Returning to Kathmandu

Pokhara– Kathmandu

After breakfast transfer to airport for the flight back to Kathmandu.

After a lovely night's sleep I put my boots on for almost the last time...

and went in for breakfast where I felt a big truck going by the hotel. When Dev joined me he asked me if I felt the earthquake and I was able to say yes. Strangely, no one else felt it, but at least we felt validated. The breakfast buffet had some of the local honey, so I was excited to try some. Unfortunately, it wasn't the honey with psychotropic side-effects:(. But what I did try was wonderful! It was nice to have some ripe fruit and yogurt too.

Here is my favorite sign for the day - I didn't see any live pancakes. Who knows what I would have seen if I tried the special honey....

The weather was good enough to see Annapurna and Fishtail - see, I could have avoided all the pain of the hike by just seeing the tops from here....

I always enjoy seeing the telephone poles and am amazed any phones work

and some traffic on the way to the airport

For some reason, my bag was 1.8KG lighter on this return trip. I did donate some gloves which I will never wear again, but those didn't weigh 5 pounds. We decided it was all the chocolate I brought...

We almost missed the boarding again - they seem to call all the flights except ours - both out and back.

Our flight was again on Air Buddha ATF72 which is manufactured in France and Italy - I felt unsafe.... It was odd to realize our top altitude on the flight was 11,500 feet and we were higher on our trek - the last time I had this experience was climbing Kilimanjaro.

It was beautiful weather for flying. Because of some air traffic, we were routed around to see the Everest range as well - rather unusual routing. (the blurry ones are of Everest)

We got back to Dwarikas and I had a day to relax. My room today was a slightly different configuration, but still had a nice soaking tub.

I realized I hadn't found any souvenirs of this journey - I was able to get an Annapurna buff in Pokhara, but I decided to try to get some locally made incense.

I went off to Pashupati temple - a Heritage Site with the main crematorium. I went there during my last visit. Crossing the street was very exciting - you have to cross 6 lanes of very busy traffic with no right of way or lights. I waited for a group of locals and went with them. This trip there were still many people celebrating Krishna's birthday and it was very crowded.

I got lost in the temple complex, no surprise, I went into one of their gardens

and ended up in an area where I was the only white female face. It was a sort of street bazar and took the opportunity to see what was for sale. No photos of this or the street crossing:)

If found something at a stall and bought it, but later found out it was commercially made in India, so took a chance at the hotel gift shop and found some.

Had chicken chili for lunch and dinner, but not nearly as good as in Jhinu, so I think I have it out of my system now. The beer wasn't very tasty, but at least I tried

Had a quiet night, still with bad sinus and very chapped lips.