We hadn’t arranged transportation to the Hyatt, and Jim let one of the hucksters talk us into a ride. It turned out he worked for a tour company, and though it all seemed like a shill, Jim let him set up a meeting at the hotel with the tour company boss for an hour later. We cleaned up (I’m still sweating from my airport ordeal), had a quick swim and went for the meeting. The boss, Raj, turned out to be a really sweet young guy, and totally on the up and up, and we sat and arranged our entire week with him. We booked the Everest flight for the first morning (it is very weather dependent, and we were told we might have to try on multiple days), and then took the guide’s suggestions for some other tours. We booked a driver and guide for 3 different days in the city, and an overnight excursion to the Chitwan National Park for an elephant safari. We decided to have a car drive us there and fly back. It’s only 120km by road but apparently takes around 5 hours (six as it turned out, and only 20 minutes to fly back!). All the transportation for the whole week was arranged, including to and from hotel, airport, and even to the airport to fly back home; the driver would bring us to our hotel after tour days, then return for us to go for dinner. We left 1½ days free, but were given the option of adding in tours those days, all included. The grand total, including all the airfares, guide, driver, entry fees into all but one of the attractions, overnight accommodations for the safari including all excursions (elephant and otherwise) and all meals, came to $1,500US. For both of us. Jim handed over the credit card.
I was a little nervous the first morning as we waited at 5:30 for the driver to take us to the airport for the Everest flight. It could all be a total scam, and the $1,500US will have vanished into thin air along with all our credit card information, but the driver was there, along with Raj’s brother Ram to give us our typed itinerary for the week and all our tickets and receipts. The weather looked fine (they do a test flight every morning, and if it looks ok, the tour plane leaves at 6:30), and the driver would be waiting for us when we returned to take us back to the hotel to rest, then take us to pick up our guide later in the morning (time of our choosing) for a couple of sights.
The Everest flight was AMAZING. Buddha Air is set up in the domestic terminal, a dark, cavernous hall of a place with clench-inducing bathrooms. We milled around with our fellow Everest spotters, and took off on time, feeling very lucky to get the flight on our first day of trying. It only took a few minutes to fly past the Kathmandu valley and see the Himalayan mountains bursting from the valleys. Buddha Air thoughtfully handed out a fold-out illustration showing the names of the peaks, and their heights. The stewardess went up and down the aisle helpfully matching up the map to the view from the windows. There were about 20 seats, in only 2 rows and the aisle, so everyone had a window seat. Jim had the mountain view for the first half, so I strained over him and our other fellow passengers, snapping photos and oohing and ahing along with everyone else. I went to the front to look out the pilots’ window for my first glimpse of Everest. Stunning! Words and pictures can not convey the feeling of looking at the famous peak, surrounded by its equally picturesque neighbours. A few wispy clouds couldn’t detract from the beauty. The plane turned around in front of Everest, not as close as I’d hoped, but awe-inspiring nonetheless. I got the Himalaya side on the return, and took lots of photos of the mist-shrouded peaks, and the lush, deep green valleys. The stewardess continued to point out the peaks, seemingly the top ten of the highest mountains on earth (that one’s the fourth highest, the second highest, etc) and noted that Gauri Shankar is sacred and is not open to climbers. I got a beautiful shot of it with the sun spiking off the clouds clinging to the peak. An absolutely stunning experience, it even brought me to tears a little (I know, shocker), and was over all too quickly. We were back at the hotel by 8am. Jim was in complete awe, and was wishing we’d gone for the 10 times more expensive option of the helicopter ride to the base camp. Definitely one of the places on earth that one needs to see in person to really get it…countless shows and photos don’t convey the awesomeness of it. And the word awesomeness should never be used for anything less!
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