At 9.00am on 4th August, nearly two months since I arrived in Chiang Mai, I made my way down the soi that had been my home to get the Sontel to Chiang Mai airport. The next 24 hours were going to be a bit tiring, I was flying at midday to Bangkok. At 7.00pm I would fly to Delhi in India and then on to Kathmandu in Nepal the following morning. Arriving at Tribhuvan international airport at midday on the 5th August.
All went to plan, no hold ups or delays on the first stage of the journey. I had hoped to get checked in early for the flight from BKK to New Delhi but good old Air Asia had other ideas . I must have flown 50 times with the airline in the last 12 months. Only in Thailand are they unhelpful. Nevertheless, no sweat , Emirates had an office in the airport, I would use the time to change my ticket. I had booked my flight in December 2010 and, because you cant book more than 12 months in advance, my return flight was for 8th Dec 2011. My intention was to return in July 2011. I was informed that the ticket had only a 12 month validity so the latest I could return was 8 June 2012 and I would need to pay £75 . This makes a nonsense of the 12 month validity rule. Unless I had booked on the day I flew it would not be valid for 12 months without paying the charge. Oh well. Cie la vie.
I eventually got checked in and wandered through to the departure lounge. I continued my Fast Food Frenzy. KFC yesterday, Burger King this morning and now Pizza. The 5kg I had lost since I arrived in two months would be back on very quickly at this rate...
An hour before the flight I wandered towards the gate sitting down I glanced at this absolutely HUGE Indian man. The 'I hope he's not sat next to me' went through my mind. In my speed to book the flights, I had mistakenly booked a premium seat. To get a six month visa and the Indian embassy they needed to see evidence of the flight in and out of India. It was 2:40 on Friday and they shut at 3.00. Hence the best seats in the house and priority boarding. Well, priority boarding didn't happen but when I did get on the plane the two seats next to me were free. As lucky as I am, the next bus arrived at the plane, disgorged the fat man who promptly came and sat by me. By the time we got to India I was nicely moulded the window and Walls of the plane. Not my best flight ever.
My memories of Delhi airport from the last time I was there are it was a skip. How things change, it is very nice now. Terminal three was build for the commonwealth games (although not completed till they we're over) . I was departing from terminal three and had 10 hours to relax. SpiceJet, an Indian low cost carrier flight SG41 was leaving at 7.40 for Kathmandu, a short 2 hour flight. As expected the check in didn't open till 3 hours before the flight. After making a short trek to the terminal, going through security I was in Terminal three. I have never seen so much security and so many automatic and semi automatic weapons. I found myself a corner and made a nest to get a bit of sleep. At 4.00am I checked in and made my way ti ti luxury of airside and a very tasty McDonalds chicken wrap. For obvious reasons beef was off the menu.
The plane left on time and 2 hours later, having adjusted my watch for the odd "15 " minutes time difference I was at Tribhuvan airport queuing for my ridiculously priced $100 dollar 90 day visa. That took about as long as the flight!
I was supposed to be being met at the airport by Bhupi, the executive director of VIN, the charity I was working for in Nepal. Coming out of the terminal I looked for the sign, nowhere to be seen. There are loads of taxi and hotel hanging around hassling you. I firmly said I was meeting someone an proceeded ti text him. Speaking to a guy I met, he kindly offered to call him on his phone. It turned out that the traffic was bad so Bhupi suggested I get at taxi to the accommodation and he would meet me there. I said goodbye to Santos, promising I would call by his office, he ran a travel agency at some time in the next few days and jumped into what could only described as a skip on wheels for the 20 minute drive into town. Bhupi was waiting outside the hotel, he huge me and presented me with a silk scarf. What a nice touch. After checking in, we had a wander around. He is a charming man. Very committed to the charity. He took me on a little orientation walk around Thamel and we had a cup of "chai" while I asked about the charity and what they were doing. He had suggested that I might be able to help while in was there as they had seen quite a significant drop in volunteers and revenues. I agreed to call by his offices on the Monday after a weekend of relaxing. I was staying I. The Hotel Premier, at £5 a night there is very little 'premier' about it but the beds are comfortable, itnhas wifi in the room and is comfortable.
I'm getting a nice feeling about Nepal
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Mandala St,Kathmandu,Nepal
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