Hello all,
A week ago right now I was dropping down over the mountains and into the Kathmandu valley in an airplane that was very literally falling apart on the inside, with windows so burdened by the collected dust of fifty desert years that you could barely see past them, shaking violently as the wind pitched us in all the directions you don't want to be moving in the air. About thirty feet from the ground I still could make out no sign of the runway or any piece of land I could convince my mind would be suitable to build an airport upon, so when the engine suddenly kicked in the afterburners like "oh shit we're going to land on earth not runway" it made perfect sense, and when we did finally land on the farthest southern edge of the blacktop I imagined all of us on that airplane communally let our muscles and minds relax and return to the dim and comfortable pulse of the still living world.
All of this after 40 hours from Lincoln to Omaha to Chicago to Frankfurt to Delhi to here. I was very glad to have arrived.
Since my flight from Delhi was rescheduled, then rescheduled again, and then finally delayed another hour I arrived like five hours later than I had told Josh and Urte to be waiting at the Kathmandu Peace Guesthouse, but shortly after I arrived they came walking down the hill yelling my name and we all hugged and got down to the very serious business of bullshitting and making very big decisions like how to get to Tibet and what part of all the many beautiful parts of Nepal we should spend our time in.
So we ate some Momo's, these little balls that look like dumplings filled with vegetables then wrapped and either steamed or fried, and then set about the task of going to different travel companies to find the best prices. As of right now the Chinese government doesn't allow any foreigner into the Tibet region without being part of an organized tour approved by the Chinese. So, I couldn't just take a jeep to the border of Nepal and Tibet and cross by foot as can be done at so many borders across the world. This is a bit annoying but also financially taxing, as tour companies can charge pretty much whatever they please, knowing travelers have no other recourse if they want in to Tibet, which many travelers, Josh and I in the utmost, do. We were lucky enough to find a man named Suman whose tour was hundreds of dollars cheaper than anywhere else in town and also a very nice man to have a conversation about Nepalese politics with, headhunters, matricide and all. So we basically give him a stack of cash and he goes about dealing with all the Chinese bureaucracy for us, the visas, the Tibetan permit, the tour while in Tibet and the train ticket from Lhasa out of Tibet into China, a ticket which we have to prove we have before entering the country and which has to be for a train leaving right after our scheduled tour is over. The Chinese really don't want you in Tibet unsupervised, like a big overprotective father, but more Asian and militaristic.
So we booked with Suman and set about finding a trekking company to take us into the mountains. After quotes from multiple companies hawking all-inclusive three day tours we found Tiger Travel who would rent us a guide for $20 bucks a day, and we could be left alone to fend for ourselves where food and accommodation are concerned, which we'd rather do anyway as these things are very cheap here. So they rented us Lama, a very kind 28 year old of small stature from the Tamang ethnicity with a big smile and a wife named Maya and a young boy named Adus. He spoke passable English and taught me wonderful Nepalese that sounded so good coming out of his mouth but was wholly ruined when I would speak what, to me, sounded exactly the same as what he had just said. So for the next three days we walked deep into the Shivapuri National Park up some very steep terrain to Chisapani and then on to Nagarkot while I shouted Timonie Costishow (how are you, surely not spelled this way but it's how it sounded) and Chutow Hai (goodbye) at some very confused villagers. I received a reply only one time.
After three days of quite intense hiking and drinking coffee on the rooftops of hotels we returned to Kathmandu to spend a couple more days before leaving tomorrow morning for Tibet for our 8 day trek. After that we'll take the Tibetan railway across the frozen tundra of the Tibetan plateau for 36 hours towards Xi'an. If you haven't heard of this railway, go google it now. It's only like five years old and is one of the most striking examples of modern engineering (as well as colonialism and human rights abuses, but that's not for right now); the train travels across frozen earth on a rail suspended above the ground. The cabins have to be pressurized and extra oxygen in available upon request, and we, as white lowlanders, will probably need it. In some strange proof of genetic connectivity, Josh and I have both had a severe fetish to ride this train since we heard about it independently years ago.
Tonight we go to say goodbye to our good friend Qayoom, the rug purveyor and owner of Rug Up Originals. We met him our first night here and have been visiting him since. He makes us tea and tells us stories of all the people he knows. Last night we gave him a framed picture of us and then took him out for pizza. He gave us these beautiful prints of Everest taken by his friend Jeff Bodz. He is seriously in love with Urte. He would trade his rug shop for her. He will be missed by all of us.
Tibet tomorrow. Josh and I are giddy like children.
Love,
B
