Arrival in Nepal

We had a bit of a strange flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kathmandu, our pilot was extremely chatty and probably told us a bit too much information such as ‘Kathmandu airport is currently closed due to heavy storms’ and ‘we will circle the area until attempting a landing’ and later ‘due to the lack of fuel, we must try to land immediately’. From our stand point, we didn’t feel any turbulence and would not have known any different if he had withheld some information and used different words! We landed without a hint of turbulence with, granted, a delay, but nothing as dramatic as our pilot had announced!

We arrived in Thamel, the backpacker district of Kathmandu, eager to explore this new country and sample the local food. We weren’t disappointed with delicious curries and soft, warn naan bread. This would be the start of a love-affair with Nepalese food and the huge variety of cuisines on offer in Thamel. From middle-eastern to western to Tibetan food, there is a bit of everything to please all palates. The only slight hiccup is the very unsanitary way the meat is displayed at the butchers, which prompted me to eat vegetarian. This is far from a problem however, in a country with such variety in terms of vegetarian food.

Butcher in Kathmandu 

Delicious Indian food

We spent our first few days in the capital wandering around the multiple gear shops, buying the equipment needed for our upcoming treks and of course, sightseeing around the many temples, squares and markets.

Local scene

Buying trekking gear in Thamel is very popular, with endless shops offering fake and copied brands, their quality ranging from excellent to mediocre. Making decisions seems almost impossible for the inexperienced. With only a few days before starting the Everest Base Camp trek, a plethora of questions came to mind... What do I really need? Is cheaper always the better? Is expensive synonymous with quality? Should I buy the ‘real stuff’ from the brand shops? How cold will I get up there? It certainly takes a while to gather information from guide books, the Internet, fellow travelers and shop-keepers. Having lived in South-East Asia for years now, we are surely ill-equipped for mountain trekking and in need of a lot of supplies. At least we both have decent walking boots which we purchased with Nepal in mind and were able to wear and break-in over the last few months.

Colourful women

Needless to say we enjoyed our first week in the capital and had plenty to do! It was a great start!