Hiltons do Kathmandu

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Finally the day had arrived and we were off to Kathmandu!! The only bad thing about going was the fact that we had to fly out from Doha airport! The worlds worst airport its official!! The airport was its usual pushing and bustling self with the familiar fragrance of Doha, and the million and one people who seemed to take there life belongings on the plane with them packed into as many cardboard boxes as they could find. Finally we got through to the departure lounge and sat in our usual coffee place for a small bite to eat, and so that we could people watch! There’s nothing more fascinating than an airport I find, the people there are from all over the world and all walks of life! Especially in Doha the airport is full of very smelly very rude strange looking people in even stranger looking clothing! For once the plane was due to leave on time which was a blessing! Usual Qatar airways style crowded us all into the worlds smallest departure gate where all you could see was a huge crowd of pushing people desperate to get on the plane ( of course someone might take there seat or the plane might lave without anyone getting on it!). After two panic attacks from the sheer claustrophobic ness of the situation we were finally on board the plane and leaving Doha behind!

I had read on the net that the flight to Kathmandu was one of the world’s most exciting flights which you could ever take! So I made sure that we were sat on the right hand side of the plane as I had been told you can see Everest from there! As the seatbelts lights switched on and we were getting closer to our destination I looked out the window eagerly waiting to get my first ever site of Everest!!! All I could see where high green valleys full of trees which looked like no one had even walked through them it was the most amazing sight seeing the green! (You have to understand living in Doha all you see is desert, rubble and cranes! There are some rather decrepit palm trees which have been planted in order to give the place some color, expect these are rather dismal looking dirty washed out green color!) So we were so very excited (one of the main purposes of our trip was to see some color!) and the plane started its descent I realized that I had somehow managed to miss Everest (it’s the tallest mountain? How?), maybe I had sat on the wrong side of the plane? The descent was amazing as the plane got lower and lower all you could see where these green mountains and it looked like we were going to land on one!! Now that would have been fun!! Suddenly the mountains were gone and a green valley came into view- our first site of Kathmandu.

Kathmandu airport was madness!! We rushed off the plane fully aware that we had no visa and we wanted to get through passport control as quick as possible!! The visa took about two minutes too issue, they just stamped our passport and that was it! (We were only there for a few days!). We rushed through to collect our bags so that we could start our mini adventure!! One hour later we were still waiting for our bags with the million other people who were on the flight with us too!!!! Finally after another half an hour and watching all the cardboard boxes we had previously spotted the bags came out and we were off!!

We got through customs and rushed out the exit looking to find our driver to take us to the hotel!! He wasn’t there!! We stood for a while looking like lost sheep while hundreds of people tried to take our bags from us get us to get in there taxi or go to there hotel! We had never been so popular in our life’s (we were the only real walking dollar signs there!). We found a reasonable looking driver who we thought looked safe enough (how can we tell?) and hopped into his car and we were off with our suitcases happily bouncing away in the boot which didn’t shut!! The first proper sign I saw that made me realize where we were was a big red banner from the Maoists announcing victory! (Wish I had taken a photo of that!). After a ten min drive through little alleys me and Michael were starting to get worried and were exchanging glances rather nervously (we have all heard of the taxi scam!) but then we drove past the palace and I knew everything was ok! (I had even at this point checked the doors had handles!)

Finally we had arrived at our hotel ( it was like eight o clock in the morning local time!) they kindly checked us in and let us go to our room straight away!!!! We threw our suitcases on the bed and ran downstairs for breakfast. Before we ate we said a prayer to the gods for letting us have bacon, oh sweet juicy bacon (we living in a Muslim country) after eating as much bacon and pork sausages as we could manage we crashed out back in our room for some much needed sleep.

When we finally we awoke we decided to go out and explore Kathmandu! We knew Thamel (the main tourist part) was not that far from us so we decided to walk it!! We walked for what seemed like miles, with Michael admiring the many different guns which the police carry!! We began to realize that somehow we had gone the wrong way and decided to get some food and head back!! That was the point in our lives we discovered momos! Momos are the most wonderful spicy item which you will ever put in your mouth! The excitements of discovering them coupled with the excitement that we could order alcohol in a café (Muslim country again) sent us both rather giddy which resulted in me foolishly announcing I knew a short cut home! Many miles and many hours later we were complelty lost in the back streets!! Which was fun at first but as we plodded on walking slower and slower we had to admit defeat and hop in a taxi!!! 22 npr later we were back at the hotel!

After a much needed rest we went up to the bar to start our drinking properly!! The splash bar was amazing it was rooftop with views over the valley which blew our minds away!! We got lost for a while just staring at the views lost in thoughts our minds blown away by the beauty of it all!! A few more drinks later and two rumbly tumblys we decided to head off and this time taxi it to thamel to get some grub!! Rum doodle was our target (we had heard about this pub on the net!) and boy was it out of this world! The whole pub is two floors and everywhere you look is cardboard yeti footprints which trekkers write messages and stories on too pass onto other trekkers! (Michael even saw an old friends signature!), that was mind blowing!! And then we found the Everest summiters club board! Wow Sir Edmund Hilary’s signature was there and hundreds of other peoples too who had summated the beauty! We were overwhelmed by the place, we drunk our amazing cocktails, ate the juiciest and nicest steak ever in relative silence just taking it all in! No one could go there and not be inspired to go and climb a mountain! Oh there was a live band there too who were so good and the atmosphere was vibing!

Even more drinks later we staggered off to have a wander round thamel as Michael had seen an ive been to Nepal bracelet which he wanted (hell I wanted some too!). We drunkenly walked up the streets and wandered in and out the shops listening to the you buy you buy, I sell nice things and hashish, marijuana talk, whilst dodging the honking cars and rickshaws (this place honks more than doha-unbelivable!) eventually we decided we were only going to get lost again so we hailed a cab and went back to the hotel for more drinks and sleep! We made the mistake of going to the hotel casino which was mad all they had was blackjack and roulette! No fun!! A very cheap and tacky place that was we quickly left!


The nest morning we woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed our first whole day in the city! How exciting! We had our usual feast of bacon (heavenly bacon), then decided where we were going to go that day! Freak Street was the top of our list! We had heard the place was amazing we wanted to go there to pay homage to the original hippies!! What a disappointment it was! A little street full of shops and rubble, very run down and very empty no fun! There were no hippies to be seen (except maybe us) and certainly no freaks! How sad! Durbar square was our next target and we happily strolled up there getting excited about seeing all the temples and statues and the smells too!! As soon as we hit Durbar square we were the only walking dollar sign again! People crowded us eager to be our new friend, our guide to take us somewhere special! The majority of them went after a short sharp no from Michael, but sadly we still had two hangers on who we couldn’t shake off!! One was driving a rickshaw and kept hitting Michael’s foot probably trying to injure him so he had to get a rickshaw and the other one was determined to be our guide! We managed to ditch them finally by hanging out with the police for a short while (there so helpful!). And then we started our journey around durbar square!!

Everywhere we looked there was a Kodak moment, a temple, a statute, women selling flowers to give to the gods! Holy men with there tin cans asking for money, pigeons and cows wandering around! It was amazing the sights the smells! Wow! I took so many photos I was getting weary!! We stopped for a drink in a lovely rooftop café so we could watch the world go by! And I had my first experience on a Nepal toilet! With the usual bucket of water, no toilet roll and the lovely present left by the previous occupant!! And then we saw our first western person! Hooray we weren’t the only ones!! After a nice relaxing people watching half hour we carried on with our journey! Only to be amazed by the site of an old man carrying a fridge freezer which was strapped to his back and head down some stairs (see another Kodak moment!)!! Feeling rather unworthy at that display of strength we carried on with out wandering!!

We made the mistake of going into a shop to browse (not a good idea!) Michael brought a lovely deer horn skull necklace ( that’s his rebel days coming back to him!) and the guy selling it somehow managed to talk us to go upstairs where he would show us some amazing things which we could buy never seen before! They were certainly never seen before after showing us some amazing holy statues carved out of crystal and rock and showing us an ivory necklace we quickly realized this guy was selling stolen goods!! After hearing a speech about how eight hundred dollars is nothing to us western people (what? That’s so much money!) We quickly legged it out of there as fast as we could!! We carried on our adventure rather pleased with ourselves for not being taken in! After deciding to head back to freak street (maybe we had missed something?) we took a Michael short cut there! We wandered for what felt like hours again, only to stumble across a lighthouse style building apparently in the middle of the back streets ( another Kodak moment) we wandered some more and then finally found out way back to Durbar square. After so much walking it was time to go back to go get some lunch and go back to the hotel!! We feasted again on Momos heaven) in the Tibet hotel which was so beautiful and so friendly and so empty! We went back to the hotel for a short break before hitting the bar!

A lot more drinks later we decided to head back into thamel again to our favorite place rum doodle!! We had even more drinks (we were getting very merry at this point!) and had the amazing steak again and decided to wander thamel again!! This time we shopped! Michael stocked up on some pirate DVDs (he finally has Jarhead after months of searching in Doha and cursing!) and some cds, I stocked up on some psychedelic clothes and books and bracelets! Then we made the mistake of walking past a shoe shop!!! Michael eagerly ran in (he’s determined to own more shoes than me) to see what he could get! A pair of lovely walking boots later and two pairs of combats (one for me of course!) we were happily shopped out and drunk!!! Wandering some more we decided to head back to the hotel for even more drinks! (At this point Michael had got enough Dutch courage to score some hashish!). We staggered into the taxi whilst Michael stood there and screamed no at the local dealer selling the weed!! Little did I realize till I got back to the hotel he had scored some weed!! Oh happy happy days!!

Giddy with the alcohol and the excitement we locked ourselves in the wardrobe in the hotel room and puffed away!! That was some amazing stuff there! Wow we were totally toasted! It was amazing! We happily went back to the bar to consume even more alcohol and talk mad conversation to each other!!! I was desperate for a wee after about the fifth rum and went off to find the toilet! I couldn’t so I staggered off to my hotel room and tried to open the door, but I was so wasted I couldn’t even open the door, I staggered back up to the bar to find my knight my husband who kindly showed me where the bathroom was!! After a mad conversation with a security guard and another conversation with a lady who had been to Tibet (how I wish) I found my husband and happily carried on the drinking!! A while later we wobbled our way back to the hotel room to have another smoke!!! This is where my memory gets very very hazy! I vaguely remember throwing up (far too much rum) and wobbling back into the bed and passing out!

Our second and last full day here in Katmandu we woke up with surprisingly non sore heads and went downstairs to pay homage to the bacon gods. We decided where to go next a hopped in a taxi and went up to the Tibetan refugee camp!! What an amazing place, a carpet, prayer wheel and prayer flags later we hopped back into the taxi and went off to the monkey temple!!! Wow! We entered the money temple ( with the usual hoards of wanna be guides) and climbed the steps up to the top. As we climbed we were amazed by the prayer flags which were hung everywhere, and the scores on monkeys running about happily (hence the name!) and the view of the city! (We could see mountains again Frodo Mountains!) It was jaw dropping the view! At the summit there was a huge Buddhist stupa covered in prayer flags and prayer wheels round the extremity (I had to give them a spin!)!! What a Kodak moment. And we saw our first ever Tibetan Buddhist monk and he smiled at me (probably as I was grinning at him in a rather strange way!) Michael paused for a moment to take a photo of a beautiful young girl just sitting there (he will never forget that image) and she asked for some food, sadly we had none. We carried on walking round the temple and taking our photos everywhere you looked you had to snap!!

We played with the monkeys for a while just watching them till I cleverly tried to outstare one and it went to attack me (again my knight rescued me!). After a while being lost in the views and some soul-searching thoughts we decided to head back to the hotel. (We were rather hot and sweaty at this point!)

Back at the hotel we had some lunch (this time paying homage to the ham gods) and some drinks and then my darling husband had the bright idea of going for a smoke!! Again we locked ourselves in the wardrobe and happily puffed away!!! We were vegetables for the next few hours lost in a vegetive state (were so not use to this anymore)!!!

After a long while we gathered ourselves together and headed off into the night to say a last goodbye to our drinking haunt thamel! This time we headed for the Everest steak house as we had heard that the steaks were Everest size! And boy where they! I managed about half of mine; Michael in his determination finished his! We had a last wander around thamel hunting out those last minute souvenirs and headed back to the hotel for some more alcohol!
We hit the bar again with the England world cup playing in the background and decided to have an early night as we were both feeling rather tired


Four o clock the next morning we were up!! We were off to see Everest!! How exciting!!! Up we got all bouncy and happy looking forward to the day!!! We got picked up and taken to the airport where we sat there awaiting out flight, looking around trying to spot who would be on the flight with us!! A guard hollered our flight number and we were off!! We sat on the little Buddha airplane each with our own window seat!! Looking around the plane to see who was to share this experience with us we realized it was one big Indian family complete with screaming babies. Not good! Well nothing could ruin this experience for us so we looked out the window eagerly and watched the propellers start to spin! How exciting! And then we were off!

The little plane puttered along the skies making the coolest sound!! We were glued to our windows praying for good weather so we find our treasure!! There were clouds everywhere and all we could see was cloud after cloud afer cloud!! Then the plane dipped a little and then cloud was almost gone! We looked out our windows eager to see and there they were the Himalayas!!! The most awe inspiring view you will ever witness!! How many people hove dreamed of seeing the Himalayas, of going there and conquering them, how many people have lost there lives trying to reach there dream inspired by the Himalayas! And there we were flying over them (ok not the same as climbing them, that’s next year ok!). The lovely flight attendant pointed out what peak was what, but we still hadn’t seen Everest yet!

And there she was in her majestic beauty towering above the other mountains (how do people climb her), boy then did our cameras see some actions!!!! We flew past ever so slowly dumbstruck in awe of her beauty! And then we were allowed into the cockpit to have a closer look!!! Wow! Michael was happily clicking away (he should be a photographer) and we were just so excited to be able to say we have seen Everest! I can’t even describe how amazing it was seeing her and all the other mountains too in that range! I made a promise next time I see the Himalaya it will be on foot! After a while we said a sad goodbye to here as our little plane headed back off to Kathmandu.

Back at the hotel we realized sadly it was our last day here. We paid our last respects to the bacon god and crawled back into bed!!! At twelve it was time for us to have our hair cuts which we had long debated over where to get them done we both have long hair which we have spent much time growing and it’s rather precious to us. We wandered down to the hairdressers at the Radisson and went in. Have you ever had one of those moments when you whole body is screaming get out of here now run like the wind! I had that as I sat down in the chair! Stupidly I ignored it thinking nah this is the Radisson what can go wrong?? Chop chop went the scissors and my hair was gone!! I was in there five minutes and my hair had gone, I was sporting a 1980s bob above my shoulders which for me is short!!! I quickly paid and went to tell Michael that I was going back to the hotel! (I needed to dry my hair to see how bad the damage was). I walked in too the barber section and was treated to my husband glowering at me! I told him honey im going back to the hotel, he kept glowering and nodded. Oh no was my hair that bad?? I frantically legged it back to the hotel to see for myself!!!! And it was!! I quickly booked us a massage to try and relive the stress and waited for my husband to return waiting for him to laugh at my hair!

There was a loud bang at the door and there was my knight! Smoldering, glowering full of anger! He stormed into the hotel room shaking and looking like he wanted to rip my head off! Was my hair that bad???? I walked out he announced and then I saw his hair!! The hairdresser had cut his hair so short he had scalped him, the hair was uneven and tufty and the hair which he was so proud of and had been growing since out wedding had gone! My poor baby now like hair like commander riker from the 1990’S. The poor baby I comforted him as best as I could (he’s still gorgeous) and we both sat there fuming for ages all upset! We were the bad haircut brigade. Of course we complained and got our money back, we quickly realized thou that maybe paying three pounds for two haircuts might have given an indication to what kind of service we were about to receive!

It was massage time!! That was amazing a whole hour of being pampered! Amazing, then time for lunch and last drinks before we had to head to the airport. We said yet another sad goodbye to our view, made a pact to return new year this year and sadly packed got in the taxi and left.

Kathmandu I don’t know how to begin how to describe the place. I have truly fallen in love with it, there’s an indescribable vibe there that makes you want to be alive, gives you hope and spreads joy!! The people there touch your heart, there so friendly so happy and willing to do anything for you. The smells the sites the sounds, the Himalayas, the valleys, the people, the weed, the food a place never to be forgotten which we will always visit!

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