Day One in Kathmandu
Kathmandu, Nepal
Kathmandu, Nepal
Despite being out of the village for several days now, I still wake up around 5-6. Then I just lie in bed for a few hours. It was a really easy start today just kinda hanging out with Ed since Jenny has been dealing with stomach issues. It also felt good to not go on a tour today. Technically, today is day one of EBC! Even though normal people usually just arrive to Kathmandu but not us! We then had a final good breakfast here at the hostel. Overall, the Elbrus Home (hostel) has been fairly decent. For 2 nights, including breakfast and laundry, it only cost us $17! Ed and I made our first trip to the new Ace hotel and man it is swanky nice. Or maybe our prior accommodations were so so.
We stopped at our favorite coffee shop, Himalayan Java, and enjoyed relaxing. Suddenly, we then had to go move jenny since her stomach was acting up. By the time we got to the new hotel, Gaju Suites, and it was already time to go to our pre briefing! Office and Ace people were really nice as they walked us through the final paperwork as well as expectations and any questions we had. I didn't realize we needed travel insurance (in case of helicopter evacuation, etc) so we had to buy it there. According to Ace, 4 out of 100 will have to get heli out due to various reasons.
Towards the end of the meeting, we met our guide, Laxmi, who is very nice and I have a feeling she will kick our butts on the trail! We got our duffel, hat, and directions and went on our way! Despite being really hungry, we went back to the hotel to begin packing. It took awhile but eventually we got it down all right. Essentially, I packed two of everything (baselayers, shirts, pants, and outer layers) and packed more socks and underwear. I weighed in at exactly 15.8kg! Which is over 33 pounds.
At 230, we had an appointment to meet our guide Laxmi again to get the sleeping bag and down jacket and any final questions. She is just so small! It is hard to believe she is guiding us there but told us that this would be her 27th trek. She appears very shy and quiet but I have a feeling that she will open up.
After our meeting, we finally decided to eat a late lunch so we headed over to Pumpernickel. I had heard great things (it is a bakery...) so I got fresh bread and chocolate croissant. It was quite tasty! Since we really didn't have anything to do, we wandered around Thamel and kind of shopped for a down bootie. Aka down foot warmers! Now, with Jenny's stomach issues, one never knows when she might have to perform her duty. If you catch my drift. Sometime in middle of bargaining, all of a sudden Jenny grabs her butt and starts running back to the hotel. Basically, she was afraid she pooped her pants. Ed and I couldn't figure out if she did or not until the hotel. It provided much needed humor on a boring day!
Finally, we found a bargain on the booties... now we did waste 20 min over $4.50 but it was a fair price. It is so funny how everyone here treats the clearly fake goods as high quality items and worth the stupid high price. Hence why you need to bargain! We are an early dinner despite a late lunch at Third Eye, an Indian place.
Perhaps not the best place or cuisine to eat before going on a 12 day hike... we did our final shopping run. I bought 7 snickers and some other small things. We headed back to Gaju and did our final packing of everything since we have a 5am wake up! I took my last hot shower and sent final texts and calls. Then, I was asleep by 9:30!