Kathmandu to Bangkok on Thai Airways

Kathmandu International Airport is about 20 minutes by taxi from Thamel.

To enter the terminal, you show a passport and receive a thorough pat down. The Thai desk was packed, and we made our way to the Royal Silk Check-in.





Boarding passes were issued with a lounge invitation. The next stop was immigration and then the small cramped Royal Silk Lounge. We had a snack and watched CNN.

The lounge is on the land side of the airport, so about 30 minutes before departure we went through security to the air side. The waiting area was pretty cramped and hot. After about 10 minutes they opened the doors and everyone pushed towards the plane.












We sat in row 11 - essentially row 1 - of the Royal Silk Cabin. Hot (very hot) towels and drinks were provided.












And menus were distributed.





Only 9 of the 30 seats in Royal Silk were occupied, so the middle section held our blankets and pillows.





We were scheduled to depart at 1:35. Doors closed at 1:37 and pushback was at 1:51. Goodbye to Tribhuvan International Airport and Nepal.





Other planes on the tarmac: Air India and Bangladesh.





Nepal's military?





After a long wait, we taxied out to the end of the only runway, made a complete u turn and started rolling for take-off at 2:12.






After take-off we made a hard right and circled back over the Kathmandu valley.






I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the Himalayas, but we only saw clouds.

The seatbelt sign went off 8 minutes after take-off and drink service started at another 10 minutes later. I had iced tea.






Salmon and salad and some garlic bread from the bread basket.






Chicken curry for Melisa.





Red snapper for me.





Dessert





There were some strong turbulence over Myanmar. I watched "The Bag Man" with John Cusack and Robert DeNiro.






The captain announced we would be landing in 25 minutes and the flight attendants ran around opening window shades and collecting glasses. We touched down at 6:26 pm and were at the gate at 6:35... 20 minutes late.

Exploring Pokhara - last days in Nepal

We arrived in Pokhara in the afternoon and checked in at the Hotel Splendid View. It's not a very appropriately named hotel - the view we had was of a building being constructed - but it was a nice place to stay in the Lakeside part of Pokhara.

We walked around Lakeside and looked at the shops and lake. It seemed to get hotter and hotter as the afternoon progressed.

We stopped and had some mo mo's - these were cooked in a tandoori oven. They were really good.








We then found this shop that Melisa read about online that sells pashmina and cashmere. She spent a long time looking at everything there. The salesmen were pretty nice guys. And they should be pretty happy after our business.








They recommended a restaurant for us to eat at, so we went there for dinner and had more Nepali food.

















One of the popular activities in Pokhara is to get up before the sun does to see it rise over the city. We left our hotel at 4:30am and drove up into the hills above the city. Then we hiked up another hill to see the sun rise at 5:30.









It was really underwhelming because of the clouds. No mountain views and no sun, but it was a great view of Pokhara. And Melisa was attacked by leeches. She somehow managed to get one on each foot.

We then visited the Pokhara temple, a gorge where the water had cut away the rock, and a water fall called Devi's falls. The story at the waterfall was that a Swiss woman, Mrs. Davis, was bathing here and was swept away and killed by the falls. Every since it has been called Devi's Falls. I'm not sure why it isn't called Davis' Falls.

















We went out on the lake in the afternoon and saw some birds and enjoyed the lake in general.



































It started to rain when we came in so we had a cup of coffee and wrote some postcards. We went to the Lonely Planet guide and they recommended a Thai restaurant around the lake. It was about a 3 mike walk and we walked out there and took a cab back. It was really nice to get out and walk and the rain cooled everything down.

Dinner at Kristna's restaurant was worth the walk. We started with spring rolls.








Red Curry








Vegetable noodles and white tea.








Pokhra was a great city and a nice contrast to Kathmandu. I'm sure a visit not during Monsoon season would produce stunning views of the Himalayas.

We left Pokhara at 8am and didn't have any issues with traffic driving back to Kathmandu. It took about 5 hours.

Prakash did a good job getting us back safely. We stopped for some smoke breaks for him and lunch. Eating lunch I was stung by a bee.








Prakash is a man of very few words, but he took his driving seriously. He's not afraid to use the horn.








We arrived back at the Hotel Friends Home and had one last Nepali dinner.








Mint lemonade and unsweetened iced tea (first time I found this in Nepal).








One last trek through the hectic streets.

A night in Bandipur Village

I had never heard of Bandipur before it was suggested as a stop by the manager at Hotel Friends Home in Kathmandu. We planned to stay here on the way to Pokhara and I was a little unsure about this destination because I couldn't find much online about it.

Bandipur is on top of a mountain and compared to the rest of the Nepal we saw, the only place without scooters and cars.

We arrived and then had to take a bit of a walk to get our hotel, past some houses, a school and a corn field.


The place we stayed was called Hotel Depche. I wouldn't really recommend this place to anyone.


There was no air or fans and the bathroom window wouldn't close so anything flying around outside could fly in.

We walked around the village, enjoyed the quiet and caught a glimpse of the Himalayas. It was a nice stop and a much different side of Nepal than the big cities.


We had dinner at the hotel and asked for Nepalese food. The dinner was all vegetarian.


We played some banana grams and then the Mosquitos moved in so we retired for the night. The hotel was well lit at night.


We woke to some clear sky and the Himalayas out in front of us. It was a really nice morning in Bandipur.





The shower didn't work - so we packed up and hit the road. Bandipur was a nice stop - I wouldn't recommend longer than a day. Hopefully, there is a better place to stay than Hotel Depche.

Chitwan National Park

We left in the morning from the Hotel Friends Home with our private car and driver for Chitwan. It was supposed to be about a 3-4 hour drive, but it turned into a full day affair.

About 2 hours into the drive we came to a stop in the mountains, with cars stretched out in front of us on the road. We sat for awhile and then everyone around us started getting out and walking around, so I did the same.



It was really a beautiful area we were in, with a river running parallel to the road. It also started to rain.



Twice everyone ran to their cars and we would move up a few car lengths only to stop again. Our driver, Prakish, enjoyed the time to take multiple smoke breaks.



Finally, we slowly inched down the hill. It turned out there was a mudslide that had closed the road and now it was open with only 1 lane.


We moved pretty slowly for awhile, and I fell asleep. The whole journey ended up taking 9 hours to get to Chitwan, and then it took some time to find our hotel, Green Park Resort. It was not a resort, but did have the nicest room we stayed in Nepal.



We ate dinner at the hotel: Thali with Dahl and also chicken curry and played some banana grams.






I was really struggling with the travel and even though I slept most of the day in the car, I could barely keep my head up eating dinner, so it was another early night.

We got up early the next morning and in an attempt to have some energy during the day, I decided to take my malaria pill at night. I don't know if this was the difference, but this was the first day I felt good in Nepal, my energy was back!

We ate breakfast at the hotel as a stream of elephants went by: rush hour at Chitwan.

We were driven into the park and got on a elephant to explore the park. Chitwan has one horned rhinos, Bengal tigers, crocodiles, spotted deer and lots of birds. Nepal is very proud to report they lost no rhinos or tigers to poaching during the last two years.






We came across this rhino hanging out in the water hole and then he stood up as our elephant got closer. A beautiful creature and lived up to the rhinos' reputation of being shy animals.

We also saw several spotted dear, peacocks and our guide said he saw a bear, but we didn't see it.

After the elephant, we then road a canoe down the river. The humidity was really strong and the river gave just a little coolness.






We saw a few crocs, birds and one monkey. The monkey looked much healthier than the ones on the street in Kathmandu.

Overall, Chitwan was a nice stop - but we didn't see any tigers. We had some more curry for lunch before getting on the road for Bandipur.



This goat was very interested in my backpack.