In Nepal! - Start here and work your way up....

Hey everybody. I think I want to start writing about my flight first, which was an adventure in itself. I was on British Airways to London, and then to Delhi, with a four hour layover in Heathrow. I felt like I was in England for about twenty four hours, and I was the one with an accent. The meals were amazing. I had chosen a Hindu meal, and they were very authentic. They even had lime and mango pickle, raita, halva, chapatti besides the curries, sag paneer, and rice. As we flew over London, I could see the Thames, Buckingham Palace, the Old Bailey, and other old buildings. We disembarked on the tarmac for security reasons, which was great because I got to actually step on ground in England, and there was a pleasantly strong smell of the sea in the air. When I was in the airport, I was amazed by the shops. It was like being in an upscale mall, very flashy. I watched a lot BBC World and read most of one of the local papers. I saw a scene of the Old Bailey on the tube which I had just seen in the air, very cool. I hardly slept on any of the flights. I was too wound up, and besides I was drinking tea before landing at each stop, as I didn’t want to be sleeping in the airports. On the way to London, I saw Pan’s Labyrinth, which I had been wanting to see for a while. It was ok, not as good as I expected. On the way to Delhi, I saw Spiderman 3, which I did like. It was hard to see all the action on the tiny screen on the seat ahead of me, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The only other movie I remember seeing (there were a few others) had Anthony Hopkins in it, playing some genius killer. I didn’t see the beginning or end of the movie, so I don’t know the title. I think Mr. Hopkins is getting typecast. Flying over Delhi, there were miles and miles of suburbs, very modern and Western looking. In fact, I was a little too far away to know for sure, but I could swear they looked like gated communities. Getting off the plane, I was hit by a wave of heat and humidity. The first sight I saw was of a man-sized Shiva murti (statue) made of some dark hardwood, and a little further on one of Ganesha of the same size and make, very welcoming. Since I was connecting to another flight, I and a few other people were set aside, and we were interviewed by a nice lady who made us wait in some seats for a couple hours to wait for our boarding passes. There seemed to be no ticket offices that I could see. I met up with a woman from London named Lyla, and we had quite a nice conversation. While we were waiting, we watched the news on a large flat screen tv. I think it was the Indian version of CNN, and was very slick and impressive. There were many flight officials and police (or military, I couldn’t tell which) walking around, standing in groups, and I’d say there were at least as many of them as there were passengers waiting for flights. I saw one policeman with a machine gun walking around, a bit shocking. I see them sometimes here in Nepal as well. I don’t know if I’ll get used to that. Lyla and I were told that someone would be coming to us, but no one came. Apparently, another lady was paging us, which we didn’t hear as we were talking up a storm. Finally, the lady came to us and chided us for not paying attention to the page. She told us that she would meet us again at a certain time, so we took that as a cue that we could get up and move around. We went to a bar and had a beer. Well, she found us there, fifteen minutes before the time we were supposed to meet her, and she scolded us again, and told us not to move, that she’d meet us in the bar, which she eventually did. On the flight to Nepal, I again had an excellent Hindu meal. On none of the flights could I see the Himalayas. In fact I still haven’t, as it’s monsoon season here and there’s always clouds on the horizon. Getting off the plane, again it was instant heat and humidity. But, like India, there was a slightly floral scent in the air that's just like the air in Hawaii. Even now in the café where I’m writing this (I’m out on the patio), I can sometimes smell that same odor. Going through customs was never an issue at any airport. No one looked through my bags at all. I got my luggage, said goodbye to Lyla, and headed towards the door. Before I left I changed all the money in my pocket at a stall that had a sign that said “Government Approved.” My mistake was not counting it first. The man behind the counter told me I had sixty some dollars to change, and when I looked skeptical, he recounted and said it was eighty some dollars. I’m pretty sure I had at least a little over ninety dollars. Welcome to Nepal! Then there was the real pandemonium, getting outside. There was a monk on the other side of a bank of glass windows just before the entrance with a sign that said “Sean”, and I pointed to it and we smiled at each other. After stepping outside, I could see literally hundreds of people, and many were taxi drivers, all poised to harass you into their cab. I just told everyone I had a ride, and the monk and his mother Shekar helped me fend them off. What we couldn’t fend off were the young men who wanted to tote my bags to the car for a fee. Because Shekar and Sanggye (the monk) let them take my large piece of luggage, I went with it. At the car, when I got my wallet out to give them something, I was hesitating because I wasn’t sure what to pay four guys pulling one piece of luggage that I didn’t need help with anyway. While I hesitated they were reaching into my wallet saying “this one, this one,” pointing to a 500 rupee note (about seven dollars). Sanggye told me not to pay, and he and Shekar took care of it. I had carried a laptop and a carrying case to Nepal for them, as they are the buyers for Rigdzin Ling's shop Tibetan Treasures, and the shop wanted them to have internet at their home.