Extremes

The traditional end to an Everest Base Camp trek is a celebratory dinner. I didn't think we'd be doing that, since we were not part of a group. But lo and behold, Thursday night we had eight new and not-so-new friends at dinner, and we had a raucous time. After a frustrating day of waiting, new plans, and still more waiting, people were ready to let loose. We had a couple from Ireland, another from England, one from Olympia, Washington, and us. It was good. 

Friday was a most magical morning, starting when I woke up and saw blue sky. I ran over to the airport, where I saw the first plane of the day land, and then the second. I stayed glued to the planes and helicopters all morning, keeping our friends company as they waited, until Meg called me to say it was time for us to go too! Then I was restricted to the terminal, not as good a vantage point, as we waited with increasing apprehension to see if the planes would keep coming long enough to collect us. And they did. 

Kathmandu is still noisy, but not so overwhelming. It was a little cooler this time, and the traffic was a little less intense. But perhaps our time in the Nepali villages gave us a little more familiarity with how things work here. So we walked the streets Friday night, finding an excellent Indian dinner, and scoping out the bus stop for morning. There was a full moon over the city, which perhaps explains the night we had. In a word, noisy. Worse than the Dehli airport. People partying, packs of barking dogs, and a tour group yelling to each at all hours. 

So this morning we escaped Kathmandu. Meg got us tickets on the Rainbow bus to Chitwan. Because of our delay, we'd only get one day in the jungle, but that seemed better than three extra days in the city. And it was marvelous to see another part of Nepal. I took dozens of pictures as the bus traveled through the city, the suburbs, and then the rural communities. Of course, that made me carsick, so I had to stop taking pictures. But we saw another huge terrain change as we traveled through the mountains and down a major river valley to the jungle. 

And this is definitely the jungle. Just sitting still I am sweating buckets, which makes me pretty whiney. But our room faces a lovely garden with exotic birds, mangos, and a little frog that hopped by. We took a walk along the river and saw a troop of monkeys in thie distance.  Tomorrow we take a canoe ride in the morning, watch elephant bathing midday, and ride the elephants to see wildlife in the afternoon. One more night, and we go back to the cooler, drier air of Kathmandu.

It is very hard to believe that just 30 hours ago I was in the Himalayas, wearing my down coat!