Blogs from Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal, Asia

I woke up today saddened by the fact that we are leaving Tibet, and chances are I will never return. These people have touched me, and their plight and oppression will haunt me forever. We arrived at the Nepalese border after going through 4 Chinese military checkpoints, within 8 kilometers. At customs I was told that my Lonely Planet book would be confiscated due to it’s accurate depiction of historical events. I had carefully cut out pages from my China lonely planet to fit the Tibet one before I had left and happily it worked. A Chinese immigration officer confiscated someone’s travel guide right before us, so I was definitely feeling the stress as if I was smuggling illegal goods. Our bags were first x-rayed, then rummaged through by hand. They showed keen interest in some ... read more

Had the best night out in Pokhara. Lyndesy and myself went to the Silk Road resturant where we saw the two girls we met there the other night and invited them to join us along with Philippa, her husband and a very funny man from their kayaking trip. Ate my last momos, which I will miss a lot. Throughout the past few weeks I kept joking with Philippa i'd order a party bucket (very very big drink) on my last night. Managed to convince the two girls to join me and then the bar tender to let me make it. So for one night only I got to work as a bar tender making the very big cocktail, which was served in a vase. So was a very fun last night, though a bit sad saying ... read more

We were supposed to fly back to Kathmandu around 9:20AM. Rather than hang out at Hotel Yeti, we decided we would skip breakfast and go to the airport around 8:00AM which was early. In Nepal, 45 minutes is enough time to arrive before a domestic flight. When we checked in, they said our flight would be delayed 30 minutes. No problem. At 1:00PM, we were still in the Pokhara airport. Our frustration was visible, especially Megan's. This was her last day in Nepal. I at least had all day tomorrow. Our flight had a mechanical problem. No one bothered to update us. No information was provided. No announcements were made. This is the way in Nepal. So we waited. Our flight finally arrived around 1:30 and we made the short 45 min flight to Kathmandu. Nabin ... read more

Thamel/ Kathmandu are really growing on me now; there was a bit of culture shock at first, but it is getting more and more comfortable each day. Today will be my last day of orientation. I am going to miss the group so much, everybody is so lovely and we are all getting along so well. The past couple days we have had language and culture classes in the morning, sightseeing in the afternoon then finishing with dinner. So far I am terrible at speaking Nepali, I am definitely going to have to do a lot of practice in the markets and day to day. We went to a temple yesterday and one the day before. They are very beautiful, but after the trip to Thailand with the over-exposure to the temples and pagodas, everything blends ... read more

Namaste!! Well it was a long day of travelling. My first flight to Dubai was fine, except for the part when someone took my seat. Got to have been my best take off ever whilst watching the Muppets movie. When I got to Dubai was a bit concerned that my flight was not on the departures board. Was sent down one lift, only to be sent up another , then escorted back down. Eventually got told to come back in four hours when my flight was actually meant to board. Had been told that the Dubai airport was meant to be really fancy (I did get a picture of a gold camel, but the computer doesn't like my camera so it won't upload) but anyway I ended up in Costas. So after a few hours (and ... read more

Good morning! I had quite a lovely day yesterday. The weather was very pleasant- sunny with a bit of a breeze so it wasn't too warm. I met a few more volunteers and we had a tour around the area (Thamel). There was a lot of hustle and bustle at first that was quite overwhelming, but I got used to it quickly. I think I am going to really like Kathmandu/ Nepal in a short time. Yesterday afternoon I sat up on the rooftop enjoying beer, sunshine and conversation with Scott, one of the volunteers from Australia. At five we met up with the remainder of the volunteers, had an introduction meeting, and then enjoyed a nice dinner together. I was hoping for some Nepali food but we ended up having macaroni and cheese :) And ... read more

Hello everyone! I arrived in Kathmandu yesterday late morning. Before that I had a very very long series of flights and was extremely tired for most of it- it is a big blur looking back. My flight came into Kunming at 12:30am and my flight to Kathmandu did not leave until 10am the next morning- I had been planning to sleep at the airport, but found out when I arrived that it closed at 2am! I ended up staying in a hotel overnight, and unfortunatly, because I was so out of it, got talked into staying at a nice hotel where I paid $60 for the room... I hope that is the one mistake I make on this trip. Luckily I was brought directly to and from the hotel and the man made it very easy ... read more

From the moment we stepped off the plane in Kathmandu we knew we had entered an entirely different world. The airport looked as though it was a rundown warehouse that had not been renovated in at least 30 years. Our Visa was processed by an assembly line of three men with a paper and pen. There were no computers that we could see, let alone any digital screens indicating which direction you should go. There were properly a hundred taxi drivers waiting outside the airport for us yelling, "Taxi, taxi, where you go? I take you, very cheap," everywhere! We were very thankful we had booked a hotel that provided airport pickup. However, I don’t know exactly what you would call what we were picked up in. It looked like a car that was from the ... read more