Nepal _ day 1

The flight from Bangkok to Kathmandu is only three hours which was a breeze and I enjoyed flying with Thai Airways. Coming in to Kathmandu I had my first glimpse of the Himalayas in the very distant north but great views of the land surrounding the city as we touched down. Tribhuvan airport is literally in Kathmandu and an experience in itself if you ever had the misfortune of having to pass through it. As I had read many times before coming to Nepal, don't make any plans that are time sensitive and expect delays pretty much everywhere you go. Thankfully after waiting in lines for 2 hours I was free to go and was greeted by the mob of taxi drivers who took good care of me in getting to a hotel. At times it seemed as though my taxi wasn't going to make it out of the war zone that they call driving on two way streets but it was certainly entertaining. I arrived at my hotel called The Magnificent View which was tucked away nicely down a long alley and was surrounded by a couple of buildings I was never certain if they were occupied or not. There wasn't any magnificent view but the staff was extremely friendly and the room was well kept. After settling in I explored the streets of Thamel which is the neighborhood I was residing in, also known as the tourist ghetto. Walking through Thamel for the first time is about as stimulating as being hit by a car, given you don't actually get hit by one in Thamel. The streets are narrow, the buildings tall, and have more cars, bikes, motorcycles, pedestrians, dogs, trash, cows, and people trying to sell you a laundry list of things. Car horns go off so frequently it's as though every car on the block has orchestrated a continuous tone by taking turns and sometimes letting by rickshaws squeak their horns made out of plastic water bottles. I had an early dinner which was one of my best meals on the trip and finished my day at the hotel getting prepared for the following day until the electricity got shut off.