Kathmandu

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Hi again everyone

I am now on the second stage of my trip... Nepal and Bhutan. But first I will pick up from where I last left off.......

I flew from Krabi back to Bangkok on Saturday, and spent the night in Luxury at the Airport Novotel. It really is a lovely hotel, and the beds.... what can I say, Huge and Comfortable!! It was an absolute pleasure.

However I did have a bit of a drama when I arrived at Bangkok airport. The plane parked out on the tarmac and we had to get a bus into the terminal. I had a very impatient man behind me pushing to get on the bus, and somehow he pushed me and I fell up the step into the bus.... Yes up the step, can you believe it!! I ended up with a nasty gash on my leg and blood pouring everywhere. Fortunately a very nice man produced a tissue and started mopping up the blood, and a girl produced some bandaids. It hurt like hell, but I was very brave!! Naturally the horrid man who caused all the trouble scuttled to the the other end of the bus, and was nowhere to be seen. I managed to get myself to the Novetel, but by this time I had blood gushing everywhere. I will admit I was freaking out somewhat, and all sorts of nasty things were crossing my mind. When I took the bandaids off it wasn't pretty, and I couldn't stop the bleeding.... more nasty visions followed!! Anyway to cut a long story short, I cleaned it up, sat in a very comfortable chair, in my very luxurious room, with my leg up, and ordered room service. Fortunately I have my magic anticeptic cream that fixes everything and some bandaids, so by the morning things weren't looking so bleak. Bangkok airport has a Boots chemist, so I stocked up on a some medical supplies, and it is now definately on the mend. However I think I will have a nasty scare to remind me of the ordeal.

So onto happier things.... I found Anne & Janet in the airport easily. Well they actually found me while I was browsing through the excellent duty free shops, telling myself I couldn't buy some of the designer items available. Our flight to kathmandu was delayed by about 45 minutes as they had to do some repairs on the engine. We could see they had taken the casing off one engine and were working furiously. I would have prefered a new plane, but they fixed it and we got here ok. The immigration process was very slow, as we had to go to one counter and pay our money for the visa, then another counter to hand in the piece of paper saying we'd paid, and then a third counter to have our passports stamped. It was a full plane, so you can imagine how long it took.

Anyway we finally got through, found our luggage, and headed out to find the man who was picking us up. It is now some years since I have been to the Sub Continent and had forgotten the craziness.... makes Asia look positively organised!! We are staying in a lovely hotel, that was an old palace, and so is quite grand and just beautiful. The staff are lovely and I had also forgotten how good looking and charming Nepali men are. So all in all everyhting is pretty good.

The last 2 days we have been doing the tourist sites, and I am just blown away by how much Kathmandu has changed since I was here last. Admitedly in was 1992, but it has grown just so much and of course is much busier. The quirky little city at the end of the Overland Trail is now a brash tourist town. I admit I was a bit thrown at first, but have realised if you stay away from the main tourist centre Thamel, the Kathmandu I remember is still there.

Fortunately our hotel is just away from Thamel set in a beautiful garden with a swimming pool, so we can escape the craziness. Yesterday we found a lovely (and quite good looking and charming) taxi driver who has attached himself to us, and has been ferrying us around. Kind of like our own personalised driver. He's picking us up again tomorrow for a trip into the country to one of the old towns in the valley. Kathmandu Valley was originally 3 kingdoms, Kathmandu, being the largest, but each had it's own temples, The people here are both Buddist and Hindu and the 2 religions tend to get blurred some times. However the temples date back to the 16th & 17 century and are just amazing.

Well I am about to run out of internet time, so must finish up. We head to Bhutan on Thursday, and so am not sure when I will get to the Internet next.

So cheers for now, Ali xxxx

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Comments

[Collie]

WOW
Hi Darl, so sorry to hear about your accident. Sorry that Lawrie was not there to sort him out. What a complete ars*hole. I felt very bad for you. So glad that you are feeling better. Trip sounds fabulous. Take care darling. xxxx

[Alibman]

Hi Collie. yep could have doen with Lawrie there to defend me... But then we may all have ended up in jail !!! All good now. Cheers, ali xxx