After the mission exiting India it was nice to get to Kathmandu. Did we mention the plane from Delhi was 3 hours late. Everything is late in India except the one damn train we had to catch. As you can see we still hold some anger to the whole situation LOL.. The plane ride on the other hand was amazing. We saw the beautiful mountains..like something out of a movie and we also had the best seats in the house..
The airport was abit of a mission. Since we took out all the money from our accounts to pay for the flights and hadnt transferred money back into them we only had the 80 aud we had on us to play with.. We splurged on subway and just had enough to convert it to 60US needed for the visas. Excpet when we get to the airport we realise that they have increased the visa fee by 10US which was just damn great..so dale had to go through all our luggage to scrape out about 10 more dollars..it was just soo ridiculous that by the end of it we were just laughing. Anyway after that mission we bargained a taxi driver down big time to drive us to the famous town of Thamel..He tried to do the whole taking us to his family's hotel so he gets commission but this time we werent having it and told him to shove it. He finally got the point and took us to the hotel we wanted. That place was booked but they were nice enough to put us up into the next hotel for the night and then shift us back in the morning. It was soo cold on our first night. We were soo used the crazy heat of goa. We had no warm clothes on us at all. And we forgot to mention that Samina had to leave 30 out of the 40 dresses she bought back at the house in India. Just wouldnt fit in her back pack. Go figure! We had a quick dinner and totally crashed..we were soo worn out from all the chaos.
After a freezing night we moved into Pilgrim Guesthouse. It was pretty cool there. Nice outdoor garden restaurant too. The service was really cool. Very friendly. And we made a friend called Devi who managed to convince us to do Everest Base Camp. We were already thinking about it but he showed us some amazing footage that just blew us away. So we agreed. But it was going to cost a shit load. We spent the rest of the day wondering the streets. Its beautiful but chaotic. The streets are very narrow with 100's of shops and loads of people (esp foreigners) and even more motorcycles who never stop horning. Still Thamel has a great feeling and its soo fresh. We looked at buying winter clothes but the dilemma was where we gonna put them? Our bags are full. So we may have to hire..
The next day was hard. All of a sudden we werent feeling so great. Fever and a really shit one too. We spent the day in bed aching and got no sleep at all. Dale is really good at recoveries and he was much better the next day. Me on the other hand..not soo good..My fever got way worse.. I had the worst stomach cramps and the worst body aches which turned into nights of constant vomitting and bad bad diarohea. It was soo bad. Even the slight smell of food sent me off. By the 4th night Dale was really sweet and said we need to stay in a much nicer place so i can relax and get better. The hotel we were in had the hardest beds and pillows and yucky green carpet not to mention the brightest light in the world and a crazy dog that seemed to start howling exactly at the stroke of midnight until 6am..I mean we were only paying 15US a night so we were getting our money's worth..So he spent the entire next morning trolling the streets trying to find a beautiful place..and boy did he..he booked the most expensive hotel in Nepal LOL..even walking to it was a mission for me..and it was only 200metres away. This place was amazing..Its called The Courtyard..it looks like something built from the 1700's in England. Our room was beautiful and they have a massive library and like every DVD to choose from and even a massive theater room. It was gold. We knew we couldnt get too comfortable as we can barely afford one night here.In the evening we made our way down to make the most of the theater room. The owners Punjan and Michelle were so sweet to us bringing us whatever we needed. Pujan asked me if i was hungry and since i hadnt eaten in 4 days i was freakin starving. He asked me what i wanted and i thought of the largest meal possible and said a steak. He was like no worries go watch your movie and ill make it myself. And you bet he did. Just as the movie finished he brought in the best steak and mash and veges ever. It was soooo good we nearly cried. And then for the rest of the night he was bringing us free drinks. I was on medication so i couldnt have anything but dale took full advantage haha as you can imagine. It was at that moment dale decided we werent going anywhere and were spending another night here. The next night Punjan and Michelle organised a bbq for all the guests. We all just sat outside in the courtyard and dale played guitar while an irish girl sang..was really cool and a great way to meet others. The 4th night we all went to a really cool Nepalese restraunt. Where Pujan made everyone have loads of Ella (chinese rice wine) and had some great yummy traditional food. We also got to see some amazing Nepalese dancing. They make the hotel seem like home so much. They are just so great that it has now been our 8th night here LOL..waaay over our budget..
Yesterday was quite cool. Dale and i decided to take a walking tour to Durbar Sqaure. We got lost loads which was fun. We ended up in some random alley ways. One led us to this amazing temple where all these kids were playing around. It was soo beautiful. One of the nicest things ive see so far. Nice music in the background and just an amazing site. We eventually made it to Durbar Square which is full of historical temples. The crowd there was really hectic though and all the touts were out again. Everyone wanted to be our 'guide'. We ended up getting rid of them and had a cool wander. Took some great shots that we will put up.
Unfortunately Dale is now sick. I must have passed it onto him..So we think we will leave for base camp next week. We will hire the gear we need. We know we are not fit enough to do it at all but we'll just take it slow and enjoy it. When we get back from Everest we will head to Tibet given that the border is open. Then back to this guest house for Christmas.
Well i need to take care of Dale as he is not doing to great at all..I feel so bad for him..Well take care guys..
Lots of love,
Dale & Sem xx
