Getting to Kathamandu

After 36 hours in travel, 3 flights, 3 time zones, 17 hours in the air (12 of those on an over night flight with crying babies), and 13 hours waiting in airports we finally arrived in Kathmandu. What seemed like a long uncomfortable stretch of waiting and sitting suddenly became the most calming part of our trip.

Once we stepped outside of the airport, it was like we were celebrities. All the passengers were greeted with a wall of about 40 taxi and tour operators,lined up across the street, waving signs and/or yelling. The police and security were there to keep things check I guess. Once we saw our PeakFreaks contact, Kiran we gave a wave and then were whisked away very quickly to the car. We were both presented with a flower offering, baggage was stowed, last minute instructions were given to us and the driver, then we were off.
 

The drive was incredible. The streets look like they were made for one lane of traffic, the drivers seem to have made them into 2 1/2 lanes. Horns were beeping constantly (despite the fact that some streets have a "no horns" sign). The streets are very narrow and filled with pedestrians, other cars, buses, lots of motorcycles and sleeping dogs. We can't figure out how no one manages to get hurt.

After about 15 minutes we arrived at the Nirvana Garden Hotel. Since we arrived before check out time, we had to wait around for a few hours to get a room so we sat out side the hotel in their garden area equipped with WiFi, lounge chairs, goldfish pond, waterfall and tons of different plants and flowers. We ate breakfast in the garden and once our room was ready, settled in for quick cat nap. It will be an early night for us.