We decided to go into the city (Kathmandu) today. After staying in at our friends' house during the last two days of strike (no vehicles allowed on the roads), we were going a little stir crazy. We decided to come to this quiet refuge/coffee shop perched above the chaos of the city. It is all the more sweet after the journey here.
We walked down to the road and hailed a local "micro" (20 Nepali-sized passenger van used for public transport). It looked too full to take; then we remembered that we are in Nepal...of course there was room. As I grasped Nate's waist and strained to see Nick holding on, on the outside, and counted the heads of our party (including Josh who was sitting on a stranger's lap), I decided to count all the heads. Because of the difficulty counting those hanging onto the outside, I am still not sure if there were 37 or 40 people crammed into/onto the van; I am sure there were at least 37. So, the quiet spaciousness of the coffee shop is greatly appreciated...not to mention the free Internet connection.
So, now I will post the notes from our journey to Nepal. By the way, Kylie is the classic strong, courageous, well-adjusted MK; she is doing fantastic with all the oddities of life here. I realized this morning, as we hand-washed our laundry together, that I have a gift in having another woman in the house; thank you, LORD.
The Journey to Nepal
"We are three and a half hours into the journey, and we are only twenty minutes from home." The plane had mechanical problems and we had to take a different flight that left Spokane later.
Sitting in the airport...now 12 hours into the journey and we still have not left the U.S.
The longest leg of the flight was 15 hours between Los Angeles and Hong Kong. We were split up due to our late change of flight plans. Jake and Kimberly were seated together...Jake was sleeping in mid-flight and woke to find his Mom was not next to him and her movie was still playing. For the last 5 hours of the flight , Kimberly sat in Business class tending to a passenger who presented with the classic signs of heart attack...at 40,000 ft over the Pacific ocean. With aspirin (which we happened to pack this time), Nitroglycerin, oxygen and an AED standing by, we made it into Hong Kong and the passenger deplaned looking pretty well.
We had 12 hours to spend in Hong Kong. With a desire to show our kids the world, a goal to stay awake, and motivation to make the hours pass more quickly, we exited the airport and got on a tour bus. The weather was perfect: sunny and about 60 degrees. We saw everything from flowering hillsides to the view from the world's 4th tallest building (the 360 degree view afforded the opportunity to see how this city accommodates 7 million people: many high rise apartment buildings). Our tour guide, "Willi," enlightened us about the "one country, two systems;" mainland China is communist and Hong Kong is capitalist. He also made sure that the tour was concluded with an authentic Chinese meal, complete with jasmine tea, dim sum, noodles, pork in pancake and other delectables. It was thoroughly enjoyed by everybody, except maybe Josh whose taste buds are less mature and/or adventurous. At this point, we are a day and a half into our journey, each of us functioning on between four and six hours of sleep; we are trying to stay awake for seven to eight more hours in hopes that the total exhaustion will help us sleep on Nepal's schedule right away. Let's see if that works.
It did not work...within 5 minutes of take-off, all seven of us were asleep (that is according to report, as of course, I was among those sleeping). Apparently we missed the meal and had to be awoken at the landing. Ah, the challenges of crossing twelve time zones. Anyway, extreme exhaustion is helping us sleep at night now that we are here in Nepal, so for that we can be thankful.
Power cuts are 14 hours per day and Internet is only available by hot spot, for a price, where we are staying, so this may be posted after we reach Tansen...whenever that may be: we arrived just as a national strike began. All roads are closed. We have had to delay the move to Tansen for at least two days. We hope we can get out there soon.
Thank you for following our odyssey.
for the Beines, and Kylie
We walked down to the road and hailed a local "micro" (20 Nepali-sized passenger van used for public transport). It looked too full to take; then we remembered that we are in Nepal...of course there was room. As I grasped Nate's waist and strained to see Nick holding on, on the outside, and counted the heads of our party (including Josh who was sitting on a stranger's lap), I decided to count all the heads. Because of the difficulty counting those hanging onto the outside, I am still not sure if there were 37 or 40 people crammed into/onto the van; I am sure there were at least 37. So, the quiet spaciousness of the coffee shop is greatly appreciated...not to mention the free Internet connection.
So, now I will post the notes from our journey to Nepal. By the way, Kylie is the classic strong, courageous, well-adjusted MK; she is doing fantastic with all the oddities of life here. I realized this morning, as we hand-washed our laundry together, that I have a gift in having another woman in the house; thank you, LORD.
The Journey to Nepal
"We are three and a half hours into the journey, and we are only twenty minutes from home." The plane had mechanical problems and we had to take a different flight that left Spokane later.
Sitting in the airport...now 12 hours into the journey and we still have not left the U.S.
The longest leg of the flight was 15 hours between Los Angeles and Hong Kong. We were split up due to our late change of flight plans. Jake and Kimberly were seated together...Jake was sleeping in mid-flight and woke to find his Mom was not next to him and her movie was still playing. For the last 5 hours of the flight , Kimberly sat in Business class tending to a passenger who presented with the classic signs of heart attack...at 40,000 ft over the Pacific ocean. With aspirin (which we happened to pack this time), Nitroglycerin, oxygen and an AED standing by, we made it into Hong Kong and the passenger deplaned looking pretty well.
We had 12 hours to spend in Hong Kong. With a desire to show our kids the world, a goal to stay awake, and motivation to make the hours pass more quickly, we exited the airport and got on a tour bus. The weather was perfect: sunny and about 60 degrees. We saw everything from flowering hillsides to the view from the world's 4th tallest building (the 360 degree view afforded the opportunity to see how this city accommodates 7 million people: many high rise apartment buildings). Our tour guide, "Willi," enlightened us about the "one country, two systems;" mainland China is communist and Hong Kong is capitalist. He also made sure that the tour was concluded with an authentic Chinese meal, complete with jasmine tea, dim sum, noodles, pork in pancake and other delectables. It was thoroughly enjoyed by everybody, except maybe Josh whose taste buds are less mature and/or adventurous. At this point, we are a day and a half into our journey, each of us functioning on between four and six hours of sleep; we are trying to stay awake for seven to eight more hours in hopes that the total exhaustion will help us sleep on Nepal's schedule right away. Let's see if that works.
It did not work...within 5 minutes of take-off, all seven of us were asleep (that is according to report, as of course, I was among those sleeping). Apparently we missed the meal and had to be awoken at the landing. Ah, the challenges of crossing twelve time zones. Anyway, extreme exhaustion is helping us sleep at night now that we are here in Nepal, so for that we can be thankful.
Power cuts are 14 hours per day and Internet is only available by hot spot, for a price, where we are staying, so this may be posted after we reach Tansen...whenever that may be: we arrived just as a national strike began. All roads are closed. We have had to delay the move to Tansen for at least two days. We hope we can get out there soon.
Thank you for following our odyssey.
for the Beines, and Kylie
Hooray! So glad you all made it safely, happy there were no riot police in Hong Kong :) I look forward to your updates!
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