Last night in Nepal

While I was out and about yesterday in Pokhara my hotel door was unlocked.  I hadn't forgotten to lock, it was an odd lock, that, yes, I should have checked before leaving.  I had money stolen.  I'm not sure how much but it was well over $100. 

Yippee.

Today the weather was bad (unusual for this time of the year) and with the rain we were not sure if we'd be able to fly out of Pokhara to Kathmandu.  We were told the flight would probably not go and we started investigating other options - a hired car, bus, etc.  The trip is on scary mountain roads.  I remember it being beautiful and scary two years ago when we went to the Chitwan jungle.  The thought of traveling 6-8 hours mostly in the dark was not very appealing. 

Somewhere in the scramble from hotel, airport, checking buses, back to hotel for advice, and back to the airport I lost my small camera.  I am absolutely perplexed because we couldn't find it at the hotel or the taxis we rode in.  Losing the camera doesn't bother me.  Losing all the pictures almost brought me to tears.

Flight after flight was canceled and people started emptying out of the small, crowded airport.  Our plane arrived at dusk.  I can't describe the plane.  I think airlines in the 1950's in the US had better planes.  Most of the passengers were trekkers and had lots of luggage.  Every seat was full.  The plane powered up to the max before releasing the brake.  We traveled the length of the runway and were barely off the ground before the end.

The next obstacle was climbing to 10,000 feet to get over the mountains.  We had to circle to gain enough altitude before heading to Kathmandu.  I watched the altimeter rise and held my breath.  (The altimeter was easy to see as my knees were 6 inches from the co-pilots back.)

In the rain and clouds there was virtually no visibility for most of the flight.  As we finally cleared the last mountain and made into the Kathmandu valley we went into a holding pattern because traffic was backed up at the airport.  We were told it would be 10-15 minutes until we could land. 

Five minutes later an alarm went off.  I suspect it was a fuel warning... anyhow, right after that we circled back and landed. 

It's been an emotional day.