I left Bangalore and headed for the airport with Reem at 11pm on 25th Oct. She had a flight to Aus at 3am and i had a flight to Kolkata at 6am. We said our farewells at the airport and it was time to contort the body to get some sleep. Getting a few minutes sleep i made friends with some guy sitting next to me, waiting to fly back to Delhi. Its so interesting how everyone has a story, i swear airports are the best place to hear them. It was time to check in and again get some more sleep. 6am rolled around and it was time to board AirIndia to fly to Kolkata. I sat next to a man and a woman and their 2 year old boy. He was an adventurous boy, trying to feed me pomergranate as well as trying to take my butter. We soon just looked through the inflight magazine together and tested his english. It was time to get off, but i had the opportunity to chat to the ppl next to me. I found out they were brother and sister, and the boy was the sister's son. They were both Nepalese heading back home from India. We hopped off the plane and realised we were gonna sit next to each on our flight to Kathmandu. What an awesome thing it was, coz it turns out he was a top bloke. We chatted in Kolkata airport (a huge airport btw) to kill our 5 hr wait time. He was so friendly and he was willing to give me a sim card to use for the fortnight i was in Nepal. He was also wanting to show me around Nepal and gave me his number that "if was ever in trouble" he would drop everything and come help.
We sat in the lounge waiting to board our plane. i forgot to mention that there were so many americans at Kolkata airport. Everyone wondered why? Next minute, all of them came sitting in the same lounge, all waiting to board to Nepal. 2 of them sat next to me, so i needed ask. I found out that there were 54 college students all part of this thing called 'World Race'. 11 months, 11 countries - serving and helping out different ministries and organisations. They asked me about what i was doing, and i told them that i was visiting friends and that i was a part of YoungLife. that got really excited because a few of them are a part of younglife in the USA. Its always like that, once you're in younglife, you're a part of the family. So we hopped onto the plane and headed to Nepal. I got the window sit this time, so i got to see outside, but unfortunately, the window was all dirty and scratched. But that did not stop me from seeing the views that i saw. Over the PA the pilot announced details about our arrival time and then said that we can see the himalayas and Mt everest. saw i quickly looked out the window and there it was - a vista of snow covered mountains. A sight that i have never seen before. Mountain after mountain covered in snow. Clouds would cover the top but some mountains still peered ontop of the clouds. what a spectacular sight. How much more spectacular if the window wasnt so scratched haha. As we descended to land, my mate that i made friends with a few hours before said that he would help me with the airport, and that he would call my contact, Mary Lou, once i reached the airport. Im glad he did, because Kathmandu airport was crazy! so many foreigners, so many ppl not knowing what's going on or wot to do. I had to buy a visa, but i needed to go to a counter, who told me to go to a different counter, who told me to go to another counter to fill out a form and then bring it back. gosh, it was hectic. Once that was all complete i went down to the baggage collection area to collect my bag. Theres only 2 carousels in a tiny room, and like so many flights coming in, so u can imagine what the scene was like....ppl jammed together trying to get their trolleys through with no luck, it was total chaos haha. but thats eastern culture, theres no lines. I lost my friend but then i found him again, he was waiting for me the entire time with a trolley to pick up my luggage. he gave me his phone and told me to call Mary Lou, she was outside waiting for me in the masses of people. I said goodbye to my friend and caught a taxi with mary lou. They crazy thing is that theres no petrol here, so taxis were demanding exorbitant prices, but thats what happens when theres no petrol. the airport was gridlocked as taxis jammed in together, trying to find business to at least make a buck. We drove through the streets of Kathmandu to lines and lines of empty cars parked on the side of the road, and lines and lines of motorbikes on the other side. All of them were waiting for petrol. A devastating sight to see.
We finally rolled up to a small alleyway and headed towards the gate. I made it to Mary Lou's place - a little bit of paradise. I made it to nepal!
We sat in the lounge waiting to board our plane. i forgot to mention that there were so many americans at Kolkata airport. Everyone wondered why? Next minute, all of them came sitting in the same lounge, all waiting to board to Nepal. 2 of them sat next to me, so i needed ask. I found out that there were 54 college students all part of this thing called 'World Race'. 11 months, 11 countries - serving and helping out different ministries and organisations. They asked me about what i was doing, and i told them that i was visiting friends and that i was a part of YoungLife. that got really excited because a few of them are a part of younglife in the USA. Its always like that, once you're in younglife, you're a part of the family. So we hopped onto the plane and headed to Nepal. I got the window sit this time, so i got to see outside, but unfortunately, the window was all dirty and scratched. But that did not stop me from seeing the views that i saw. Over the PA the pilot announced details about our arrival time and then said that we can see the himalayas and Mt everest. saw i quickly looked out the window and there it was - a vista of snow covered mountains. A sight that i have never seen before. Mountain after mountain covered in snow. Clouds would cover the top but some mountains still peered ontop of the clouds. what a spectacular sight. How much more spectacular if the window wasnt so scratched haha. As we descended to land, my mate that i made friends with a few hours before said that he would help me with the airport, and that he would call my contact, Mary Lou, once i reached the airport. Im glad he did, because Kathmandu airport was crazy! so many foreigners, so many ppl not knowing what's going on or wot to do. I had to buy a visa, but i needed to go to a counter, who told me to go to a different counter, who told me to go to another counter to fill out a form and then bring it back. gosh, it was hectic. Once that was all complete i went down to the baggage collection area to collect my bag. Theres only 2 carousels in a tiny room, and like so many flights coming in, so u can imagine what the scene was like....ppl jammed together trying to get their trolleys through with no luck, it was total chaos haha. but thats eastern culture, theres no lines. I lost my friend but then i found him again, he was waiting for me the entire time with a trolley to pick up my luggage. he gave me his phone and told me to call Mary Lou, she was outside waiting for me in the masses of people. I said goodbye to my friend and caught a taxi with mary lou. They crazy thing is that theres no petrol here, so taxis were demanding exorbitant prices, but thats what happens when theres no petrol. the airport was gridlocked as taxis jammed in together, trying to find business to at least make a buck. We drove through the streets of Kathmandu to lines and lines of empty cars parked on the side of the road, and lines and lines of motorbikes on the other side. All of them were waiting for petrol. A devastating sight to see.
We finally rolled up to a small alleyway and headed towards the gate. I made it to Mary Lou's place - a little bit of paradise. I made it to nepal!
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