Kathmandu

The flight to Kathmandu went without a hitch. It was great to have the visas before we arrived as we managed to miss a very long queue. Kaz and I ran as fast as we could, trying not to squash other passengers under foot, in an attempt to get to the immigration desk before everybody else. We just had the one visa to get on arrival. We were first there, but lost a little of our advantage as I had carefully locked the passport photographs in my bag - and we couldn't collect that until we had the visa. Primative though Nepal's airport is, they did have a man taking digital photographs right by the desk, so no problem really. His computer was the only one I saw being used for something worthwhile in the airport. At the immigration desks they do have computers but they were mainly being used for card games.

Scott, from China Climb, Dambar and the crew were there at the airport to meet us and take us to the Hotel Thamel.

We checked in quickly and went out for a welcome dinner. The roads of Thamel come as a bit of a surprise to first time visitors. They are narrow and crowded,with cows sharing the limited space with motorbikes and trucks.

The restaurant had prepared a birthday cake for Josh and we all sang Happy Birthday.