IN NAMCHE BAZAAR

Hi Everyone,  this trek is absolutely beautiful in every way.  Many small communities live along the path we are taking and as we get closer to heaven or thereabouts, lol, we are always amazed at this hearty people making their life in the mountains.  One of our porters, when asked what mountain we were looking at one time, he said "These are just hills", Everest and others similar were not in view at the time, but believe me, these great mountains surround us all the way.  We did see tall snowcapped peaks in the distance so we have some great pictures and videos to show.  Well, time is limited here at Namche and I cannot upload any pictures; however, one of the great highlights of this adventure was sitting during breakfast at Lukla airport's Inn and seeing Sir Edmund Hillary's son sitting across from us, only us in the tea house at the time.  We, naturally, asked to take a picture of him with us.  I shook his hand and told him it was a honour to meet him.  He was a most gentle and sweet man and his presence just seemed to put the stamp on our journey that this was meant to be.  Meanwhile, everyday is unpredictable and we can only hope that our health and weather will permit us to reach our goal.  Bye for now and more pictures will come later when we return to Kathmandu.  Stay tuned.

EXPLORING AREAS NEAR KATHMANDU

Hi Everyone,

We are well and enjoying our first 2-day trekking in Nagarkot, a small mountain outside Kathmandu.  We did 12 km first day and second day 12 km completing a loop  hike through little communities and villages.  Amazing eye opener of happy hardworking people, very poor, lots of garbage everywhere and many many small children, many young families.  The children play outside with soccer ball, happy and smiling.  At this time, there is a big celebration for two weeks, everything closes and people leave the city to join their families.  The city closes down for week so they can celebrate 15-day Dashain Festival, where they sacrifice and honor one type of animal per day by cutting off its head, ending the week by celebrating day of brother and day of sister - they do not get their heads cut off!!  When I get a chance again I will send some pictures.  October 24th is the biggest celebration day so we will be delaying our  trek by one day so that we can experience  their culture.  We also visited 3 ancient temples in surrounding area.  Just the driving is like being in a movie.  The traffic is heavy, with people walking, cycling, motorcycle, small cars all weaving around each other within small alleyways, amazingly nobody gets hit.  So much more to tell you when I can.  This computer sticks ... I will so much appreciate more the computer I have back home and at work!  :-)  We are really enjoying  ourselves.  Bye for  now. 

FLYING TO NEPAL on QATAR AIRLINES

Well, we are into day 2 of travelling.  We left Cornwall just before noon on Wednesday, stopped at Applebees in Watertown for a late lunch, about 2pm and arrived in Syracuse about 4:00 pm.  All flights went smoothly and on time.  Our flight at 7:30 pm left on time from Syracuse and we landed in Washington DC at 8:30 pm.  The grand flying experience only really took effect on Qatar Airlines.  WOW, classy, professional, comfortable and beautiful.  Lots of foot room; however, when the seats recline ahead of you, you'll want to recline as well, in that respect all airlines resembled.  The flight left at 11:30 pm and then began our 12-hour journey to Doha, Qatar ... that tiny little peaceful country in the Middle East.  We had two full course meals, supper and then breakfast, with a sandwich in between with complimentary wine, beer and other drinks.  Each seat had its own TV that moved to allow you better visibility.  It also had a video game component ... so naturally, I wanted to try golf, pool and some sort of new age packman.  I did manage to fall asleep between movies, tv shows and games.  I would definitely fly Qatar Airways again!

The lap top we brought is too old and unfortunately, way too slowwwww, so I was not able to upload some photos.  Presently, we are in a beautiful lounge at the Doha airport for the night... our next connecting flight is at 8am tomorrow (Friday) to take us to Kathmandu.  I am using their computer and free Wifi.  In this case, you pay $40 for six hours of lounging, free food, drinks, wifi use and sleeping, oh yes, and showers ... most likely our last before we return home - we are roughing you know!!  :-)

Okay, I'm going to sign out now as I want to try some more of the food here and take a shower.  We are safe, comfortable, all together and in good health.  Hopefully, I can find another Wifi service in Kathmandu and update you there.  Bye for now.

 

Here's a sample of a meal on our Qatar flight.  Notice our sleeping arrangements for the layover in Doha and the last pic is outside the lounge we stayed at in previous picture, in Doha.

SPECTACULAR FALL COLOURS IN THE MOUNTAINS

In preparation for our great hike to Base Camp, Everest, opportunities were seized when the weather was sunny and mild, to some extent!  On this past Thanksgiving Sunday, I was able to hike up Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid.  On Thanksgiving Monday, four of us spent a beautiful afternoon strolling through the forest of the Gatineau Hills and the colours were even more spectacular in all its array and brilliance.  With the clouds above and the sun pouring in between them and through the trees, it created such an illuminating canopy above our heads that I could not resist but to put my digital camera into constant action.  Here are only a few of those moments.  I was able to get out again with a friend for another hike.  This time up  Algonquin Mountain near Lake Placid, New York.  It was a colder day, still with colours on the trees, fewer though and as we made our way up the mountain, ice and snow increased and shortly, we were into winter but beuatiful in its own wondrous way.