Khatmandu

I arrived in Khatmandu about 1pm on Friday 30th after an un-eventfull flight from Bangkok.

I met up with my Australian Paragliing friends Mick and John in the Visa queue at the aiport, they had just arrive on their flight from Perth via Singapore.

Now the chaos began.. We needed to fly from Khatmandu to Pokhara and didnt have tickets..
To got a ticket, you have to get a taxi into the city..
The roads and the traffic are dreadfull..

So, we loaded into a taxi and headed towards what seemed to be the far side of the city to get the tickets.

Maybe half a kilometer from our destination, our path was blocked by what seemed to be a street demonstration and so Mick and I stayed with one of our minders in the minibus while John continued on foot with our other minder.

About 20 minutes later a soldier came towards the mini bus and indicated with his rifle that we should be moving along :)

Fortunately the rest of the party returned and we weaved back to the domestic terminal, armed with 3 tickets for the 2pm flight that ws leaving at 3:30pm

It was all pretty simple from here.. We did indeed get onto the plane at about 3:30pm for the 30minute flight to pokhara..
This competes very favorably with the 6-hour bus ride.

We must have arrived at our hotel in Pokhara about 5pm, only to find that the three of us had to share a room for the first night :) Fortunately there were 3 single beds in the room.

It was now Friday night, and I will catch up more next time!

On the flight from Bangkok

Sitting on the flight from Bangkok to Kathmandu...

I only had 3 full days in Bangkok, and it has been a busy time.

What with Dentist, Suit making, Eating too much... The time has passed quicklyand there
has been little time to write blogs.

I had a meal out last evening with my fried Paichit.. We had a great time out, but I ate
and drank too much.. Oh well, it was the first time on this trip :)

Paichit has agreed to babysit my new suit while I am in Nepal, which is a great help as a suit
is the last thing that I need there.

We should arrive Kathmandu at about 12:30pm local time where I hope to meet up with John and Mick who are on a flight from Singapore, scheduled to arrive at about the same time.

We have to get air from Kathmandu to Pokhara, which will either be a little difficult, else very difficult.
Apparently, you cant buy the tickets from the airport, but you have to get a taxi to town,
and buy the ticket from a ticket agent before returning to the airport.. Crazy?
But who knows what will happen on the day?

Hopefully, by 5 or 6pm local time, we should all be at out hotel in Pokhara, which is probably the first time that internet will be available...

The delights of Bangkok

Monday was a bit of a blur.. I eventually got to bed at about midnight so it was game over for Monday,,

Tuesday morning brought a dentists appointment at 9am, which lasted till about 10:30,
I got a check up
really good clean and polish,
one large filling
one small filling
rough edges removed from an Australian filling.

Cost 1900 baht, which is about A$80 or 18 pounds - Very happy

Spent the rest of the day wandering around eating all my favorite foods, all spicy, all cheap.

Much the same today, but I have just ordered a made to measure suit, that they assure me will be ready by 10am tomorow (its 4pm now!)

I passed a MacDonnalds today.. Not that I would eat there, but I thought that the statue was cute as it was i the traditional Thai posture... Its a crappy picture taken on my phone.

I have to rush and get my jacket fitted...

Singapore Suprise

All of the shops and things that I was waiting for to open, never opened :(

Its Chinese new year ad most of the shops are closed, its like a ghost town in the city so I headed back to the airport around mid-day as there is more life here than there is in the city..

After an hour of so looking, I have found a power point that actually works.. Yay

But it is still 5 hours till I take off for Bangkok, and I am bored, oh well

Breakfast in Singapore

I left Perth at 1:something am this morning, and slept as well as you can in economy Class :)

Arrived Singapore at 5:20am local time (6:20 Perth time)

So, I thought I would head into the city for breakfast, so, after putting my big bag into storage for the day, I caught the train to Bugis, ariving there about 6:30am.

I dont know why it didnt occur to me before, but 6:30am is no good time to be looking for anything.. It ws like a ghost town, so quick to get around with no people about :)

Much walking later, I found a coffee stall open and had my first coffee of the day.. Kopi Susu, which is strong coffee with sweetened-condensed milk - yummy at 90cents

By 8am, I found indonesian breakfast of Mie Siam.. Noodle soup, verynice.

But, what next? There is only so much searching for and eating of food.. So, now I am sitting in McDonalds drinking an overpriced coffee for the sake of the free Internet.

Its 9:15 and things are waking up around here so, before my laptop battery runs out, I will wander some more.

I have to be back at the airport by 5pm, and I have no more kilo's of baggage, so shopping is tricky.

Good morning from Macas in Rochere Rd, Singapore :)

Its been a while... A NEW TRIP

Wow, its been a while, stuck in Australia.. Still, there are far worse places to be...

Another trip, this time just me :(

Two weeks paragliding in Nepal

Stopping briefly in Singapore
Then on to Bangkok for a few days
Then the Kathmandu in Nepal for the flying
finally the same things in reverse.

Nadya cant get the time off work, and she doesn't really want to spend a lot of time watching me flying.....

Back home...

Well, here I am back home.

It is so thrilling to be cold again - Not really.

The wind speed and direction here make paragliding a non starter :(

But, the bed is comfy.

Petrol is now over $1.50 a litre, everything else is getting more expensive due to that..

Makes me miss $0.75/litre in Bali

Sob..