Saturday 16 Feb 2013 Pure Luxury

On arrival at Kathmandu we were met by Narayan (of Cheerful Holidays and Kathmandu Gurkhas Rotary Club) and were "treated" to a night drive (no streetlights) along potholed tracks to our hotel. Crossroads are 'Chicken Junctions' and it seems evident that no one here has ever passed a driving test. I doubt even I would drive in Kathmandu!!

I didn't get a lot of sleep as nearby there was a disco which even vibrated the bed. However I got a good 4 hours sound sleep before being woken to meet Narayan as John, David and I were to take an early morning flight to view Everest. We had another 'dark' drive back to the airport and along the way people were lighting fires at the side of the road to keep warm. There were lots of people about even though it was 6am and still dark.Our 7am flight was cancelled at 7:45 and we called Narayan to return to take us back to the Radisson for breakfast.

On the way we toured what appeared to be chaos over a major part of the city as they try to widen streets and move buildings back from the road, but I can only describe it as desolation. John is not feeling well today being full of the cold.

Over breakfast we met with Major Lil Gurung of the Rotary Club of the Himalayan Gurkhas who will accompany us to Daraun and Yadav Kharal, District 3292 International Chairman. The photo (l to r) shows, John, Yadav, Terry, David, Mike and Lil.

Later we walked to the Thamel shopping area and had lunch there during which time the rain started and we ended up squeezing into a minute taxi for a ride back to the hotel. For dinner we decided to remain at the Radisson with 3 having Chateaubriand at a cost of £10 including a glass of wine! Let's hope the rain clears the skies for morning as tomorrow is the last chance John will have to overfly Everest.