Day 1 - Arrive in Kathmandu (Sunday December 23, 2018)
We arrived at Kathmandu finally around mid-day on Sunday December 23. It was interesting to see planes with logos that I do not recognize at the Tribhuvan International Airport. We exited the plane via a stairway from the front of the airplane. We walked onto the tarmac. The weather felt somewhat warm. We were with other tourists. We saw a few monks in Tibetan robes. The airport reminded me of a Hawaiian island airport. It feels somewhat small and old. The International Terminal is next to the domestic terminal. We would be returning to the domestic terminal for our flight to Lukla in two days.
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| Kathmandu Tribhuven International Airport |
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| Airport Shuttle |
We made the kids take their first picture at the entrance to the terminal from the tarmac. They were being a good sport after flying for more than 24 hours.
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| Say cheese! After more than 24 hours of flying |
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| Entering the airport terminal |
We entered the terminal and walked through a corridor with signs welcoming the visitors to Nepal. I knew that the first thing we had to do is to get our visa. We spotted the computer kiosk to enter our information for the visa. I had taken an image of our hotel address so we entered it in the computer system. We had to make an entry for each person. The visa was $40 per person and kids under 10 are free. After collecting our visa receipts we proceeded to pay for the visa at another kiosk next to a money exchange. We paid for our visa with some Chinese Yen that we had from our prior China trip. The Nepali clerk thought that we are from China and proceeded to say thank you to us in Chinese. We went through immigration by in two lines because the direction said kids had to line up in a different line (we believe it was the non-paying visa lane). So MM was in a different line. This was quite confusing to us. At the end, everyone got through immigration without any issues. The immigration worker was an older Nepali gentleman who had a real causal demeanor. He worn a typical Nepali hat (Dhaka topi) and was not in a uniform. I found the this situation quite different from other Asian entry points such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, or Taipei where immigrations were staffed with young workers in uniform.
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| Getting our visa at the kiosk |
After passing through immigration, we saw a number of welcome signs. The kids took some pictures and we proceeded to pick up our duffle bags. One of the pictures that we took of MM was a Durbar Square. Per careful review later we realized it was the Patan Durbar Square which we would visit the next day.
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| We are at Everest! |
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| Patan Durbar Square Poster |
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| Yes we are in Nepal |
After picking up our duffle bags, we went through a custom area where there was no custom agents present. We continued walking and saw a money exchange. We decided to exchange some money there. We exchanged a few hundred US dollars to Napali rupees. The exchange rate is about 110 NR to 1 US. The were quite a number of people just standing in front of the money exchange. We lined up and gradually made our way through the people. We got our stack of Napali rupees in the units of 500 or 1000. It took us some time to get used to paying with the NR.
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| "Yeti Money Exchange" |
After we got some local money, we continued walking until we saw a SIM card seller (Ncell). Instead of waiting to buy our SIM cards in the city, we decided to buy it there. We ended up buying two "Sahi data plans" cards with 4GB of data that is good for 7 days. It costed us Rs 400 each which is less than $5 per card with data. The worker there put in the card for us and we were ready to go.
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| Ncell Airport Kiosk |
After finally getting some local money and the SIM card, we were finally leaving the airport. As we exited the airport, it was a chaotic scene of people holding signs for their guest. We spotted our name and proceeded to the person holding our name. A short and stodgy man came to help us with our luggages and others followed. We were led across the airport to an open parking area. Somewhere along the walk someone introduced our trip and mountain guide Mingma Sherpa.
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| Walking towards the open air parking area from the airport exit |
We were led into a large 10 seater van. Our luggages were already loaded in the van amidst the chaotic scene. The short stodgy man proceeded to ask me for tips in US dollars. He suggested $20. Perhaps I could have bargained but I did not want to cause a scene there so I gave in with the $20 tip. If I were go to the Kathmandu again next time, I would have been more prepared for smaller bill for tips at the airport. I was severely criticized by the rest of my family on how I handled the tip situation.
The airport is located just east of the city. You can say that the airport is actually part of the city. There is no highway that you get on and proceed to drive some time before you get into the city like other places we have visited. In Kathmandu, as soon as you exit the airport, you are in the city of Kathmandu. There wasn't much small talk in the van. As we entered Kathmandu, we were all engrossed in observing the chaotic street scene. In Nepal, the driver side is on the left side of the car.
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| Exiting the airport towards the city |
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| In the van |
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| Kathmandu Traffic |
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| Driving through the city street |
After just a little over twenty minutes or so, we entered a small and quieter street into our hotel compound area - the historical Hotel Yak and Yeti. We first passed by what is known as the "Red Palace" before we entered the actual hotel.
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| The "Red Palace" next to the actual Hotel Yak and Yeti |
Hotel Yak and Yeti
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| Hotel Yak and Yeti Website (https://www.yakandyeti.com) |
Hotel Yak and Yeti is located next to the Red Palace in center of Kathmandu. It is a historical hotel that had its origin in the "Royal Hotel" located at the site of the Red Palace. The Red Palace or La Durbar Palace was a palace built by Bir Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, one of the descendants of the prominent Rana dynasty in Kathmandu. This Palace or "Durbar" in Nepali was built during the late nineteenth century and the red marble was imported from Italy carried into the city on porters' back. Its large mirrors and chandeliers were also imported from Europe. This was build as a residence as well as a location to entertain guest for the Rana royalties.
During the middle of the twentieth century, King Tribhuvan invited a friend of his - a Russian named Boris Lissanevitch to Kathmandu. Subsequently, Boris opened up the Royal Hotel at La Durbar Palace or the Red Palace to entertain foreign dignitaries and the burgeoning mountaineering expedition teams. The old Royal Palace closed its doors in 1969 and the new Hotel - Hotel Yak and Yeti was built next to the Red Palace in 1977. It was expanded to its current capacity of 270 rooms in the 1990's as a Five Star Hotel property located at the heart of Kathmandu. This hotel has been the go to hotel for all mountaineering expeditions since the 1970's.
We would stay here two nights before we fly out to the Khumbu village of Lukla. We would stay here again once we return from our trek.
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| Alley way to Hotel Yak and Yeti |
Once we entered the hotel, we were led to corner of the lobby. A hotel staff came by with chilled lemonade for us to drink. The drinks looked extremely tempting but we stuck to our rule - no cold food or drink. We had to let the drink go to waste. We did not check in ourselves. Our guide Mingma was doing all the check in for us. After about twenty minutes or so, Mingma came by and provided us with the keys. Mingma also gave us our two additional YMH duffles, trekking poles, and four sets of mountain and city maps. We began to discuss the trek with Mingma at that point. I was still quite worried about the potential cold and snow in the mountain. Mingma assured us that there would not be snow in lower elevation and the condition would be very manageable in higher elevation. This did put my mind at ease. Mingma told us that the city guide will meet at tomorrow sharp at 9:00 am for our city cultural tour. YMH will also have a welcome dinner for us at a nearby restaurant called the Old House. By the time this was all done, it was about 1:30 pm Kathmandu time.
We took our keys and went into our rooms. Our luggages were already in the rooms. We had two double occupancy connecting rooms. There were two 2 liter bottle waters per room. The beds looked nice and we had a nice view of the center court yard.
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| MM sitting at the lobby of Hotel Yak and Yeti |
After freshening up a bit, we were ready to explore the Thamel area of Kathmandu.
Thamel and the Garden of Dreams
Thamel is a touristy area within walking distance of Hotel Yak and Yeti. It has many restaurants, bars, and shops. It is an extremely popular area for tourists and foreigners to grab a bite, get some souvenirs, and soak in the chaotic scenes of Kathmandu street on foot. Our objective was to see if we can find a place to eat an early dinner. In addition to visiting Thamel, we had also planned to visit a place called the Garden fo Dreams. The Garden of Dreams is a Garden built by another Rana dynasty member - field Marshal Kaiser Sumsher Rana in the 1920's as his private Garden. It is a European style Garden that celebrates the six seasons of Nepal. It is now a tourist attraction with a cafe restaurant inside the Garden.
With a functional SIM card and data plan, we were ready to explore the city on foot. We walked out of our hotel compound through the main gate. We saw a money exchange and a few souvenir shops just out side the hotel. Just down the little alley way where we pulled into the hotel compound, we were intrigued by the little food cart with a bit of a crowd surrounding it. It turned out to be a food stand or food cart selling roasted assortment of peas, corns, chickpeas, and other nuts with spices. We stood on the street on watched the vendor at work. The food was covered with a blue net I guess to prevent the dust from getting into the food.
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| Food stand selling roasted assortment of peas, corns, chickpeas with spices |
We were not as daring as some who would eat street foods but it was fun enough for us to see Kathmandu street food nonetheless. We continued walking until we get to the big street called Durbar Marg. Both Thamel and Garden of Dreams were down Durbar Marg. We had to cross a major intersection between Durbar Marg and another big street called Kanti Path. It was quite an experience for us to cross this major intersection. As we come to learn, there are no street lights in Kathmandu. Each intersection is manned by one to two police officers. The police officers would attempt to direct incoming traffic with whistle and hand gestures. As the officer stick his palm out to stop the incoming traffic, the incoming traffic would only kind of stop or slow down. Eventually the crowd of pedestrians would decide to cross the street and cause somewhat of a stop of the incoming traffic. Jo followed a local person closely to cross this intersection. I would say crossing streets in Kathmandu is like crossing the Khumbu Icefalls of Mount Everest, you had to just make it through as quickly as you can.
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| Afternoon traffic on Durbar Marg |
After making it across the Durbar Marg and Kanti Path intersection, we were at Thamel. We saw a number of shops selling trekking and climbing gears. We saw souvenir shops and restaurants.
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| Thamel on Durbar Marg |
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| Inside Thamel on a side street |
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| Street vendor at Thamel selling snack |
As we walked the streets of Kathmandu, we were intrigued by the amount of exposed electrical wires. We also saw workers repairing the exposed electrical wires. We could not comprehend how the workers could figure out how to repair these wires.
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| Exposed Electrical Wires |
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| Massive exposed electrical wires on Durbar Marg |
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| More wires - we could not stop staring at the wires! |
After walking around Thamel for about an hour, we still could not decide what to eat. We stopped by a couple of the hiking stores to look at better buffs but we did not make any purchase. Finally, we decided to just eat at the Garden of Dreams. So we started to head back towards Durbar Marg and the Garden of Dreams.
Garden of Dreams
Garden of Dreams was a private Garden built by the Rana royalty back in the 1920's. We had to buy four tickets to enter the Garden of Dreams. It was close to four pm at that time and we were getting quite tired and a bit hungry.
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| Entrance to Garden of Dreams |
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| MM at the Garden of Dreams |
After we paid for our tickets, we entered the Garden. The crowd was a mixture of local and tourists. We saw local young couples hanging out in the Garden to spend intimate time with each other. We also saw tourist from all over the world taking pictures in the Garden. The Garden compound was able to tune out the busy street noise. There was a sense of calm inside the Garden. Perhaps it was because of the winter season, the grass in the Garden did not appear to be very lush. We walked around a bit, took some photos and made our way to the cafe.
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| Inside the Garden of Dreams |
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| Tired but still powering through the day |
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