Im getting lazy, mainly because of the Nepali lifestyle - getting up late and spending the majority of the day reading or sleeping. Made it really hard to get up this morning for the present my folks had given me - an Everest View Flight.
So I wa grumpy to begin with as I got up at 5am. Then things just started to go downhill from there - no power just as I got up. My candle was down to the stump and my last match took a nervous minute to light. Then no water as someone had left the faulty tap on and drained the tanks. Still this was everyday occurence and I was relatively used to it. However I' been craving a yak cheese sandwich from the 24 hour Sandwich joint, whose owners always complain about not being able to sleep or shower. Lying bastards close it early morning, so I was left hungry and even grumpier.
Spotted a taxi and relieved, told him to take me to the airport by meter. But the guy used night rates and I didn't realise it til we were a hundred metres down the road. He said that they dont change until 6am, which I though was fair enough and was too tired to complain as it was only 50% more on the very cheap rates. I was quite surprised when I saw how fast the meter rose but, coming to the conclusion that this guy had rigged it and I was losing money fast. I couldnt do a thing as I didnt want to miss the flight and grudgingly paid him nearly 7 dollars for the trip. Thats a whole day's expenses!
Got into the airport with no worries, even had some time to read my book as I waited in the departure lounge. Was worried as hell about missing my flight, No. 304 from Yeti Airlines. The last time I was here all the announcements were made in Nepali. Soon I was one of the last people left hanging around and I began to get nervous, but the others were all tourists with no pack and clutched tickets like mine so I figured I was ok. Then they called flight 303 and everyone looked around before they called again for flight 302. Some people moved but to the ones that didn't tey said 304. Finally. We all hopped on the same airport bus, a couple of old guys confusd about the flight numbers and presumed it wasn't their bus, wandering off to an empty one! It took about 5 minutes to get everyone sorted. I didnt care as at least I knew I wasnt going to be left in the terminal!
The plane was much nicer than my last domestic with Nepal. To make things even better I had scored the best seat of the trip - even greater again as the plane was only a quarter full and we could move around to better vantage points as the fligt progressed! The view was of course spectacular as I looked out across the valleys, mountains and the Tibetan Plateau. We got reasonably close to Everest and being level with the higher mountains I could finally appreciate its dominance over the others - from the ground in the trek it looked the same size, even smaller than the mountains closer to us. Everest stuck out greatly but that didn't stop the flight attendent pointing it out to us time and time again, I was about to yell at her when she pointed and said there is a river. Safety wasn't a consideration in the flight as all the passengers got up an moved around to take pictures, we were even allowed in the cockpit to get a better view from the clearer glass! The flight was over very fast and I had to rush back to my seat and buckle up as we descended. Was great, especially if you weren't going to do any trekking or just plain lazy like I'm becoming.
The morning taxi and airport tax had stripped me of all my change, leaving a 1000rs note to catch the taxi back. Had a few arguments with taxi drivers who promised they had change but wouldn't show me and nearly decided to walk the long distance to Thamel with no map! I just caved in to one of the nicer-looking drivers and he managed to get change from a friend in a shop along the way. The return trip only cost 160rs as opposed to the 390rs morning scam!
It was only 8:30am but I ran around hecticly, handing in laundry, grabbing passport copies, taking money out of the atm and finding a decent money exchanger. I ran out of time for a bowl of muesli and cup of tea but got them anyway to completely settle my morning annoyances and arrived at the office half an hour late. straight away gave my passport and the US dollars to the secretary who sent the office boy flying along on his bike to pay the airport company for fridays ticket to Thailand. Chatted for a while before there was a phonecall to say that they now wanted 30 dollars extra as they had forgotten to include taxes. I didnt really mind as I'd alreay saved over a few hundred on the ticket but the secretary buckled down haggling and got them back down as they had lied until now. I even got some money back as a refund for paying in US dollars as opposed to rupees! Will never fully understand how this country works. My chances of gaining that understanding are lessened with the Maoists in charge; a group leader I was friends with said that the Communist Party had been voted in on a Democracy system but were now beginning to declare a Republic for Nepal. What the hell?
I met with Ravi for the first time in nearly a month and was finally explained about all the new staff and different work. They were using the time gained when all the Tibetan trips were cancelled to work over the brochure and website. He went into some detail about new ideas he had, though having been "in the business" for only a couple of holiday-packed months I cant say that I offered much of an opinion. It was also the first time I noticed how much respect the other staff gave him. Well maybe not entirely respect but part fear - stood up, straight, spoke quiety with averted eyes etc. Guru Ama (Mother teacher the secretary) had once said something about Ravi being a middle class religion in addition to the fact he was the boss. I was aware of the way they acted but never realised how much influence he had over their lives until now. I was extra cautious not to encourage them with any ideas about how the brochure could differ from Ravi's plans.
With only today and tomorrow free to experience Nepal for the last time I savoured the moment, buying some cheap and lightweight souvenirs to ditch with the parents so they can take them back to Australia (is 8kgs too much?...). It took a lot of restraint not to buy everything in Thamel but that would have taken weeks with all the haggling. I also returned/sold any books I no longer needed and was rather surprised at how much money I got back - one book I had bought from a second-hand shop back in Australia sold for more than the return price back home.
A quiet beer at Sam's bar ended the day well, even if it hadnt started so. Especially as it was fun to watch the Austrian owner make the staff roll the dice in a gamble for who had to clean the toilets. And I added my name to an endless scribble of often obscene messages on the wall.
