I have decided the concept of feeling at home in a foreign place is a lot easier when you have become “homeless” before hand. Despite the dirt and noise of Kathmandu, and the major difference of culture in the land of Nepal, when I peered out the window of the plane today and overlooked the hazy air that engulfed the city that holds over 4 million people, I saw a place that I quickly have come to love. I think I left a little bit of my heart there throughout the Himalayas and the villages that blankets the country sides...it makes me think that one day i must come back and retrieve it. Leaving is always bittersweet, looking back at all the amazing things we have done, getting to spend time with our amazing friends, at the same time, looking forward to the things that are to come, Thailand, a start of a whole new adventure.
Of course flying can never go smoothly, at least in our lives...our obstacle course through the airport this time involved a “new policy” that was being enforced as of June 1st, mind you we flew out June 9th. A passenger receives their first 22 kilos of baggage free, and every kilo after that will cost an additional THIRTY AMERICAN DOLLARS...the extra bag amounted to $690. Are you kidding me? I think not. The result: leaving one bag behind at the airport, storing things we decided we don't “need” for Thailand. It was an oddly emotional task to flop everything on the floor, people behind me, in front of me, stepping over me, pushing my things our of their way. I began to quickly sort through my already downsized life and leave more things behind. Tyese messaged Tom and Liz (of course it was in the middle of their meeting) and they said that they would come pick the packs up later that day and keep them at their house until we decided what we wanted to do with them...who knows if I will ever see my items again.
Surprisingly we actually made our flight, catching the bus that escorted us to our plane only seconds before it left, after a fairly short flight we landed in Mumbai India where we wasted Ten hours of our life trapped in an airport, before we arrived in Bangkok.
I was thinking back to some of the highlights of the last week that I never wrote about...
First we headed to a Himalaya mountaineering festival. Downhill mountain bike races, runs, slackening, and climbing competitions...EXCITING! we planed on going for a few days, but it was a little lamer than expect so we hitchhiked to where we could catch a bus back to the city, the bus was too full, not even standing room...however in Nepal there's always a solution everything...to the roof! (Micah you so called that one)
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| I think we all preferred being on top of the bus... |
Rivers and Roads
As a final hooray we headed to the beautiful city of Pokerah for a few days. The lake that bordered the town told us it wanted to be swam in everyday we were there, we didn't have a problem listening to it. The monsoon intensified and come 4:00 the sky would open up, literally pouring buckets of water at a time...I have never been so wet from a rain storm. The roads would quickly flood and become rivers, convincing us to take shelter in tasty coffee shops.
One of the days we all rented dirt bikes, i think i could safely say we all were a little nervous, Tyese was the only one that really had experience riding one, so the idea of shifting, accelerating, braking...not to mention driving on the opposite side of the road, dodging pedestrians, and not getting run over by a taxi or struck by a bus was a little much. After many corners and climbs, for a moment the clouds broke and we saw Machu Peachu, a mountain that no one has successfully climbed and came down alive, it was so big! Personally the bike was just a little on the big side for me, barley being able to touch my feet to the ground when we stopped i had the problem of keeping the bike upright when i would get off of it...honestly i would just let it go and flop to the ground below over getting squashed by it trying to prevent it from falling. The locals laughed at me, well at all of us, girls don't ride bikes here to begin with, and we’re white, so of course we made a scene. But by the end of the day riding seemed second nature and we all walked away wishing a dirt bike could be a part of our daily lives.
As a final hooray we headed to the beautiful city of Pokerah for a few days. The lake that bordered the town told us it wanted to be swam in everyday we were there, we didn't have a problem listening to it. The monsoon intensified and come 4:00 the sky would open up, literally pouring buckets of water at a time...I have never been so wet from a rain storm. The roads would quickly flood and become rivers, convincing us to take shelter in tasty coffee shops.
One of the days we all rented dirt bikes, i think i could safely say we all were a little nervous, Tyese was the only one that really had experience riding one, so the idea of shifting, accelerating, braking...not to mention driving on the opposite side of the road, dodging pedestrians, and not getting run over by a taxi or struck by a bus was a little much. After many corners and climbs, for a moment the clouds broke and we saw Machu Peachu, a mountain that no one has successfully climbed and came down alive, it was so big! Personally the bike was just a little on the big side for me, barley being able to touch my feet to the ground when we stopped i had the problem of keeping the bike upright when i would get off of it...honestly i would just let it go and flop to the ground below over getting squashed by it trying to prevent it from falling. The locals laughed at me, well at all of us, girls don't ride bikes here to begin with, and we’re white, so of course we made a scene. But by the end of the day riding seemed second nature and we all walked away wishing a dirt bike could be a part of our daily lives.
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| look closely..that was a road...now a miniature river |
Yet again, on the bus ride back to Kathmandu my bus seat was broken. It was a guessing game in trying to prepare myself for which bumps the driver would fly over that would send my seat springs into enough shock that they would give out, resulting in the back of my seat flinging into the lap of the person behind me so that my head was practically touching their belly...awkward. 7.5 hours of that bus ride, I feel done with public transportation...but a weekend of flights, airports, and a bus ride from Bangkok to Chaing Mai still awaited me.
Crazy situation you ran into at the airport. Glad you made it. Looking forward to chatting with you later. Love and miss you more than you know.
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