And we’re off… for real this time

After our false start the night before, Gideon and I were rearing to go by the time our actual departure time neared.  We arrived at the airport, once again, thanks to our good friends, Brian and Katie.  After saying goodbye, we worked our way to the Cathay Pacific check-in counter and handed over our passports.  Here’s a brief synopsis of the conversation that followed:

Me: We’re heading to Kathmandu.  Tonight.
Clerk: Yes, well, we’ve overbooked the flight tonight.  We’d like to offer each of you $400 cash and an upgrade to business class if you change your flight to tomorrow night.
Me: Uh.  Wow.  Gideon?  (A brief consultation ensued between the two of us concluding that that’s a lot of money and business class is worth even more than the cash.)  Let’s do it. 
Clerk: Okay, thank you very much.  Please fill out these forms and we’ll get you rebooked.  Oh, wait a minute; I’m not sure if there is flight to Kathmandu tomorrow.
Me: Yeah, let’s check on that.
Clerk: Oops.  No flight to Kathmandu tomorrow.  You’ll fly tonight.

And with that, he printed our boarding passes, took our luggage off our hands and we headed to the gate.  Within the hour we were on the plane and on our way to the other side of the globe.

The first leg of the flight was a daunting fourteen-hour trip to Hong Kong.  Thanks to my friend Emily’s last minute suggestion to take Valerian root to help me sleep on the plane, I did get at least eight hours of sleep.  That made a huge difference in my ansty-ness level—that, and the On-Demand personal television set on the seatback in front of me.  When we arrived in Hong Kong, I was stiff and sore, but not stir-crazy.

Our eleven-hour layover in Hong Kong turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.  We decided to book a no-brainer bus tour of the city upon our arrival, just to pass the time and get out of the airport.  It turned out to be a great decision—an inexpensive whirlwind tour of a beautiful city.  Hong Kong has an undeniable San Francisco feel, with its bay and bridges, and the city areas felt a lot like San Francisco’s China town… go figure. 

Willie, our tour guide, was a sweet older man who took great pride in sharing his city.  We made stops at the Lantau bridge overlook followed by Hong Kong’s Avenue of the Stars.  From there, we took an old school ferryboat across the bay and wound our way through the narrow streets to visit a lively Buddhist temple.  Willie also took pride in his love for Elvis, singing a heartfelt rendition of “Love Me Tender” to his captive audience on the tour bus. 

 

  

 Me vs. Bruce Lee... now this could be interesting

 

Dried meat market

  

The enduring temple

  

Seeking blessings

 

Burning spirals of incense 

Before heading back to the airport, we took in some Dim Sum and soup.  Oh, did that bring back some memories from our time in Beijing!  There’s nothing quite like a chicken foot in the soup to make an American stop gorging on lunch.

From there, it was back to the airport for leg two of the journey to Kathmandu.  This time the flight was only about six hours, including a quick stop in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 
Upon our arrival in Kathmandu, we found we were unprepared.  We did not have our visas, but we were told to purchase them upon arrival.  What we didn’t know was that we needed photos for the visas.  Of course, there was an industrious Nepali available to take our photos for a small fee.  Too bad that small fee meant we didn’t have enough U.S dollars for the visa fee.  Fortunately, Gideon had a few Hong Kong dollars left over and was able to exchange them for Nepali rupees.  Seventy-three U.S. dollars and 560 rupees later we were able to purchase our visas and head out to collect our luggage and find our ride.

Ahh, the sweet sound of a familiar voice shouting our names above the crowd!  Gideon’s cousin Amy was there to meet us, along with her driver, Shree.  Thank goodness the traveling was over and we could turn ourselves over to the care of others for a bit.