Up at my usual this time around 2:30AM. This time I'm watching a movie on TV. They actually have a Fox Movies Channel that always has good movies on. I turn on the set and the Steve Jobs movie is on, I've been wanting to see this. Good flick, now its 4:30 AM and I'm planing on getting up by 7:30 to make a 10:30 AM flight. I'll lay here a few minutes...fell asleep woke up with my alarm at 7:30AM, boy do I feel dragged out.
I'm all packed, got my money out of the room safe. I drag my two bags, backpack and a gym bag down to the executive level on the 4th level. I walk in, lo and behold its my personal assistant again, greeting me with the friendly Thai welcome. She is already on the phone calling for the bell desk to pick up and store my bags. "Why don't you go ahead and have breakfast while they are on their way up"? Great idea, I finally get my free breakfast. A very filling breakfast, including a kitchen person making omelettes. The people here at the Hilton have the best customer service. I finish up just as my new best friend says the bags are checked into storage and here is your claim check. I grab my NorthFace BackPack and red gym bag, packing light so I don't have to check luggage. I get to the front door and get my usual Thai greeting and the doorman flags down a cab for me. He already negotiates a flat price for me at $300BHT, about $11US for a 18 mile trip to the airport.
There is no traffic heading out of Bangkok, so we make the airport in about 20 minutes. Today I'm flying Thai Airlines, my first flight with them. I'm flying coach since this trip is not part of my "free round the world" itinerary from Delta and Partners. Those of you that maybe missed an earlier blog, for 350,000 miles on Delta you can fly on an "Round the World" itinerary with up to seven stops along the way. Plus, any of my Hilton stays are free too, using miles.
I get inside this most beautiful new international airport and there is no line, probably because they have about 30 spots awaiting customers. I'm getting to the point that international airlines seem to be doing a better job at customer service than the US international carriers, even Kenya Airlines from last week. Immigration was a breeze. Speaking of breeze, its interesting how the airport air conditioning system works at this very high tech and innovative airport. There are no rooftop units. There are white grill looking panels that look like big doors that are continuing to push out cool air, which you need for this climate and the thousands of people in the airport. I never felt warm the entire time I was inside the terminal. My gate though is on the far side of the airport, so I have quite a jog. All through the airport are literally a few hundred stores to include the usual duty-free places, but they also have Tiffany's, Coach, Prada..it's like an airport version of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Also there are several very nice restaurants, as well as the typical fast food places..there is actually a Dairy Queen. I've really never seen such a well decked out airport.
I arrive at the gate and they are just boarding. Since we are traveling to more of a third world country, I assume we will be using a small aircraft, nope its a B 777-300, one of the nicer aircraft on the market. The plane seats over 300, but their can't be more than 80 people waiting to board. I hate boarding early so I usually wait for last call, which I do this time as well.
We are escorted to a bus and we take a ride that seems to take us back in the direction from where I walked from inside the terminal. I climb the three wide staircase leading up to the very large plane. I had not noticed my seat assignment and I end up 50 rows back in coach and where I have one of those odd seats that has no window..really? Almost as soon as I start putting my bags up in the very large and roomy baggage bins, a flight attendant asks if I would like a better seat forward. Sure I do. I end up in the first row bulkhead window seat in coach, that is only two wide, and with no one next to me. Lots of leg room for the guy whom seems to be the tallest and largest person on the flight. About half the plane seems to be a Chinese tour group. I noticed them earlier, all in line with their flag bearing agent leading them onto the ramp to the buses. I put my luggage quickly in the overhead bin, since I believe I'm the last passenger to be seated.
Then I see something a bit peculiar. There is a Asian looking man coming on board with another very emaciated and gaunt looking man being carried by a white masked attendant of the airport. They both sit across the aisle in the middle rows of the seven across seats on the bulkhead. We are already to go, but there seems to be a delay, waiting for late boarding people. What? They never do that in the US. We wait about 20 minutes and we are finally on our way. The aircraft takes off and goes straight up in the air. I know these new B 777's can take off and get up in the air pretty quickly, they also take less runway to land.
During the beginning of the flight we are given hot towels...wait this is coach. Shortly after, a silver metal food wagon makes its way through the aisle. A meal? in coach.. for less than a three hour flight? I take the vegan choice of seafood pasta, salad, a WARM croissant with real butter. "Sir, would you like some wine with your meal?" I ask how much, and she looks at me with a very nice cocked head smile and says its with the meal. I ask for white and she says, "We have three types: blanc, chardonnay or a pinot gregio." I must admit I was a bit dumbfounded..so I picked the pinot. I still can't believe this is the cabin service for coach
As I'm having dinner, the young man that was carried onto the plane was starting to cough a bit heavily and in some distress. The man that came on board with him had sat across the aisle from me. The young man was sitting to his left in the middle row, middle seat. The man whispered to me not to worry what he has is not airborne contagious. I just left Africa, where even in Kenya people are a bit concerned about any sick person that might have Eboli. I think I need a little more information. So I asked if the young man was okay. The man leaned over and looked at the obvious uncomfortable young man who gave him a nod and mouthed, "it's okay". I then heard a most sorrowful story of this man's son who had attracted AIDS from being a heroin addict. They were going to Nepal for a "treatment of some notoriety" that was not offered anywhere but in Nepal. I really didn't know what to say but I said I was very sorry and good luck. The man said with somewhat glassing eyes, "We are out of luck, we are looking for a miracle".
Then the man politely said if I would like to change my seat, he would not take it personally. I sat right there and finished my meal. After I finished, the man next to me smiled again and said thank you. Now, I really wasn't concerned that this young man had AIDS, but it did make me think. It did me pause. Here I was taking this trip around the world seeing all what this world has to offer, while this young man was probably going to die soon. It really troubled me but I started to think that I needed to appreciate and be more aware of everyday that I'm on this earth, because you never know what karma may bring your way.
About an hour before landing as I was watching on my personal entertainment device..free as well, I started noticing these white clouds in the distance. After about 15 minutes more I realized they were mountains, not any mountains, but some of the tallest in the world, the Himalayans. The sky was pretty clear, so I took some pictures. Then I decided to try and film a few seconds of the panoramic view I had across the landscape. One picture could not show anyone the majestic feeling of seeing the mountains stretched over what I would think would be over hundreds of miles. I filmed about 60 seconds trying not to pan too fast. I tried and deleted about four sets of filming, but when the plane started taking a left in order to start the decent into the airport. Got it!
We started picking up clouds as we descended and soon we landed and the brakes were put on real hard, since this was a short runway, but our B 777 was up to the task. As were were landing I noticed the homes were all built straight up almost like the row houses in Amsterdam. The houses were all painted in bright sky blue, orange, pink, violet ...sort of "happy colors". I remember flying into Nairobi, seeing the thousands of homes while we were landing that didn't have any color to them. It looked like they were "tired".
As we are starting to taxi to the gate, I notice the large amount of small passenger prop planes...and they were not new ones. These were the ones that I thought I was getting on in Bangkok. We pull up to an old looking terminal that looked like it had not been painted for a few years. We were also the largest plane on the tarmac. Passengers were starting to disembark when I noticed a bald headed monk in a very bright orange robe was talking to the young man with AIDS. He was sitting next to him, hugging him and kissing him on the forehead while saying something to him. The young man was crying...then I started to well-up. I hope the young man has some sort of peace for the rest of his obvious short days ahead.
I'm one of the first off of the plane and think it will be a breeze through immigration and customs...not. There is a kiosk just before the empty lines in immigration that says, "If you have been in Africa in the last 30 days you must stop here". Great! The lady at he Health Check Desk seemed surprised that I stopped, as if she hasn't had a "customer" all day. She ask if I have been in Africa and I said yes. "Where, what country?". I told her Kenya and she says, " Is that one of the countries with Eboli?" Really you are asking me, aren't you suppose to be the expert. I said no that Kenya was in eastern Africa and the Eboli concerned countries were in western Africa. And then I tried not to laugh or smirk when she says, "are you sure?" I assured her the best I could, filled out the paperwork explaining where I had stayed and visited in Kenya. I received my "yellow pass" and proceeded to get at the end of the long line in immigration. I finally got to the visa check desk. I gave the gentleman my customs forms, passport, boarding pass and my "yellow heath check pass". The guy freaked out upon seeing the yellow document and called over a supervisor. The supervisor proceeded to ask the same questions as the Health Desk nurse. He also wasn't sure if Kenya was an Eboli stricken country and he proceeded to pick up to call someone. After his short conversation I was waved on and passed up luggage claim to head out the door. Customs was pretty simple, there were no desks, just about four people looking at luggage and asking questions. I was whisked through pretty fast.
I'm now outside and looking for my pre arranged car for the "guest house" that was set up on AirBNB, which I haven't had much luck. Two of the three places I've stayed in other countries was really bad. The guest house owners had told me a man would be there with a sign...nada after a 30 minute wait. I try to call the guest house but can't get a connection. So I realize, like in Manaus City in the Amazon, I'll have to find my own ride. Then I realize I did not exchange any money to the local rupee. I already passed through customs so I can't back track to any of the exchange sites that I noticed in baggage claim. So I ask a local security guy and he said I would have to go to the main terminal. Luckily this is not a big airport and the departures area was right next to the arrivals. I find a kiosk for money exchange and give the clerk $300US. He starts flicking off rupee bills after rupee bills until he has a wad of money he can barely fold in half and ends up having to give it to me in an envelope, about $27,000NR . The denominations in Nepal only max at $500 bills, so I have a wad of 52- $500NR's.
I stick the envelope into in my back BackPack, since it won't fit in my front pocket, where I always carry my wallet purse. I look for my "sign" and see no one. An older man, a local, comes up to me as asks if he can help. I'm obviously suspicious and said no thank you. He ask what guest house I was looking for and I decided what the heck. He asks for the phone number, the one I called that didn't work, so I give it to him. The worst could happen I will need to negotiate a ride from him. He hands me the phone and its the person at the guest house. Seems they thought I was on a Turkish Air flight, not a Thai Airline flight. They will have someone there shortly. I give the man his phone back and say thank you. He smiles and says something in Nepalese and walks away. The guy knew I looked a bit distressed and just wanted to help.
The car arrives and we are off through the streets of Kathmandu. Now, I always envisioned this city as a sparking one with green streets and happy people smiling as you waved to them in passing. Sort of a Shangri-La. No this city is congested with cars, motorcycles and the air is very smoggy with dust and vehicle exhaust . The streets are not lined so the traffic is a bit of a free for all. The outside shops and kiosks are plentiful but very old and dilapidated. I'm starting to get concerned if I'm going to be staying in this area, because it looks like a haven for trained terrorists. We drive for about 15 minutes more and start up a hilly area called Patan, the area is starting to look a little better. The streets are very narrow in the neighborhoods, barely enough room for two small cars to pass. One of the things I notice it that everyone honks their horn, even when no one is around!
We get to our guest house called the Cozy House and I'm greeted by a nice young man about 16-17 that speaks very good English, named Silas. He introduces me to a very attractive lady who speaks has a very French accented English, Camille. I'm led up an old but well painted metal stair case up to my 3rd floor room. Just as Silas was about to say something I crashed my head in the doorway. Seems the rooms have very low ceilings.... a little more than six feet, but the doorways you have to stoop to get through. The place is very quaint and clean, this is going to be just fine. I get a very good overview of the area and given a list of suggested cafes, places to see/go and the all important wi-fi.
They leave me alone and give me the keys to the place. I decide to do a walk about because I am getting a bit hungry and walk to an area called the Patan Durbur Square, that has several amazing temples that date back as far as the 1600's. It also serves as the local market for food and crafts. I walk around a bit and notice a few obvious tourists that stand out just like me. I find a lovely cafe that is on a rooftop that looks over the square called the Cafe Pagoda. I took some great pictures, since it sets on a rooftop over looking the scene of many temples, you can see on my FaceBook page.
I ordered a typical Nepalese dinner: chicken masa (chicken in spicy gravy), alli pulsotareko (fried veggies in dark gravy), yanghu yi hali (white yogurt pudding), dal ghat (rice and lentil soup) along with very thinly sliced tomatoes, carrots, some type of white radish and onion. And to top it off a bottle of their local beer called Everest...of course. The meal also is accompanied with a very thin large fried potato that tastes like spiced potato chips which I didn't get the name. I actual ask for an additional serving. The entire meal with the beer costs $895NR or a little less than $9US.
I come back to my guest house because it is getting dark at about 6PM. I start planning out the next few days and can't wait to find out more about this country, customs and people.
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