Kathmandu day 1

Had a good flight into Kathmandu - we could see the Himalayas as we came into land.  The usual confusion at Nepalese immigration about which desk takes the money and which stamps your passport .... and the queues for each were very long and full of cranky travellers. Had to laugh though by the time we got to the luggage carousels - we saw the Delhi flight was on carousel 2 so we went to that one, but because we had spent so long at immigration in the queues our luggage had been already taken off and stacked neatly, and the Delhi flight it referred to was the one that landed half an hour after ours! No sophisticated luggage system here, just a hole in the wall where the bags get poked through. 

Taxi into the city centre to the hotel although the driver wanted us to go with him to 'tourist office' to book 'many trips' - don't know why he thought we were the sort to do that as we looked very dishevelled and certainly in need of a good wash. We are staying 6 nights at the Tibet Guest House, but we could only get the room we wanted for 5, so we got a free upgrade in a deluxe room for the first night. 'Deluxe' is their word, not mine! 

Within 5 minutes of arriving our friends from Shap who have been trekking in Nepal called in, then our Nepali guide from the trek we did last year called us and arranged to meet up! Had lovely meal in the evening with Shap friends with a couple of beers to wash down all the yummy momos (savoury dumplings). Talking of which, because I haven't been poorly this trip and lost any weight I too resemble a dumpling!