Arriving at the Yak and Yeti in Kathmandu

My wife and I left Saskatoon in the grip of yet another winter storm. The storm was so bad that when the cab driver was leaving our neighborhood he did not know which way to go.  He could not see a road because the snow had drifted across the road and was level with the surrounding snow banks, we assured him that plowing straight through was the course to take. It was.  There was a bit of a tunnel through from some previous vehicles, he hit it right and we make it out of  our neighborhood!  Lifting off we felt lucky to get out of Saskatoon and on our way.  Travelling is never fun, and we had a long haul including an over night in Bangkok, but nonetheless we were excited to arrive in Kathmandu a balmy +26 Celsius temperature.

As we stepped out of our van from the airport, Wally Berg welcomed us to the Yak and Yeti Hotel, an oasis in the chaos that is Kathmandu.  The Yak and Yeti will serve as our base as the team arrives over the next few days.  Daniel, Ed, Cassidy, and Katie arrived soon after.  We settled in and headed out to Thamel (a crazy winding shop district) for a bite to eat at the Roadhouse Cafe.  All of us were jet lagged so by 7:30 pm we called it a night.  Walking home part of me felt that crossing the roads in Kathmandu might be the most dangerous part of the trip! Traffic appears to have no rules in this city.

Today has been a relaxing day, some final gear prep, shopping, relaxing and something unexpected (for me, not Wally) Elizabeth Hawley was in the lobby documenting expeditions.  She has been doing that since 1959 and the records of course go back to the beginning 1905. Check it out here: http://www.himalayandatabase.com/ .

Her assistant sat down with Daniel and me and gathered some of our details to add into the database.  I guess now we will be part of history.

Tomorrow we will be sorting out our O2 masks and visiting some local sites, our last relaxing day before we fly to Lukla and start our trek to base camp.