Blue skies, pleasant streets, is this Kathmandu?

Kathmandu, Nepal

Stayed at the Nirvana Garden Hotel, and then moved to the more affordable Hotel Yanki.

Once again, I’m discovering how perception is highly dependant on expectations and recent points of reference. Coming from Delhi, we found the Kathmandu air to be refreshingly clean (perhaps we lucked out with some freak weather phenomenon), traffic to be sane, and the touts to be quite passive. Shop keepers would ask us to look at their store, and then leave it at that. A cycle-rickshaw driver even chose to give us walking directions back to our hotel, rather than trying to convince us to hire him for the ride. We also were very happy to be in Kathmandu for a break from the 5 weeks of Indian food, which we love very much, but our stomachs tired of after about a week.

After researching our options, we decided to hire a porter/guide for a 3 week trek along the Annapurna circuit. The most challenging part of the whole ordeal, was trying to stock up on the required gear. Coming from the land of REIs (Recreational Equipment Coop) and MECs (Mountain Equipment Coop), it was quite frustrating to have to search through hundreds of tiny shops, in search of all the items on our list. It turned out to be a 3 day scavenger hunt through town. In the end, however, we had to delay our start by one more day, since I succumbed to another of violent bout of food poisoning, that kept me up all night. Lesson learned: NEVER eat grilled vegetables that have been refrigerated for an unknown period of time, even if they’re being served at a high end hotel’s deli.

After 1 day of recovery, we hired a taxi and drove 4 hours to Besisahar, the start of the Annapurna Circuit.

01 Arrival in KathmanduOur first few hours in Kathmandu - checking out the mountains surrounding the valley at our soon to become favourite breakfast spot - Helena's.