Royal Nepal Airlines...WOW!
After we returned from the Everest region, we were set to spend a day or two in Kathmandu and then head to Chitwan National Park in southern Nepal for a few days in the jungle - we were going to canoe, go birding, ride elephants to view rhinos, and generally chill safari style in Nepal's lowlands. Unfortunately, when we went to pick up our ticket from the travel agent, we were informed that Royal Nepal cancelled our flight on May 30th and our only options were to fly on May 2nd, or April 27th...this was a huge bummer because May 2nd was too far away, and the leaving on the 27th wouldn't allow us to enough time to explore Chitwan (though only 70 km from Kathmandu, it's a 5-7 hour bus ride).
After many visits to our travel agent, where we witnessed numerous phone calls to various offices all over the city, we were told to return the following day (May 24th) to find out if we could be squeezed onto the 25th flight. Much to our surprise, our trusty travel agent managed to get us on the flight...sounds good, right?
Well, after a 6:30 am visit to Swayanabath (aka, the Monkey Temple), a very famous Buddhist and Hindu temple on the outskirts of the city, we caught a taxi to the airport. The flight was delayed and we were told that we'd be taken to a nearby hotel for lunch...where we ended up spending the next TEN HOURS.
It was the fanciest hotel we'd been to on the trip thus far, and the hotel guests must have been in complete awe upon checking in - it was basically like a mini-refugee camp. People were sprawled out on all the couches and chairs in the lobby, people were laying on the lobby floor, people were on the lawn behind the hotel, etc. We ended up having lunch, a snack, and dinner at the hotel before eventually flying to Bangkok at 11:45 PM (our original flight was scheduled for 1 pm).
Upon arrival in Bangkok, we booked a ticket at the airport to Chiang Mai (a city of 1.6 million in the North) in literally FIVE minutes, and traveled here with two guys we met from Oklahoma. After a fun night on the town with the Oklahomans, we're having a mellow day exploring the city.
We've only been in Chaing Mai for about 24 hours, but it is beautiful and clean, and we plan to be here for a few more days before crossing into Laos. We are taking a cooking class tomorrow, and plan to check out a few Wats (Budhist temples) and local markets in the next few days...
Sending lots of love from Chaing Mai,
Brian and Camille
