Last days in Kathmandu. May 5/6

Today, Gerald decided that he could not shave his beard (as this was an overwhelming task, it seems), but had to go to a Barber to get this done. This was somewhat problematic as everything is closed until 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., prime 'shopping' time.


markets are open from 6p.m. to 8p.m.




Luckily for Gerald, there was a brave place open, some blocks away from our hotel. The Barber shop had three workers, working steadily. Gerald got a shave, a facial and a back massage. After an hour of work, the bill came to $10.00.


getting a trim

While Gerald was having his face 'done', MaryIris was sitting on the edge of the shop people watching. Or, were they watching me, watching -- difficult to tell. Suddenly, there was a flurry of action as I was quickly told to get into the barber shop, while the'garage door' quickly went down. As we sat in the shop, we could hear the Maoist protestors walking by the shop, shouting their slogans and singing songs. After a period of time, the sounds decreased. Still, we waited in the shop until it was safe to open the 'garage door' and resume business as usual. It was an eerie feeling, again.


Maoist demonstrators

Around 5:30 p.m., we walked our Base Camp friends to the Tourist Bus, some blocks away, as they were leaving for the airport -- returning back to Edmonton, the other two (from Vancouver) going on to China. It was sad to say goodbye to the people we had climbed to Base Camp with. That evening we had supper at our hotel, which luckily made good food.

The next day, May 6th, we packed up our things. Somehow, despite the 'shopping curfew', we ended up with two additional bags and two backpacks to carry to the Tourist Bus today. Today, the temperature had dropped some and it was raining -- the beginning of the Monsoon Season. Good timing, on our part, having finished our trek in excellent, dry weather, except for a few snow flurries.


our Kathmandu hotel


After packing, we spent the day walking around the area for the last time, saying goodbye to Kathmandu and Nepal and our Base Camp Trek. We arrived at the Tourist Bus at 6:00 p.m. to be taken to the Airport to begin our 22-hour trip home. It was strange to see the streets, roads filled with people walking rather than the cars, motorbikes we had previously seen.

We boarded our plane to Doha, Qatar at 11:30 p.m. Arriving in Doha (after some five hours), we spent the evening in the Quiet Room trying to sleep. The next morning, we boarded at 9:30 a.m.. for our 14.5 hour trip to Washington.


- we'll be in Canada in 22 hrs.

Thank goodness Qatar Airlines provided lovely blankets, pillows, sleep masks, socks , toothpaste and individual television screens, with an array of movies to watch. The meals with white/red wine were also wonderful, as were the snacks of ice-cream.. Arriving in Washington, we boarded our next plane within a couple of hours for a 1.5 hour ride to Toronto Airport.

Dylan, greeted us quickly at the Airport as we adjusted to the temperature change and the rainy weather. While we enjoyed our adventure -- it was good to be home.

Namaste
MaryIris and Gerald