you through lush green mountain valleys, with tons of terraced agricultural fields up the mountain sides.  Even the city suburbs are a bunch of lovely pink 3-4 storey buildings, and the entire scene is quite aesthetically pleasing.

Getting a visa into the country was a minimal hassle, though it did take quite a while.  Good thing I had an extra passport photo, since they needed it to process the visa.

On the way out of the airport, I was again hassled by touts, trying to get me to their guesthouse.  I was pretty leery given my past experiences, but thought I would give one a try.

I was driven to the hotel by the guy who sold me the room, which was nice since it saved me some money on the taxi ride.  Driving here is very much like in India, except with much less traffic, and they don't even try to fake lanes with lines on the road.  There is no attention paid to directions of traffic, and passing seems to have no rules.  The most important lesson that I have learned so far in India/Nepal, is to always keep my head and hands inside the vehicle...  Remind you of first grade?

The hotel turned out to be a pretty decent place, a little out of the way of the main backpacker area, but definitely within a short walking distance.  For $8 per night, I had a bathroom, warm shower, and private double with a TV, and free airport transfers.

As soon as I got there, the upselling re-started.  Treks, treks, and more treks.  Should not have been surprised, but at least this guy was pretty nice.  He also had tons of experience as a guide, so I trusted his judgement a lot more than most.  Given the time of year, he suggested the hike to Everest Base Camp, since the Annapurna trails and many others were very rainy due to monsoon.

I decided to go with a guide rather than go it alone (you can apparently do it quite easily as the trail is well marked and there are tea houses where you can stay very regularly on the trail), since I figured it would be good to have company and also someone who knows the conditions, etc. well.  The guide (Keisha - spelling?) came over and met me, and seemed like a nice guy with decent English, so that was also more reassuring.  The guide ended up costing like $20 / day (including his flights to Lukla), so really it seemed like a great idea.

The rest of the day was spent just getting used to Nepal, shopping for some essentials (a hat/toque and mitts!), exploring the area around the hotel (Thamel), and prepping for the hike.  When I was wandering the streets, I had an interesting experience.  I met a beggar who came up to me and asked, not for money, but for milk for his baby.  I was cautious, but followed him to a nearby supermarket to see what the milk cost.  He pointed out a large box of powdered milk, that cost ~550 Nepalese Rupees (R - ~$7.50US)  I figured that was qutie expensive, and offered to get him the box that was half the size for 300R.  He started complaining that it would only last for 1 week vs. the larger box would last for 3 weeks (not sure how that math works given that the box was exactly twice the size...)  I smelled something fishy, so I said "OK then, if you won't take the small one, I won't get you any." and walked out of the store.  He came running after me with the small box in hand, yelling that he would take it.  Of course, he hadn't paid for it, so a store clerk came running down the road after him, and they were all stopped by a cop on the street.  She told me to keep going and then got after him.  I found out later that this is a typical scam here - they get foreigners to buy the milk, and then sell it half price back to the store to get some of the money.  The store doesn't mind, since they are really getting half the value of the milk for nothing, and everyone is happy.  Smart...

Also saw a sad sight in the streets while walking around.  There were a group of several young kids, around 7 or 8 years old, that obviously lived on the street, picking up used cigarette butts and smoking them.  Strange to see such young kids doing this sort of thing...

Beyond the aforementioned moments, I was surprised to find relatively little begging and touting here in Kathmandu as compared to other Asian cities.  Even in Canada and the U.S. I ran into more begging on the street than I did walking around that day.

Went back to the hotel and hit the sack pretty early that night, since I had to fly to Lukla (the starting point for the trek) at 6:30 the next am.