A lesson on Nepal

Let me just start off with this.  After hiking uphil for 4 hours, I came across an Aussie hiking solo going the opposite direction.  He said, 'Only one more hour to Namche' to which I was like "Great!".  He made a comment about how I had such a good attitude for the brutal uphill just completed and it dawned it me - I love this place.  No picture I post will do it justice (even with 12 megapixals). 

Rewind 36 hours.  For all my sarcasm on the KTM International terminal, it was at least an organized system.  Land, shuttle, visa, baggage claim, out.   Leaving KTM domestically is another story.  I get dropped at the terminal at 9:30 and promptly hit the security baggage scanner.  Packs go through, no problem.  Let's see, I have a couple knives, poles, trowel, a bunch of 3 oz bottles, steripen (looks like a laser) and any other number of things that would normally get me in trouble in a US airport.  Then off to check-in.  Find the Agni airlines booth, weigh the bag - wait, I've got to pay the airport tax.  What?  Off to the bank on the side to give more money away.  Then back to check-in.  On to the actual terminal, where the security guard nails me for my hiking poles and trowel.  Guess I'm going to dig a hole in the plane?  Trusty trowel had to be checked.  Once in the gate, it's either organized chaos or a chaotic organization.  Chaos rings true.  My flight is at 10:30 so I have a 30 min wait.  Take a seat, look around, no problem.  Then the lady that checked me in majically appears and gives me a new boarding pass.  There's around a 1000 people in this room (Nepalis and trekkers not quite 50/50 split) and she remembers me.  Weird.  10 becomes 10:30, 11, then on to 12.  No news of my flight.  Finally, around 12:15, I hear my flight number and go to board.  Present ticket, get searched, ride bus to plane, and sit on bus looking at pilots joke with our stewardess.  15 min later, board plane, ready for take-off.  Stewardess passes out candies and cotton balls...  Having no idea what they were for, I passed.  Turns out when propellor planes start going, their noise levels leave something to be desired.  Oops. Put in ipod earphones.  Thanks Steve. 

Finally, we take off and begin towards Lukla and Everest.  Annapurna can be made out above the clouds.

Are those clouds in the distance?  30 min in the 45 min flight the pilots bank hard right and back to KTM.  NOOOOOOO!  So much for Lukla today.  But wait, when we land they said we would try again at 2 pm.  So in 45 minutes the weather will be better?  Yeah right. 

I stand corrected.  45 minutes later it was a repeat.  Call to board, security check, shuttle, sit on shuttle while pilots flirt, board, take the cotton balls, take-off.  Did I mention that I lost my boarding pass and just walked on through the gate while everyone else was showing theirs?  30 min into the flight the weather appears again.  This time our daring pilots weave in and out of the clouds.   Then the famous landing in Lukla (Youtube Lukla, Nepal airstrip).  Finally, we made it at 4pm

Lesson of the day.  Patience is not a virtue.  It is a requirement.