Day in Thamel

6 SEPT 2010

Woke up and Olivia was still feeling a bit off so took some Pepto Bismol. Seemed to help but she slept it off until 1130. I went out to look more around town.

By the time I got back Olivia was a bit better so we (O, O, D and L) decided to move to Pasang's house in outer Kathmandu (Pasang is the rep in Nepal for the company that are running the climb and will be one of our guides).

Really nice guest house that comes with built in amusement - has has a small boy and a baby girl. The boy 'Jubilee' has a habit of rummaging through your stuff so you have to keep your eyes peeled, and the baby 'Ellie' has just turned one and has learned to walk so is a constant source of amusement! Nepal is well served for internet (here anyway), hence the frantic blogging!

To avoid having to get the bus back to Delhi we decided to fly and save ourselves two days! (We are booked onto the 14:40 from Kathmandu, flight no. 9W - 7056 [for the parents!]).

Tim, also climbing with us, arrived to Pasang's guest house this afternoon having done the same trip Olivia and I had done from Delhi, although about 6 hours faster. He also wasn't feeling too well, having spent 4 days in hospital two weeks ago. Out of five people, two were right as rain and the rest were not too hot. Doesn't bode well??? 

All decided to go out for dinner together back in Thamel, thanks to Pepto Bismol settling stomachs! Food was good but came out at odd intervals as and when it was ready. Mine took 1:45 - think they climbed Everest to pick the mushrooms especially. Promised a free beer if I go back - we shall see!

Torrential rain started as we were sitting in the restaurant (not unusual since we are still in the monsoon season - although it is due to finish soon), so trying to flag down a taxi whilst jumping from step to step to avoid the flooded road was amusing. The road was so bad in town that the water poured into the taxi at one point.

We fly to Lukla from Kathmandu on the 8th, so tomorrow is the last day to buy any bits for trekking before we leave for real!

The plan after Everest is now:

- fly to Delhi
- Train to Agra (Overnight in Agra)
- Tarj
- Couple of places recommended north of Delhi (by train)
- Into Rajistan (again by train)
- Down the west cost (sleeper trains) stopping in Mumbai [Bombay]
- End up in Goa for 1/2 weeks on the beach
- Fly back to Delhi, the onto Dubai, then back to London!

Really looking forward to it all and please to have some people to talk to about the trip who have been to some of these places already! Will try to write tomorrow, after which the blog will probably run dry for upto two and a half weeks while we are climbing.

Hope you are all well. Please do put a reply up here if you fancy. (Got yours Lucy - thanks.)