not in kansas toto...my first 12 hours in Nepal

You know how sometimes you just know when things aren't going to be good? How, no matter how alright the current situation may seem, you just know that things won't be going your way for much longer? Danielle and I have often joked about "forebode" in the past few months. A word to the wise. Don't joke about forebode...apparently it's like karma and will come and bite you in the ass.

In retrospect my first 12 hours in Nepal weren't as scary as I felt at the time. It was just the variable of the utter unknown mixed with being alone and apparently in the middle of a general strike during which all traffic had ceased and fiery rocks being thrown at cars. Seriously, who lands in the middle of that? Apparently me, stupid Murphy's Law.

I shall explain.

It started when my flight leaving Bangkok was an hour late. As I sat in the waiting room reading my book I kept glancing around for any sign of a friendly face. There were none. Well, that's not true. I was definitely getting attention from 95% of the male passengers also waiting. I've lived in Asia long enough to be able to ignore it, but it in no way helped with my feelings of forebode. Now, since I was still in Bangkok I was wearing shorts and a tank top. Aware that Kathmandu would be colder I reasoned that I would change in a bathroom upon arrival. What I didn't count on was the airplane being a refrigerator. I asked for a blanket, but there were apparently only 20 on board, and all had been previously claimed. Honestly, 20 blankets?

...sense of foreboding getting stronger.

At this point I had plenty of time to look around. It's sad, but I guess seeing that I had just finished a month of travel in SEAsia I had focused primarily on that area, the cultures, what to do, see, etc. Since my time in Nepal would be mostly taken up by my trek I honestly had not thought about the Nepali culture, their dress, attitudes...anything. I was now realizing. From my time living in Abbotsford I became quite aware of Indian culture. I wasn't only flying to Nepal, I was flying into an arm of India. Hmmmm...wasn't prepared for that. The plane ride was loud, despite the fact that the lights had been turned off. The food was amazing, curry, and I had a pick of two meals, fish or pork. I chose pork, realizing even more so that I was heading into a different place than I had ever thought to realize. No beef here! For the rest of the ride I hunkered down and buried myself in my book.

During the flight I had strained to see signs of life in the darkness. My flight had left Bangkok in late twilight so my only hopes were the small dots of life I sometimes saw. The pilot informed us when we were flying over Dhaka. Again, the realization that I'd put no thought into this trip whatsoever struck me. I was currently flying over Bangladesh! All I can say about the capital city of Bangladesh is that it's not very big, or the majority of the outlying structures don't use lights. I'd say it's about the size of Campbell River. How didn't I realize the enormity of the trip I was embarking on?? I think somewhere in my mind, I must of, but that realization was a little scary, so I chose to ignore it. No ignoring it now...shit.

A little while later we arrived in Kathmandu. Upon exiting the plane I was surprised to find it at a perfect 23C with no humidity. Yay no humidity!!! My spirits raised. I'd had time to deal with the fact that I knew nothing about Nepal (or what I was going to do in the day I waited for Ginny and Martha), but reasoned that my company would provide lots of information and I could get a book first thing in the morning. I was ready to begin the adventure. I breezed through security, waited heart-stoppingly long for my bag - feelings of unrest beginning to creep in again - and headed for the exit to meet my trekking company.

I've read a lot of travel books and I've traveled my fair share in places where at every turn someone is ready to part you and your cash. I know the lines "miss, your hotel is not good, you should come with me" "oh no madame, i'm sorry to say that your hotel isn't there anymore. "Oh....THAT company, nono, very bad, you must come with me." I've stepped off of buses in remote places and been bombarded. I know how to say no, i've perfected the hard face. i was prepared. The same thing happened in Kathmandu. I stepped out the main doors and into a sea of "helpful" faces. It's ok though, I was looking for my name of a sign. It would all be over soon. I scanned the crowd. It wasn't that big, seeing as it was almost 10pm, but nowhere was anyone holding a sign with my name, nor even speaking anything close to it. hmmm...not good.

Alright, buddy's held up in traffic. I was comforted a bit by the fact that the entry was also crowded with police, holding big guns. At one point, when I was surrounded by 5 guys telling me different stories and had resorted to not saying anything, just staring blankly past them, the police came up and ushered them away. I was placed in a small roped off area where immediately two stray dogs came over, licked my hands reassuringly and fell asleep on my feet. At this point I had to laugh at the scene. As soon as I'd got off the plane I'd thought "wow, not in Kansas anymore." Now, here I was with my own two Toto's.

However one thing was really worrying me. A lot of the taxi drivers trying to whisk me away to their "good hotels" had all had the same story. Today was a surprise general strike in Kathmandu. Everything was closed, there was no traffic. The only vehicles on the roads were the police and no one was coming to get me. The main reason I had a very difficult time believing this was that THEY were on the road, so obviously it wasn't just the police and the fact that my trekking company had told me not to listen to any drivers, not to go with them and to wait for him. Other options weren't sure to be safe.

I'd heard about the general strikes in Nepal, though. Not good. I'd read the news stories and heard first hand accounts from a friend who was here during one. I'd also met a girl last year who had to flee Nepal during something very similar. It just wasn't safe. The taxi drivers stories were becoming increasingly alarming. Flaming rocks were being thrown at cars, it wasn't safe. THEN the police took it upon themselves to inform me that yes, the taxi drivers were speaking the truth, I'd been waiting almost an hour, it was becoming less and less likely that my group was coming.

Riiiight, the reality of my situation sank in. I knew nothing of Kathmandu. I knew I was booked into a hotel, but didn't know any information about it. I knew the name of my company, but again, no contact information. I was stranded at an airport with a ring of armed police now separating me from the anxious taxi drivers who knew that I had given up and indeed needed a ride into town. I looked frantically at one police officer who'd been particularly kind to me. I had to depend on him, however realized that he too could be just as corrupt. He chose one driver, confirmed that the hotel was safe, that the driver would take me to a safe place, gave me his name, phone number and email and with a pat on the back, sent me on my way.

Tears began to flow. I was now in the hands of some people I was told not to put myself in the hands of. I'm a strong person, I knew I could handle myself, but the mere fact that I was now thinking of ways in which I'd have to handle myself scared me. I was also thinking about my tour company. what if we'd been screwed over?? A friend had just done a trek with the same company and had only good things to say. We'd already paid part of our fees and I'd been certain the company was reputable, but now I wasn't so sure. Another story being thrown at me by the taxi drivers was that my company had taken my money with no intentions of ever coming to see me. The company didn't exist etc. etc. etc. The only straw i had was that Dave had dealt with the same company and been fine. If I didn't have that, I had nothing.

The story dies from here. I was put into a hotel, it was nice and decently cheap. I immediately ran to internet for any word from my travel company. There was none. I sent off an email to them, telling them where I was and went to my room, deadlocking doors.

The sleep was fitful. The room was nice enough, but I still had no idea where I was. Kathmandu, sure, but where? I was awakened at 7:15 by knocks on my door. It was the counter with a telephone call for me. The strike had caused all of my problems. The person who was supposed to pick me up had been outside of Kathmandu when the strike happened without warning. He was stuck out of the city and didn't get back in until 4am. He had no cell phone signal (i knew that because I'd tried to call him once I got to the hotel). He managed to call other people who worked for his company so they could come and get me, but they too had no way due to traffic being shut down. He'd be at the hotel in 15 minutes to come get me and bring me to where I was supposed to be. I most certainly was NOT in the tourist area, he had no idea where the hotel was where I had stayed, no one did. It took 45 minutes for them to find me.

I now sit in a decent internet cafe in the middle of the tourist area of Kathmandu. my hotel is fabulous and my friends will be here tomorrow. I'm pretty tired and hungry, but ok.

See, even when i was writing I was realizing that really, it wasn't that bad. In retrospect things are never as scary. Possibly it just smacked me upside the head because the past month had been so easy. Everywhere I'd been, I'd been before. Nothing new, nothing scary, everything familiar. Apparently adversity gods like to keep everything equal...life'd been too easy!