Nepal – 2001 – Arrival

Everyone should go to Nepal. It will change your life. It changed ours.

When you arrive in Kathmandu, altitude 4,45o feet above sea level, things are a little different.

After a rather long flight, seeing giant, snow covered mountains all around us, we arrived in the city. We noticed certain things that were different from other cities that we had been to. The architecture was wonderful. It of course, had a flavor, all of its own.

The traffic was bustling through the one intersection with an electric signal. We weren’t in southern California anymore.

The hotel there was wonderful. The aroma of the incense and the sandalwood brought back memories of the seventies and the smell of my room and some people whom I went to high school with. The radio in the hotel was still playing 70’s rock and roll twenty-four-seven. It was a time warp to be sure.

What a magical place.

We traveled out to some schools again as is one of our habits and met the school children and gave them supplies. They were an intelligent group and full of energy and dreams, as they should be.

Our guide came from a village several days walking distance from where we met him. We were a small group made up of people from all walks of life. There was a nurse, a teacher, and even a man who had worked in the Secret Service in the White House. We were ready for an adventure. This was a trek up into the mountains. Eventually we would reach around 11,000 feet.

We were not young, but we were enthusiastic. Our sherpas carried our meager belongings for us. Each day we would reach a village and settle in for the night. The sherpas would eat with us and then sing local songs for us to enjoy. I have never had better cold french fries and catsup. They had the best catsup in the world, or so it seemed. Perhaps it was just the altitude.

More to come on Nepal soon.