
We met up with John from Cairns on Sunday night. A seasoned traveler with many a good story. It was pouring rain here on the night, so we were restricted to finding a restaurant nearby the Guest House to avoid getting drowned.
Yesterday the 6 of us visited some of the more popular sites of Kathmandu. It was a full day and ended with a splendid tour of incredible Durbar Square and seeing Kathmandu's real living goddess (a 7 year old girl) who makes a 10 second appearance every day at 4.30pm. This was an incredible experience for Greg, Ray and Nicole. Durbar Square is a must see for any visitor to Kat. The visit was made better by the decision to engage one of the squares guides "Toya". Very knowledgeable and passionate about his craft. Worthy of a good tip....
We had planned to complete our clothing and equipment hiring this morning (Tue) and were therefore horrified to learn as we hit the streets that the planned Maoist strike has extended across the entire city, including Thamel. ALL SHOPS CLOSED...!! Given we fly out at 6am in the morning, I am now dealing with a stressed team. We have found one shop willing to help us out and will be visiting him later this afternoon to hopefully complete our gear prep.
Ryan, Andrew and Carl finally arrived into Kathmandu last night from Pokhara. They had been stranded there 2 days due weather. Great blokes. The entire 2013 team were together for the first time and we celebrated with an enjoyable dinner at Rum Doodles. Oh, and great to see our 2012 Rum Doodle foot print still hanging from the roof.
Nicole is enjoying her first OS trip immensely. Greg and Ray being frequent travelers are also very impressed with their time in Nepal thus far. We are now just hoping that the weather clears in the morning for our departure into Lukla and the start of our trek.
Great responses to our Blog. Thanks all. Next update hopefully form the trails.