My flight from Heathrow airport terminal 4 at 21:05 was my first ever trip out of Europe, the furthest previously being to Estonia, making it by far the longest flight I had been on. Subsequently the Airbus Industrie A333 Jet was better equipped then I had previously experienced. The flight went smoothly, no turbulence or delays and we arrived at about 7:30 local time.
On arrival in Muscat, Oman we made our way to a premier lounge where we would spend our 5 hour stop over in style (sleeping mostly). About an hour before takeoff we made our way to the gate to find that our flight due to take off at 12:35 was delayed and due to take off at 1:30. Unfortunately and fortunately Sophie realised that this was 1:30 am otherwise we would be waiting for any even longer. On discovery of this irritating news we made our way to the information desk to find out that there had been an announcement however this was not passed on to the premier lounge so we had missed the transport to the hotel we were placed at. The aggravating thing being we gave them our flight number on entry to the premier lounge, they knew exactly where we were. After some prolonged procedure on behalf of Oman Air we eventually got taken to a secluded hotel 40 km from Muscat. Surprisingly the hotel was very plesant and I got a double room to rest up in.
On return to the airport at 12 we discovered the plane was delayed by another 30 minutes but the actual flight took 4 hours of which I spent all sleeping because I felt that a better use of time at the hotel was watching Big Bang Theory on the last decent television I would watch in over a month. After a restful part 2 of the journey we landed at Kathmandu, Nepal 7:00 am, Sophie and I traveled to their house by taxi, while Rich went to collect Nima, their dog. The taxis are all 20 odd years old hatchbacks that look like they will collapse promptly, it was rather disconcerting.
First impression of Nepal was shock, the lack of structure and order. The first thing you notice once you depart from the airport is the law on the road is chaos, there is literally no rules to follow. There is big 4×4 offroaders, a significant number of taxis with figuratively hundreds of motorbikes/scooters weaving between anything that gets in the way. Any markings on the road neglected, pot holes up to a foot depth litter every tarmacked road and what traffic lights there are rejected. Even the traffic police directing traffic at junctions are ignored when the waiting party grow tired of standing by. The problem the police face is that of what people are licensed to operate their vehicles, none are required to give there address so they can never be traced.
The poverty is apparent and abundant. The city is mainly consists of family stores that sell the basics, clothes stores and motorbike repair shops for which children of the age of 10 and under are labouring at. The streets are littered with rubbish, a blanket of dust covers everything and people walk around in disarray. Regardless of oncoming vehicles people obviously stroll into the roads expecting people to avoid them.
On arrival at Rich and Sophie’s house the maid Maya Didi came out to greet us, she brought us in and made me some Nepali tea. When I ask what it was made of I was told it is mainly milk, tea leaves and a lot of sugar. It was incredibly sickly but apparently is a common drink in Nepal. I was shown to my room containing a double bed made of bamboo, a cupboard and a chair plus an en suite. It was a very gentle introduction to Nepal compared to what I now know. The house itself has 5 bedrooms, kitchen, dinning room, reading room, winter living room, study and bathroom spread over 3 floors. There is a front garden with a vegetable patch along the side of the house, it is a beautiful house.
My overall introduction to Nepal has both been shocking and appealing, let’s see how my opinion changes over the next month.
arrannepal2014 