Saturday, August 9, 2008

Mr. Joshi and the City of Kathmandu 9/08/08 Day 23

Remember Shovan from the other day. Well he told me that his father who lives in Kathmandu might want to take me around to some of the more hidden Temples if I was interested. I told him that would be nice but I didn't want him to offer his father's time if it was an inconvenience. Well that was a few days ago and I didn't think it was going to happen. But he called and we meet. Mr. Joshi, Great man. Strange things happen like this. Turns out he goes for a walk through this area every few days and he thought I might like to see it. I think because Shovan works in Utah and he has been to Utah and he knows that I'm from Utah might have had something to do with it. I was a little anxious because I had some things I wanted to do before the rest of the group arrived from London but it was very enjoyable. We started at 7am which showed me the city in the morning before all the cars and motorcycles came out. The merchants were just getting opened and it was kind of clean. We went to many temples and a palace. It was a special holiday too. The Give and Take holiday. He told me it was something like kids day. I was suprised to see that the poor mothers were giving rupies to the temple leaders so that they could get a small handful of rice. Something wasn't quite right with this. It was a great morning though. I learned a good lesson though. The cab driver wanted to wait for me and I told him no but he did anywhay. When I got back to the main Temple he found me and gave me a ride to the hotel. We argured over the fare because he wanted to charge me for the time he waited. We settled on the low end but the guy tried to rip me off. He didn't get me though. Later I meet with Krishna to talk about some of the things to consider on the trek. He was so helpful. we went to a supermarket and he looked over my gear. He suggested what to take and what to leave. We came up with a good plan. The one thing I was missing was a duffel bag to put my gear in. This bag your to give to the porters to carry and then you just carry your personal gear. Well I had see several stores I could get one from cheap. I thought I would get it tomorrow morning. The group will be arriving soon and they will need to pick up some things. I have been scouting out the area for what I think they will need if they want it. Well the group arrived and they seem like a good group 12 total with me. Larger then I was told. Later to find they put two group dates togather. We had a meeting at 6pm with the guide and it didn't go to well. I was under the impresion that we would fly to Lukala on Monday but the guide wants to go tomorrow morning at 5 am. This was a suprise to everyone. I guess that the airport in Lukala can get clouded in and you don't know until your at the Kathmandu airport or in the air. I thought someone should have told us of this possablity. Another bad thing was the guide was very avasive to many questions ask by me and others. I didn't like the meeting or the guide. This guy is slippery. Adapt, overcome, conquer. Deep breath 5am is going to come early.

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