09-Oct-2005 Log Print E-mail
Wednesday, 12 October 2005
Date: 2005-10-9 08:49:37
Geo Coord: 27.74298N 86.71371E
Altitude: 4344

Katmandu: Welcome to our first YakLog from our Nepal Trek, I hope to figure out a schedule of when I get to write these. We will have limited power on the trek so I may have to do several stories at once.
Plane at Lukla Airport
Plane at Lukla Airport
I am writing this during our first camping night in Phakding. We are a days hike south of the Namchi Bazaar.  So far the trip has been very good we enjoyed the one-day we had in Katmandu. It was much cleaner that what we had been told, however we don’t know if our years of living in third world countries has given us a different rating scale than the average traveler.  Several of the people we ran into during our day in Katmandu were still complaining about the disjointed flow of traffic and the dirtiness.  There was a lot to see and do in the chaotic city so we hope to have an extra day to explore when we get back off the mountain. We did a tour with our trekking company and had a full day of sightseeing in Katmandu. There are many adventure stores in downtown Katmandu, but all of the equipment they have is counterfeit. Thamal is the tourist section of Katmandu and was fascinating; I think that it has the best nic nacs in the world. The prices are OK, and lots of need things with a great vibe. The tour guide we are using seem to be fairly good, however they have provided us with little guidance since we have been here on what to expect on the trek and what our day to day life will be on the trip.  We were expecting a big sit-down and tell us about the route we will take, however they have taken us out to dinner and shown us around the city but not talked at all about where we are going.  I am glad we did all the Internet research before the trip, otherwise we would have had no idea on what to expect.  We were introduced to our other two trekking partners we would have on the trip at dinner.  Simon is from England and Nicolas is from Switzerland. We think it will be good to have two more people to talk to.  They are well traveled and we all should have good stories to make the days and night pass over the next three weeks. Everywhere we have gone in Katmandu has a large and very diverse group of people.  It seems to be a Mecca for people hippies, climbers, adventures, and Yoga instructors. I think that’s what makes the place have such a strong vibe; everybody from around the world is here and is having a good time and relax. Everyone is very friendly and the shops and town is very picturesque. Out hotel is nice but not the most modern, I am sure it was one of the best back in its heyday, however it is showing its age.  We are walking distance from Thamal, which is the main tourist district. We went out to eat after a city tour with a Turkish lady we met and another trekker named Mark who was from England. It was a good dinner in crowded downtown Thamal.  We came back a little after 10pm when the city started to close up and we did our last re packing of our bags before going to bed to catch our plane in the morning.
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