Back to Kathmandu

Even though we are up at 5:00 AM with all bags packed and ready by 5:45, we still missed getting boarding passes on the first flight back to Kathmandu. Flight #2 will have to do. There's such a short window of time that the Lukla flights can operate due to clouds and fog. Early morning flights are the best. We rush through breakfast, say our goodbyes to Karama and enter the "herding coral" to wait for our flight. We find out that some of the people waiting here were scheduled to fly out yesterday but were bumped due to issues with the general strike.

We are very relieved when flight 2 is called and we are all quickly packed into the plane. It takes off smooothly—almost didn't notice the drop-off point at the end of the runway.

Once Kathmandu is in sight, everyone on the plane is commenting that the streets are empty. Kiran meets us at the baggage check and rushes us out to a waiting land rover. We've offered a lift to another passenger who;s travelling alone and not sure how she's going to get back to her hotel due to the strike. Kiran doesn't say a thing but ushers her into the vehicle as well.

All taxis and buses are now marked with makeshift, green signs —"Tourist Only". Rickshaws are the only other vehicles allowed to operate during the strike. Any taxis that are running may be mobbed so it could get difficult travelling in a vehicle. At one point Kiran seems unsatisfied with the sign. We stop and he and the driver get out for about 10 minutes to fuss with the ropes that are attaching the sign.

While we are driving Kiran informs us that our itinerary will probably have to change due to the strike. Although the general strike has only been called for 3 days (we've arrived on day 2) there's speculation that is continue through to the end of the month (when the constitution should be completed). Instead of the 5 hour drive and overnight to Lumbini, we may need to catch a domestic flight to Chitwan and totally bypass Lumbini altogehter. It seems he doesn't want us on the roads because we could get stuck in traffic for days or get stranded at the airport due to lack of transportation in Lumbini.

We wait to hear what gets planned. In the meantime it looks like no shops are open, no restaurants, no ATMs or Internet....