May 4 – The Sights and Wonders of Kathmandu

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Reporting to you in the very early morning hours on May 4th from the Yak and Yeti Hotel in Kathmandu. Today is our day to fly off to the mountain, to take the twin otter, Yeti Airlines, to Lukla and begin our trek, so we are very excited.         

Yesterday was the 30th wedding anniversary for Richard and Katie Waddel, and of course their daughter Katherine is here with Richard for this Nepal adventures, that was in our mind as we began our day yesterday which was our city tour day in Kathmandu, and as always Krishna Dakal met us at 7:30 in the Yak and Yeti. And we were off to see some of the wonders and sights of Kathmandu valley. We started at the Swayambhunath Temple, the Monkey Temple, active and interesting,  colourful and scenic  in the early morning hours in Kathmandu and then as usual we stopped for a mid morning break at  Mike’s breakfast; that famous eatery that’s been an institution for travellers, expatriates and adventurers passing through Kathmandu for decades now.

After Mike’s breakfast we continued moving through some of the major sights of Kathmandu including some pretty interesting photo sessions with the Holy men at the Pashupati, the Hindu Temple in Kathmandu. 

It has been around for awhile, but I have already been told during the tour that we had a tradition established of meeting at 4 o’clock in the lobby of the Yak and Yeti for Everest beers, such an entrenched tradition. We did in fact make it back to the Yak and Yeti to relax and unwind for Everest beer at 4pm; Richard didn’t make it though, I saw him heading to the work out room with his gym  shorts but  he did join us a little bit later.

Because of the excitement of the day  we took an early evening, simple meal, went to bed, some of us started packing and I have no doubt right now some of us are still packing. At 5:30 am we will be picked up and taken out to the airport and  who knows, if there is a clear sky in Lukla we could be up in the air in the Twin otter on our way to the Himalayans, great adventures in just a very short time.

We will be certainly reporting to you from out there and just know that everyone in this team is getting along great, excited  to be here, healthy, and here we go, we are off to the Khumbu.