Lagging and lounging

Bright and early this morning, which is really late last night we headed to the airport in Doha for the next leg of our journey, all feeling a bit apprehensive in light of the previous flight. The airport in Doha is ultra modern from the architecture to the public art.

We boarded just before 4:00 am. The flight was packed, but comfortable, and despite flying over mountains it was smooth and while it was over four hours, by contrast to the last flight it seemed reasonably short. We then had fun with bureaucracy getting our visas and had the moment of truth when our bags,not seen for a couple days, did indeed arrive in Kathmandu with us.

There was a bit of confusion with our ride to the hotel, but it all got worked out and we made the slow drive through the city.

There is a major festival going on right now so good chunks of the population are traveling to visit their families and it is the start of high season here. Kathmandu is a horn honking city rather than a light flashing city. There seems to be a general understanding that everyone wants to get where they are going as fast as possible without running into each other. Also lane directions are fluid based on who else happens to be occupying the road. It all somehow works.

By contrast to Doha which is all sand and neon lights, Kathmandu is green and dark with brightly colored buildings. The view from our balcony is quite lovely. There is also a lovely garden area with lots of shade where we drank tea and talked with the proprietor about the city and the hotel business. It was tempting to just sit around for the rest of the afternoon, and we certainly did some of that, but we also ventured out to do some ATM finding and some window shopping. 

We had a moment of county's ion with exchange rates and a whale of a time at the ATMs, but eventually we were sufficiently supplied with money. After a short nap, a good antidote to the mild hallucinations I was having, we headed out to grab some food. We had a close call with a large group of Germans singing Abba, but managed to find a quiet spot with good food, only occasionally bothered by begging kitties.

So here we are, halfway around the world. There is a cool breeze from the open windows. The thunderstorm started after sundown when we were already back in the room. I am trying to stay awake  another hour or so to fend off the worst of the jet lag, but feel like if I crashed now it would be just fine. We are ten hours and 45 minutes ahead of Minnesota time so part of my brain still things it is 9:36 in the morning. Tomorrow we explore.