Qatar International Airport

After 15 hours in the air from Houston to Doha, we are awaiting our 1:00 am flight to Kathmandu.

It was a very eventful and fun flight with great food local to the region and to India and plenty of drinks. They have an onboard entertainment system called Onyx with a lot of recent releases in movies and music along with Oscar nominated films. All in all a very comfortable 15 hour flight in economy.

Arrival in Doha did not speak well to the culture. Locals cutting the security line in blatant ways, and Euros and Americans alike calling them out causing a near war of words. Local: “Like you all are so perfect (uber arrogant tone). Anonymous verbal combatant: “Maybe not, but we are certainly better than that”.

‘Nuff said; so here we sit…

Message from our in-town guide, Shree

Namaste Alec

Right after you arrive in Nepal you are with Shree so be sure for all arrangements. There might be some ups tackles but every thing will be perfect!

Looking forward to you welcome you in Nepal.

Thank you
Shree

Anticipation

My first decent attempt at a blog finds us preparing for our trip to Nepal. On April 28th at 8:00 pm we depart Houston, Texas for Kathmandu, Nepal via Doha, Qatar. Incredibly, there is non-stop flight from Houston to Qatar which is helping us avoid a lengthy layover and terminal change in Delhi. Delhi, we’ll see ya another time…just not now. We arrive in Kathmandu Saturday April 30th at 8:20 AM (24 hours after departue + 1 day lost to far east travel), only to hopefully stay awake through jet lag and explore cremation grounds, grand Buddhist and Hindu temples displaying elaborate relief statues, shops, street food, restaurants, and bars — culminating in a blessing from monks hopefully granting good karma to our trek.

We will spend a few days in Kathmandu and the adjacent Kathmandu Valley, where even some of the hotels are UNESCO World Heritage sites. On May 2nd we bus 7 hours to Besi Shahar and the trailhead to the Annapunra Circuit which circles the Annapurna Sanctuary and a whole chain of 20,000 foot plus peaks. We will face a few challenges: I am in condition, but have extra body mass to carry and will be sporting somewhat heavy but well broken-in hiking boots. Michelle had ankle surgery late last year and will be battling some swelling. And of course the altitude is the great unknown. If I were a betting man, I’d lay money on my wife Rebecca to finish the trek in the best shape as she rocks a 7 day per week regimen going to the gym and hot yoga. We will try to keep up, sweetheart! We’ve been reading up on Himalayan culture and hopefully faux pas in a cultural regard will be minimal.

Our trek will be of between 11-12 days in duration, ending at Kagbeni in the sacred region of Upper Mustang. From Kagbeni, we will transport to Jomsom where we will catch a mountain hopper plane to Pokhara, the second largest city in Nepal. In Pokhara we will unwind by the lake for about a day before we either take another commuter flight or a bus back to Kathmandu and our departure on May 18th. We hope to spend a total of three or four days total in Kathmandu, but there are variables most notable being acclimatization to the altitude which will reach 5416 meters (17,800 feet) at Thorung La Pass.

Stay tuned for more updates and pictures posted from Kathmandu and the Circuit!

Namaste