Nepal – Kathmandu Experience: Day 1

The journey from New York was a long and tiring one. I hadn’t considered the fact that long haul flights are actually quite tiring and take up a lot, if not all of your energy, when I booked my flight from London to Katmandu via Abu Dhabi directly upon arrival in London from New York. The result was that I was quite dead when I arrived in Nepal that afternoon. Looking out the window from the airplane I was amazed at how green things were in Nepal, especially after having seen Abu Dhabi from the same window only a few hours earlier. Although I was somewhat dead, I managed to watch three movies during the first flight. The first was a French movie, based on the true story of an editor of the magazine “Elle” and the change of his life after having had a stroke. The movie was more than depressing, so I decided to watch an Indonesian movie. I started one that appeared to be a comedy, but soon changed to another Indonesian one, since the first movie’s mood and the characters didn’t really appeal to me and I didn’t appreciate all the shades of brown that were visible throughout the beginning of the movie, beginning with the dusty streets and ending with the choice of clothing of the main characters. The second movie began cute enough, but I was more than shocked when it took a tragic turn, something I should have expected of an Asian movie, but neglected to consider when selecting the film (since the first Indonesian movie was funny I suppose I expected similar from the second). The result: lots and lots of tears. I was so depressed that I decided that it was impossible for me to stop watching on that note even to get some rest, so I started another French one, this a comedy which saved my mood for the rest of the day. I slept through most of the second flight, only waking to have the lunch that was served sometime during the flight. I exited the plane and entered the airport, which was quite empty and with few security procedures compared to what I’m used to, especially having just come from the states ^_^;; We were required to fill out a couple of forms in order to purchase a visa directly upon arrival. Since I was staying for 3 days I was required to purchase a 15 day multiple entry visa for 14 GBP since the transit visa was only for a day. Once I arrived at the luggage belt to pick up my suitcase a friendly Nepalese man brought me a cart and loaded my things onto it. He pushed it for me, I figured he was being really nice and soon after realized that he in fact was trying to earn a penny, so I gave him $1 and some 5 Nepalese Rupee bills that I had received as change from the visa fee. I didn’t want to give him all, since I didn’t know how much it was, so I gave him about 15 (?) of the rupees and kept the rest for later. An effective addiction treatment should purchase cialis online bring back healthy behaviors in the individual and provide coping strategies at times of need. This technique is where a practitioner applies compression usually through his/her thumb to a point to elicit that pain and then giving it a few davidfraymusic.com levitra online seconds to subside. For some couples, IUI is a very safe and essential medication when it comes to power cialis generic free packed substance for health benefits. Rheumatologists are the doctors who specialize davidfraymusic.com buy viagra in Rheumatic illnesses. The man obviously asked for more and if I was being picked up and I was more than happy to confirm this, as I really was feeling quite lost in this foreign place and was relieved to find two smiling people with a sign that read my name at the pick up point. The lady’s name is Vidya, a travel agent (that took VERY good care of me) I know through a mutual friend and the other was her tour guide, who was supposed to take me on some tours, should I be interested. They drove me through the city, which was interesting, but very populated and quite chaotic, when it came to the traffic. The streets were dirty and not very paved, but this was to be expected and didn’t come of great surprise to me, though I must admit that I hadn’t imaged it to be like this at all. One of the cutest first impressions I had of Katmandu was the cow that was leisurely and undisturbed in its sitting on the street, where the cars patiently drove around it. Nobody bothered to chase it away and Vidya informed me that cows were considered holy by Hindi people. She was very nice and we had a conversation on the way to the hotel, she informed me a little about the area and I was able to ask her some questions regarding currency in order to get an idea of how to manage paying for things. She said that I could imagine 1 euro as 100 rupees and that 100 rupees would get me a small bite to eat, such as a sandwich or something like that. This bit of information became my translator to understanding the currency and I now calculate it all in this method. The only problem is that I am traveling with GBP, so I’ll have to go to the internet later and check out the rate so I can properly convert to the appropriate currency. The hotel is quite cute, hidden away at the end of an alley just off the royal palace and the Radisson Hotel. The hotel is traditional style, dark brown and red wood and although it is a little simple and I was slightly disappointed with the room, though it looked clean, the fact that the curtains were old, for example, was easy to see and the lighting was a bit dim as well. I wasn’t too thrilled with the welcoming committee of mosquitoes, but the garden, bar and restaurant area make up for any one of the flaws. Staff is very friendly, though a little shy. Asia is really cool in the sense that although they try to make any penny possible, they really trust you and don’t ask for any credit card or payment up front, but allow me to have a tab, which I will settle on my departure. This might be due to the fact that I was brought by a Nepalese Travel Agent, but still a cool thing, nonetheless.