My travel diaries
Wednesday 16 to Friday 18 May, 2007 - Kathmandu, Nepal
Blissful, but it doesn't last. Barely two and a half hours later Sangye is banging on our door.
"Mic, Mic, wake up. We are late. We need visas."
Mark and I start up abruptly and sit up in bed. But Mic isn't there. I get up and let Sangye in, then help him rummage through Mic's bags looking for our Chinese visas. Meanwhile Mark is laughing uncontrollably. I wonder why, but then realise I must be presenting quite a picture. Sangye is fully clothed, but I've become thin as a stick insect after two weeks of eating very little on Everest, and am frantically helping him clad in just my boxer shorts. Given that we were soundly asleep, and all this has happened in just a few short seconds, I can see where Mark's coming from.
Mic eventually returns about ten minutes later and we head across the road to the restaurant for breakfast. One of the Australian girls Mic 'walked home' last night was into horse riding, so there are many gags of an equestrian nature ("Come on, giddy up, Mic", "I expect you've got a sore throat this morning and are feeling a bit hoarse," etc, etc.).
We walk down to the border post, check out of China and get in jeeps to drive us all the way down to the Nepalese border post. The road continues to descend through jungle in a series of zigzags, and the Friendship Bridge, linking Tibet with Nepal over the Bhote Khosi river, is quite a distance further down. Mic, Mark, Pasang and I are squeezed into one jeep with several of our bags, and we're kept entertained by our driver, who appears to know more about Mic's evening than we do, much to our amusement and Mic's embarrassment.
It's all a bit chaotic at the bridge. Several Nepalese hangers on are paid to carry our bags to our bus at the bottom of Kodari village on the Nepalese side. Meanwhile we cross the bridge and queue up in something of a scrum for our Nepali visas. I buy a 30 day visa since I'm hoping to stay on in Nepal for another month. Then we walk to the bottom of the village to meet up with our bus and (hopefully) our bags. Tim is feeling a bit nervous about his, and insists we rummage through the pile which has been loaded into the back of the bus to be sure that it's there. This is just as well, because both he and Chris have a bag missing, lost in transit somewhere between the Chinese border post, a mile or so up the hill, and the bottom of Kodari village. We then have to wait another hour for porters to be paid to go and locate them and bring them back to the bus. Eventually everything is in order and we are finally on our way to Kathmandu at around 11.30.
We stop for lunch of dal bhat (traditional Nepali rice and lentils) at a decidedly non-touristy place by the side of the river, where I get dal sauce all over my moustache. I'm looking forward to having a reunion with my shaving kit in Kathmandu. After lunch we drive through classic Nepalese scenery of villages clinging precipitously to hillsides with row upon row of rice terraces cut over every inch of hill below them. The road winds up and around hillsides, over the top and back down again. Every so often we enjoy extensive views across a plain down below. Just outside Kathmandu we drive right into a thunderstorm and have a ten minute deluge against the roof of the bus before the sun comes out again. On the approach to the Summit Hotel, down narrow passageways we assume weren't designed for buses, the roof of our bus, loaded with luggage, keeps clattering against powerlines overhead. Powercuts can presumably occur for all sorts of reasons in Kathmandu.
It's heaven to arrive back in the peaceful haven of the Summit Hotel. I learn that my flight, originally scheduled for Friday, has been changed to 14 th June, so I do have an extra month here, after all.
Time to relax. But no, and I blame Mark. We go to K Too restaurant in Thamel, followed by an Irish Pub, followed by Tom and Jerry's club. When that closes at 2.30am, I'm pleased to have an early night after our 5am session at the Tibetan border, but Mark has other ideas. He, Ian and I hire some rickshaws to the Yak and Yeti Hotel, which Mark believes has a casino that stays open all night. As I'm not much of a gambler I ask our rickshaw drivers to wait for us outside to take us back to our hotel when we're finished. They are still there when we leave the casino at 7am.
The next two days are something of a blur. I've not had a proper rest since reaching 7000m on the North Col of Everest on Sunday. Extreme physical exertion is followed by some long days with very little sleep and much partying. It's all about to catch up with me in a big way.
But before that happens I get through Thursday in much the same way. After leaving the casino, Mark, Ian and I pay off our rickshaw drivers and get a taxi back to the Summit Hotel, where we sleep in until the early afternoon, but it's only a few short hours before we're out again, back to the Irish pub, then Rum Doodle's restaurant, then Sam's Bar, then Tom and Jerry's, where we end up playing drinking games. Unbelievably, at 2.30am, Mark again decides it's time to head for the casino, but it's all too much for me. I go back for some sleep.
I awake troubled, and pass Friday morning in a strange mental state bordering on paranoia. It's almost as though I've been drugged and am now coming back down to earth, only I've not been taking any drugs. The effects are severe all morning, until I go for a lie down for a couple of hours, after which they improve, but they persist to a minor degree all weekend. I frequently find myself confused, and very very tired.
But one chapter has drawn to a close. I have made some good friendships on this expedition, and we vow to keep in touch afterwards. At 5pm I see my new friends off to catch their bus to the airport, then I hire a taxi to take me to Thamel and meet up with my friends Tina and Siling for the next leg of my adventure.
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