We Are in Nepal!

Thank you for all of your prayers. We have arrived safely in Kathmandu, Nepal and are staying with Sudip and Anne Lise. They have a 2 bedroom, 3 bath, apartment in a three story apartment building on the south side of town. It's right next to a Buddhist temple. From the airport where Anne Lise met us, we took a taxi for 30 minutes down the narrow roads and alleys (many dirt) which make up most of the city.

Our flight from Mobile to Delhi was uneventful. Amanda was able to sleep some on the long flight (5 of the 13 hours) I dozed off a few times, but caffeine from the Exedrine I took earlier in the day kept me unable to sleep much. The flight was on a Boeing 777 which meant each seat had its own entertainment system. The system, however, was showing signs of age. Several of the video channels were terrible quality (audio coming in and out and lines across the screen). Also, the game controllers wouldn't work correctly. Oh well. I spent most of the trip reading books.

because it was a night trip, the window shades were required to be shut (No one wants sunrise at 2AM. I would peak out every once in a while, but would rarely see more than clouds. Though, about an hour before landing everyone was up, so I opened the shades as we were passing over Afghanistan where I took this picture of a mountain range we crossed that was quite impressive.

Upon arrival in New Delhi we recovered our bags, and when we got to customs, they were waving everyone through who wasn't declaring anything. I thank God for no awkward questions about why we have so many books and toiletry items. As God would work, when we flew into Kathmandu, customs was running most people's bags through an x-ray machine. But when we came up to the line, an official waved us through. Perhaps they don't check obvious tourists.

After leaving customs in New Delhi, things started to get crazy. I changed 200 dollars into Rupees (which the next day because of laws making it illegal to take with us any Indian bills larger than 500, of which I had 12, had most of it turned back into American cash). At that point I was hoping to find a locker room, in which I could put our suitcases of books, and then insure with Jet Airways our Travelocity Tickets were appropriate. But there were no lockers, only an open shed for lost bags, and my tourism official persuaded me to buy prepaid taxi (from his friend) to the domestic terminal (we found out later a free shuttle runs that root). I didn't trust him enough to get the hotel room he suggested 2000RP (which sounds like a lot, but it's really only $30US). I attempted to contact some hotels that were in my guide book, but I couldn't get the phone to work. We ended up staying at the airport dormitory in one of their "Retiring Rooms"--a non-air-conditioned room with 8 beds, a fan, and no windows to the outside (when we arrived it was 95f). Amanda spent the night watching fan. I was able to get some sleep despite the heat. The next morning (at dawn), we got some yummy tea from the restaurant downstairs and took the shuttle back to the terminal to await our flight several hours later.

On the hour and a half long flight, they served yummy lunch with a beautiful cloth napkin. The service was really good. I was very impressed with the airline.

There were too many clouds to see any mountains on the trip, but as we were descending into Kathmandu, we broke through the clouds and below us was a canyon-like valley with very steep edges. It was right there and it was amazing.

Once at the apartment, our hosts departed on an errand, and Amanda and I rested. On their return I accompanied Sudip to the general store, down the street. There are stores like this all over the place, but this one (while not the closest) is where he buys supplies for the church and himself. He knows them and doesn't have to haggle. We then walked 1km to a place that had a selection of merchants selling fruit from their bicycles.

Anne Lise, made us yummy cauliflower soup, and now it's time for bed. Please pray we quickly recover from jetlag.

Safe for his Glory,
Amanda and Bean