Date: 25th March, 2014.
It was difficult to get much sleep on the London flight, so we were pretty much shattered when we landed at New Delhi at 09:30 local time (4:30 GMT), having been awake for almost 24 hours. Kavita took the opportunity to get some sleep while we were waiting for the connecting flight to Kathmandu, while I had a look around the fairly modern Terminal 3. I was quite taken aback when I saw a couple of middle aged Buddhist monks with their familiar orange robes walking around the airport bare-footed. I suppose what made it most striking was when they walked past a Men’s designer clothes shop. There couldn’t be more contrast in that one moment. On the one hand, simply clad men of the cloth with probably no personal possessions and in the background, the epitome of consumerism.
Our Jet Airways flight from Delhi left at on time at 13:40 (local time). I still can’t quite figure out why they were only serving complementary beers on the flight, but no soft drinks. Not wanting to exasperate our exhaustion, we just settled for water.
We arrived at Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu at 15:30 (Nepal time). We get off the plane and into a bus that took us to the airport terminal. At first glance, the immigration section looked chaotic and confusing, with inadequate signs to inform the first time visitor of what to do and which queue to join, especially those who were intending to get their visas at the airport upon entry. But there was underlying structure to it, which we eventually worked out.
Having filled out a large visa application form (1 photo required) and a smaller one for immigration, you then had to join a queue to first pay for the visa:
25 USD pp for 15 days
40 USD pp for 30 days
100 USD pp for 90 days
You then had to join the right immigration queue for your respective visa application. A lot of first time visitors were waiting in the wrong queues, only to get to the front and be told, to their frustration, that they were in the wrong line and had to re-join the correct one.
It took us an hour to get through immigration, collect our luggage and go through customs. As we headed out of the terminal building, I tried to call Dorje (our Sherpa as far as Lukla) on his mobile phone, but couldn’t get through. I had no idea what he looked like, but he recognised us for our passport photos and called out to us. As we acknowledged him, the first thing he did was pull out two garlands made from orange carnations and put them on our necks over our heads, greeting us in the traditional Buddhist manner of joining his hands together and bowing to us. We returned the welcome not sure if we were doing it correctly. Although we were slightly embarrassed (we were the only ones getting this ‘royal treatment’), it was quite a pleasant gesture which immediately broke any ice of unfamiliarity between us.
Dorje always seemed to be wearing a smile and very friendly and welcoming, always referring to me as ‘sir’ and Kavita as ‘madam’. He guided us to our airport transfer car in the car park and after our luggage was loaded in, we made our way through Kathmandu to the Royal Singi Hotel.
We immediately felt a sense of bewilderment at the sights, smells & noise of this bustling developing city. There was a lot of traffic and congestion at this time of day (17:00) with people crossing roads, cars, trucks & buses bumper to bumper and motorcycles weaving around them every which way. Everyone was just hooting to ‘warn’ their way pass each other. There seemed to be very little traffic management on the roads, with police wardens trying to do their best to keep the traffic moving in all directions.
We knew that as soon as we exit the airport, it was going be hectic. We had a few important things to sort out before our departure for Jiri tomorrow morning. The city’s ambience added to that sense of urgency.
It took us about 45 minutes to get to the hotel, and once we were checked in all formal paperwork sorted out, Dorje gave a briefing for the following day. Dorje was our Sherpa for the first half of our expedition. He will be guiding us as far as Lukla. We will depart for Jiri by car at 9:00am tomorrow. We will arrive some time in the evening (subject to road conditions) and stay overnight before starting our trek the following day. We had already sent copies of our passports and photo images to Dorje by email a week before, so that he could arrange the TEAMS cards (required by all trekkers), Trekking Permits (to track through the various districts of Nepal) and Trekkers Liability Insurance (for the porter and guide) and the car hire to Kathmandu to Jiri, where our trek to Everest BC begins.
100 USD pp for 90 days
You then had to join the right immigration queue for your respective visa application. A lot of first time visitors were waiting in the wrong queues, only to get to the front and be told, to their frustration, that they were in the wrong line and had to re-join the correct one.
It took us an hour to get through immigration, collect our luggage and go through customs. As we headed out of the terminal building, I tried to call Dorje (our Sherpa as far as Lukla) on his mobile phone, but couldn’t get through. I had no idea what he looked like, but he recognised us for our passport photos and called out to us. As we acknowledged him, the first thing he did was pull out two garlands made from orange carnations and put them on our necks over our heads, greeting us in the traditional Buddhist manner of joining his hands together and bowing to us. We returned the welcome not sure if we were doing it correctly. Although we were slightly embarrassed (we were the only ones getting this ‘royal treatment’), it was quite a pleasant gesture which immediately broke any ice of unfamiliarity between us.
Dorje always seemed to be wearing a smile and very friendly and welcoming, always referring to me as ‘sir’ and Kavita as ‘madam’. He guided us to our airport transfer car in the car park and after our luggage was loaded in, we made our way through Kathmandu to the Royal Singi Hotel.
We immediately felt a sense of bewilderment at the sights, smells & noise of this bustling developing city. There was a lot of traffic and congestion at this time of day (17:00) with people crossing roads, cars, trucks & buses bumper to bumper and motorcycles weaving around them every which way. Everyone was just hooting to ‘warn’ their way pass each other. There seemed to be very little traffic management on the roads, with police wardens trying to do their best to keep the traffic moving in all directions.
We knew that as soon as we exit the airport, it was going be hectic. We had a few important things to sort out before our departure for Jiri tomorrow morning. The city’s ambience added to that sense of urgency.
It took us about 45 minutes to get to the hotel, and once we were checked in all formal paperwork sorted out, Dorje gave a briefing for the following day. Dorje was our Sherpa for the first half of our expedition. He will be guiding us as far as Lukla. We will depart for Jiri by car at 9:00am tomorrow. We will arrive some time in the evening (subject to road conditions) and stay overnight before starting our trek the following day. We had already sent copies of our passports and photo images to Dorje by email a week before, so that he could arrange the TEAMS cards (required by all trekkers), Trekking Permits (to track through the various districts of Nepal) and Trekkers Liability Insurance (for the porter and guide) and the car hire to Kathmandu to Jiri, where our trek to Everest BC begins.
 |
| Our taxi from Royal Singi Hotel to Thamel |
With the briefing over, Dorje
hailed a taxi, negotiated a fare (200 NPR) for the journey from the Hotel to
Thamel (marketplace), where Dorje advised we would get a better currency exchange rate for
local currency. We also had to get a couple of local SIM cards for GSM and
Cellular data access.
NCell and Nepal Telecom are the two main GSM network service providers in Nepal. Dorje suggested NTEL as they had better coverage along our trekking route. We exchanged our money for Nepalese rupees (1 GBP = 156.5 NRP) at a small foreign exchange shop in Thamel and acquired two SIM cards with Cellular Data Tariffs at a NCell shop.
 |
| Dorje & Kavita outside the Foreign Exchange Shop in Thamel |
NCell and Nepal Telecom are the two main GSM network service providers in Nepal. Dorje suggested NTEL as they had better coverage along our trekking route. We exchanged our money for Nepalese rupees (1 GBP = 156.5 NRP) at a small foreign exchange shop in Thamel and acquired two SIM cards with Cellular Data Tariffs at a NCell shop.
 |
| The NCell Shop in Thamel |
 |
| The Cellular Data Tariffs with NCell |
It was quite late by this point (20:00), so Dorje said goodbye and headed back to his home town in the outskirts of Kathmandu. We headed further into the streets of Thamel to visit the local shops and purchase a map for our trek.
 |
| Shopping at a local supermarket in Thamel |
After grabbing something to
eat, we hailed a taxi which was willing to accept the fair we quoted (200 NPR)
for the journey back to the hotel. As we
were both shattered, we decided to hit the sack and sort out our kits bags the next morning.
It is going to be another long day tomorrow. I am hoping for a good night's sleep.
It is going to be another long day tomorrow. I am hoping for a good night's sleep.
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