Farewell (For Now) Kathmandu Pinball

It's been a nice four days here in Kathmandu despite nightly power cuts, we've had nearly perfect weather every day. I think I was glued to the window of the taxi we took to Thamel from the airport as I've never been any where quite like it. Tiny mixed dirt and paved roads packed with people, rickshaws and taxis. Walking around is quite like playing pinball. There is pretty much constantly a car horn blowing somewhere...

We haven't done much touristy other than visiting a few sites in the city and Durbar Square. Most of the time we have spent preparing for our 18 or so day trek around the Annapurna range. We've finally arranged all of our gear, opted not to hire a porter (yet), and we embark from the city tomorrow on a 6 hour bus ride to the starting point. From there, we'll hike around the range, staying with local people or in lodges that are setup for trekkers. The highest point on the hike is Thorung La pass at 5416 meters (nearly 18,000 feet). We'll be spending a few days up above 3000 meters and a couple above 4000 meters acclimatizing to make the hike over the pass. After we finish, we'll have a few days in Pokhara and then back here for a day to collect our stuff before heading to India.

It's been a great time to be here with the recent elections for the Constituent Assembly which will decide much of the future of the country. One night we watched a quite large Maoist victory procession through the town (as they've taken a huge lead in the vote). Everyone is eager to discuss the elections which has been truly interesting, sometimes inspirational, and sometimes just scary. Hopefully things will remain peaceful in Nepal and the Maoists truly committed to a multi-party system.

Will write again in a few weeks.