Hotel Ganish Himal, Kathmandu, Nepal

The past couple of days have been quite hectic. Should slow down now for awhile. The hotel had a better room available and asked if we'd like it so we said yes. It was all of two dollars more. The room is larger and has a bathtub with shower. No shower curtain though! Dad has strung up my clothesline over the tub and we've done some handwashing. Dad complains about all of my 'rules', sometime, as he calls them. I have another, new rule, if that's what you want to call it. We are each responsible for our own clothes. That's the rule. I take care of mine, he takes care of his. So I wash out my clothes each evening and he lets his stack up until there is a mountain of them staring in his face. There are many places here that will do laundry by weight. I'd just take myclothes there if I were him. The problem here is that now it is quite chilly and the clothes are taking so long to dry. Days. Seems like they might mold before drying! Our new room is on the fourth floor, no lifts here! Good exercise, but the problem is that the wifi doesn't reach clear up there so I have to use the computer in the lobby now. No problem, but it is cold in here with the open doors. Sitting here is entertaining. The women who clean the rooms here are Tibetian, I think. They carry huge loads of dirty, and clean, launtry on their backs. I mean huge loads that must weigh almost as much as they do. On the streets you see people carrying such heavy loads, dressed in poor clothing and cheap well worn flip-flops (I'm wearing warm socks and nice comfortable tennis shoes). It would be nice to get pictures of them but sometimes photography seems so intrusive. The paper today said there are over 700 street children in Kathmandu. Last night walking home from dinner, with our bellies full, we saw some young boys digging through trash looking for food. In the same paper was a picture of a group of children being given warm blankets  from a charity for sleeping  in the open. Poverty is thought provoking for sure.

All over town are ads for travel agencies that include trekking (hiking) trips. Dad talked about trekking and asked if I'd like to go with him. I said no. So, he contacted the travel agency in our hotel here and has arranged a 4 day trek. He and the guide left a couple of hours ago. We ate breakfast here at the hotel and when we finished the guide was early, waiting for him. So I stayed and talked to him while Dad went up and got his pack. I asked him if he enjoyed trekking and a big smile crossed his face. He loves the outdoors. Loves hiking. He seemed like a happy, fun man. I'd guess late 30's or early 40's. He said the elevation isn't too high where they will be going, so it won't be too cold. They go through some forest, so they will stay below the treeline. He said the hotels are fairly nice where they will be staying. Hard to imagine 'nice' hotels where they cater to trekkers only, where there aren't even roads, where even all food items have to be taken in on somebodys back. This trek is supposedly all inclusive, hotels, food, guide, transportation, everything but drinks. Makes it very convenient. I hope dad understood everything right because he didn't take much money with him. He bought a lightweight windbreaker-rain jacket last night. There are so many nice clothing stores but none are fixed price and the time wasted in bargaining is ridiculous. I get frustrated with it. I hope both, Dad and guide, have a good time. He took the camera so maybe I'll ask him to write on my blog when he gets back.

Well, my day is free today. I'm cold, sitting in this lobby so maybe I'll go for a walk. After my birthday dinner last night I suggested we walk to Freak Street where there is supposed to be a restaurant with excellent chocolate cake but after dodging the traffic for awhile I lost interest and we didn't do it. Maybe I'll try to find it today. That's a good goal, don't you think? Chocolate cake!      Love, Mom