Kirsti Mathiasen

I arrived at my hotel in Kathmandu tonight after 24+ hours of travelling! The journey itself was uneventful. First flight from YVR to Guangzhou, China was 13 hours long. I ended up in premium economy because a woman wanted to sit with her husband so we traded seats. Not a bad deal! I flew with China Southern which overall is an okay airline. No complaints other than that they won't let you use your phone even when on airplane mode.... So all the ebooks, games, music, and movies I had downloaded to entertain myself didn't get used.... Thankfully their movie selection wasn't bad and I had brought a physical Sudoku game book. Watched the first 4 Harry Potter movies as a result ;) I had a two hour lay over in China which was plenty of time to switch terminals and get a snack. Although the only place that accepted credit was Starbucks, I was hoping for real food! Now I know for next time. The flight from China to Kathmandu, Nepal was just under 5 hours. Again, I was "upgraded" to a premium seat, this time because a husband wanted to sit with his wife and kids. Can't complain about that! As a result of the switch I ended up sitting next to the only other foreigner on the plane, a man from Seattle travelling on business. He's been here quite a few times before so he gave me a number of useful tips and helped me navigate the airport upon arrival from filling out the paperwork to showing me where to find my airport pickup. Very glad for his help!

The 10 minute drive from the airport to my hotel, Hotel Amaryllis, gave me a taste of what to expect from the city. Chaos. They drive on the left side of the road with little regard to lane markings, no stop signs that I could see, and stray dogs and random pedestrians everywhere! And no seatbelts. Good thing I won't be driving here at all. I'm really looking forward to seeing the city in the daylight tomorrow!

From my brief time in the airport I get the sense that I'm going to be a "commodity". Was definitely getting curious looks from the locals, I hear because I'm a tall white woman travelling alone. We'll see if it continues tomorrow ;) It's currently 6degC here and feels much warmer than home. Perhaps the curious looks were because of only wearing a single hoodie rather than the winter jackets everyone else was wearing. The hotel manager said that it's very cold here right now! All about perspective.

The hotel is nice, and again, looking forward to seeing it tomorrow in the daylight. No complaints about the room! I did notice that we're one of the few buildings with lights on still, glad that I paid the extra to stay in a hotel with a 24 hour generator. No need to worry about power cuts and I have access to hot water whenever I like!

It's now 1:00 am (Jan 13) and I suppose I should go to bed. The time change from home is 13hr 45min. So you'll be seeing my posts at irregular times! I'll try to stay up on posting regularly but no promises ;)Read more