On to the trek

After spending two nights in Kathmandu we can't wait to get out of the city and leave the traffic and the smog behind. Unfortunately, we were caught up in the traffic on several occasions yesterday. We travelled to the other side of the city at 6.30am with Suresh and a driver, to visit some temples and a lake in a forest. We travelled on a mostly bitumen road, but that didn't stop the buses and motorbikes from missing us by inches.

The holy Hindu temples were littered with rubbish. We managed to have a great breakfast at one site, for the four of us for just $12. We moved on to a lake, where we purchased what looked like prawn chips to feed the fish. The lake was about a kilometre around, and we amused ourselves by trying to throw the chips right into the carps' mouths.  There must be thousands of fish in there.

On our return to the city, we were all invited to Ratna's former teachers' apartment for an early lunch. We had dropped him off earlier to help prepare the meal. They are a couple in their early sixties (sound familiar?) and the live in a two room apartment. The kitchen, dining and bedroom are combined, with the fridge situated right next to the bed. I don't know how they sleep at night. They have a view to the polluted river. The meal was delightful and copious.

Suresh meanwhile, had just been informed that his wife had delivered their second baby, a boy. They don't get to name it for 11 days, according to Hindu custom, where the priest works out an appropriate name. We feel really bad, as Suresh is our guide for the next eight days. We spoke to Ratna about canceling, so that Suresh could go home to his family, but it became clear that earning money for the family is much more important. His wife has a lot of support from the family, so he is expendable!

After the early lunch, we continued through the traffic but had to get out of the car 10 minutes from our destination, and walk, as it was quicker. Even so, we got caught up in a procession for some Muslim festival, where lots of boys and men, carrying green flags, were chanting stuff. We asked Suresh about it, but he didn't know what they were saying, as it was in Urdu. We had to walk down back alleys to avoid the crowds. Even when the back lanes are less than two meters wide, motorbikes manage to get down them, making pedestrians jump out of the way. Suresh made a quick stop off to buy an electric heater for his new baby, as the weather I turning cold.

Speaking of cold we will be trekking to 3200 meters, so had to buy some warmer clothes and sleeping bags for the trip. Suresh took us to a mate's store, where I bought a goretex jacket for $60. (Eat your heart out Marianne). We will leave the sleeping bags for Suresh to use in his trekking business. After shopping, we retired to a cafe which had western comforts, such as real toilets and comfy sofas and really good espresso, so we could prepare our presentation for some lecturers at an academy.

As we had been out since 6.30am, Ratna let us present first and then go back to our home stay, rather than waiting around until 8pm, although, as it turned out, perhaps we should have waited, as it took 90 minutes to go the eight kilometers to our destination. I think Kathmandu will be totally gridlocked within a couple of years. Luckily, we had a bottle of champagne at home and were able to toast Suresh, as a new father. One of our team mates had gone to the trouble of sourcing a cake, which we also shared at the end of our meal.

Today we prepared ourselves for another onslaught on the horror stretch of dust laden road out of the city as we made our way to Pokhara, for the start of our trek. Fortunately, the driver knew a backroad to avoid most of the dust, but he didn't manage to avoid the 40 minute hold up on the highway. He was a young driver and became more impatient as the day wore on. I'm sure we reached speeds of 100 kph, which seems even faster when the roads can only cope with a maximum speed of 60 kph. There are no straight stretches of road, the highway is at best two lanes wide, which means overtaking usually occurs around bends. I lost count of the times we pulled out to overtake, only to be confronted with an oncoming bus or truck. With no seat belts in the back, it only made us more nervous. The driver used his seatbelt, and Suresh buckled up when we sped up, but we were left to be the missiles in the event of an accident. Drivers here use both hands to drive - one on the wheel and one on the horn and one to answer the mobile when negotiating a curve and overtaking. Oh,wait a minute, drivers here use three hands.

After surviving the road trip we have decided to fly back to Kathmandu. It's only a thirty minute flight. What could go wrong? So after a walk along the lake, being disappointed by not escaping the smog 160kms from Kathmandu and a great meal at a costly restaurant ($70 for the three is us, including a sav Blanc from Chile) we have retired, to prepare for the mountain trek commencing tomorrow. By the way, the lake at Pokhara looks just like lake Wanaka, with the mountains surrounding it, but the smog and rubbish just spoil the picture. We mourn for a clean Nepal, and can only hope that the long walk up will lead us out of the eternal haze.

Ray's comments to come...