Kathmandu is a magical city of colors, people, heat and noises. Leaving the airport it was impossible not to notice that I had entered an entirely different world from that of where I had just been and especially compared to South Africa where I had just come from. There were cows just chilling in the middle of all the roads, and once we got into the "downtown" as my taxi driver called it, the streets already bustling with people and stalls seemed to wind smaller and smaller yet we continued in search of my hostel. My plane landed just after 6 am, although do to the airports complicated baggage claim system I did not receive my backpack until almost 8 am. Eventually though after a journey through Nepali customs (not having any US or Nepali currency meant they had to get out the "broken" yet perfectly working credit card machine for me and this was a BIG deal) I checked in at my hostel and in less then 15 minutes I found myself having breakfast on a rooftop patio looking around at the ridiculously tall and sketchy buildings.
I ended up meeting two amazing girls in my room and together we spent the next two days preparing for Thi's and mine trek. While on the plane from Dubai to Kathmandu I realized i knew 3 things about Nepal: 1. Buddha was born there, 2. Everest is there, and 3. the hiking is great. With this in mind I decided to try and find a 4 or 5 day hike to do, EBC (Everest Base Camp) was far too long and intense to consider but there was another mountain range that I learned about from McKinlee called Annapurna and the named seemed meant to be.
I had almost all the needed supplies, just needed another pair of treking pants as I had foolishly given mine away in Zimbabwe, needed a dry bag for inside my backpack as it was monsoon season, needed iodine tablets for the water and to replenish a bit of my first aid kit, and lastly needed to get a permit for treking and a regisered TIMS card.
My first night, we had talked about going to the Monkey temple for sunset, but by the time 6 o'clock rolled around we were all so hungry that we went strait to dinner and saved it for the next night. It did not disappoint. There were monkeys everywhere as well it had the most incredible view of the Kathmandu valley and the seemingly never ending collection of houses and buildings all filled to the brim with people.
While in Kathmandu I also became a vegetarian and did not drink any alcohol. The meat is a bit questionable in places, and as Thi, McKinlee and I were eating together each meal it was easier for our resident vegan to find vegan food in a restaurant already catering to Vegetarians. On my third day in Kathmandu I left at around 6 am to walk to the bus stop for my "7 hour" bus ride to Pokhara.
