Beautiful Nepal - Day One

The day started as any other - I got up, had a mountain of Muesli and went to RMMRU for another day at the office, but this was far from just another day - today Vic and I were off the Nepal! Escaping from the office early, I headed home for a last phuchka lunch with Vic and Linda before we headed to the airport. As we piled Vic's 10 million bags into the taxi amid goodbyes to Linda and the screaming street children who have taken to attacking us lately, it still hadn't sunk in that I was really off the mountainous country!
The airport was quick and painless, and as I squeezed Vic's hand tight during takeoff the realisation finally hit me - Nepal here I come. There was a scuffle for the visa on arrival counter as everyone tried desperately to finish the form filling process quickly. Then tragedy struck, I was faced with the daunting fact that I needed a passport photograph to go with the form. Vic luckily had one with her and I thought of the 15 photos back in my room in Dhaka! The next moment will go down in history as the moment when the worst photo of me ever taken happened! The man taking them pushed the button just at the moment I saw that I was going to have to pay 200 rupees for this privilege. Not to worry, it is a memory - one I will not show on this blog if I ever want to be seen in public again.
Visa in hand, we got a taxi and headed for Kathmandu city centre. We were heading for a hotel recommended by the Lonely Planet which was unfortunately full but they pointed us to another great hotel and we made this clean establishment on the edges of Thamel, our Kathmandu home. The streets to Thamel were filled with the people and traffic of rush hour and yet it seemed nothing like the city we had left behind. The thing that struck us both was the variety of faces - I have never been in a country where the difference from person to person is so striking. The Nepalese are a beautiful people. I was particularly pleased by the large number of strikingly handsome men around! There was no staring, although spitting was still a large part of the noise around.
After a brief rest we headed out from Tenki hotel to explore the area. All around there were shops, restaurants and stalls alive with colour and smells. Kathmandu as Vic pointed out, has its own distinct smell one which is difficult to place but is certainly not unpleasant to the senses.
A bowel of pasta and a glass of red wine later and RMMRU, Dhaka and smog seemed a million miles away.