It was Thursday morning in Nepal when the Boston Red Sox won the World Series and as luck would have it, Paul found the game on TV. While our crew waited for our delayed flight back to Kathmandu, there was a bit of celebrating.
Back in bustling, dusty, Kathmandu, we settled in for our last night at a very nice Tibetan run hotel. While the others cleaned and repacked their bikes, the plus of renting bikes was that we had more free time. One of the goals of this trip was to look for carpets if possible. Turns out the hotel runs a Tibetan carpet showroom at their second location and an export business. They provided a taxi with no obligation to buy and off we went on a successful shopping adventure. The designs tended toward the bold and contemporary but we were able to find a few that would work.
On the morning of our last day, the rest of our group got up predawn to catch a flight to see Everest. We opted to sleep and then take an early, but still overwhelming stroll through the trekker neighborhood of Thamel. After breakfast with our group we said our goodbyes and started the long trip home. Kathmandu airport is unsurprisingly hectic involving long line waits especially when the ladies and gents have separate security lines for the terminal and to board the plane.
With the addition of two duffles for the carpets we opted to leave them at left luggage in Bangkok airport and took the train into the city where we managed to get a taxi and have the unfortunate experience of the metered taxi suddenly becoming a fixed price ride. It ended up alright, with us getting to our friends' apartment and the grumbling driver only getting the metered fare.
Back to the airport Saturday and off to Korea where we again had an overnight. By a great coincidence, a close friend of Paul's who lives in Singapore was also arriving with his family that evening so we stayed at the same hotel and went out for a late night Koran bbq. And now we are back a the airport ready to board our long flight have to DC. It has been a great adventure.
Back in bustling, dusty, Kathmandu, we settled in for our last night at a very nice Tibetan run hotel. While the others cleaned and repacked their bikes, the plus of renting bikes was that we had more free time. One of the goals of this trip was to look for carpets if possible. Turns out the hotel runs a Tibetan carpet showroom at their second location and an export business. They provided a taxi with no obligation to buy and off we went on a successful shopping adventure. The designs tended toward the bold and contemporary but we were able to find a few that would work.
On the morning of our last day, the rest of our group got up predawn to catch a flight to see Everest. We opted to sleep and then take an early, but still overwhelming stroll through the trekker neighborhood of Thamel. After breakfast with our group we said our goodbyes and started the long trip home. Kathmandu airport is unsurprisingly hectic involving long line waits especially when the ladies and gents have separate security lines for the terminal and to board the plane.
With the addition of two duffles for the carpets we opted to leave them at left luggage in Bangkok airport and took the train into the city where we managed to get a taxi and have the unfortunate experience of the metered taxi suddenly becoming a fixed price ride. It ended up alright, with us getting to our friends' apartment and the grumbling driver only getting the metered fare.
Back to the airport Saturday and off to Korea where we again had an overnight. By a great coincidence, a close friend of Paul's who lives in Singapore was also arriving with his family that evening so we stayed at the same hotel and went out for a late night Koran bbq. And now we are back a the airport ready to board our long flight have to DC. It has been a great adventure.
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