#13 Nepal 1.Kathmandu

1.1. Hanoi

We pack our bikes together after our host cooked us a delicious recovery soup...

2.1. Hanoi

After our host unsuccessfully looked for a taxi for us and our bikes, he spontaneously rents a pick-up truck and drives us himself.

Crazy, right ?!

At the check-in counter, we have a similar problem as in Istanbul, only this time it's my shoes that don't match the dress code.

After a long discussion, I assured the lady that I will buy proper shoes in Doha.

Good luck - for the second time.

We treat ourselves to an expensive burger before the 8-hour flight to Doha.

There, we have to wait 14 hours before we can board the next plane.

Patrick feels worse every minute and we are relieved to find a 'Quiet Room' (a darkened room with uncomfortable beds).

 3.1. Kathmandu

It's bustling with people, rickshaws, honking cars and scooters, vendors offering scarves, god statues, pictures or jewelry, and countless shops with fake mountain and trekking items. It smells of incense sticks and oriental spices, everything is colorful and hectic.

2.1.-7.1.

After resting and recovering for 2 days, we are on our way to Thamel to complain about our tent.

Unfortunately, the guy can't really help us because his only job is to take a picture and send it to MSR.

(if it rains heavily, the tent leaks from below - how do you photographically represent that - stupid).

Afterwards, we look for hiking shoes for me.

People keep speaking to us if we need a guide.

We start a conversation with a young guy and he invites us to his shop for a tea.

The guys tell us about their non-functioning government, the still existing caste system, and life in general...

Our big goal is to do the Annapurna Circuit. We plan to leave Kathmandu with our bikes in the next few days to travel west, to Pokhara - the starting point of the trekking tour.

After Patrick has somewhat recovered from his flu - well, at least we were able to take a long walk yesterday - he now seems to have a stomach flu or food poisoning.

(It should be mentioned that Nepal and India are practically a stone's throw away from each other, Nepal imports most of its food from India, and the hygiene standards are only slightly different from those in India.)

Maybe he just can't tolerate the new unknown spices.

Because yesterday evening, Uma, our hostess and I prepared momos.

They turned out to be delicious and I tolerated them very well...

Only my throat and head are worrying me. I have been having pains for days and now my eyes are sensitive to light. This usually means the start of a cold. Probably Patrick infected me.

Here in Kathmandu, it is around 17 degrees during the day. It's really nice in the sun, but as soon as it gets dark, the temperature drops drastically. In addition, the house is not heated and the doors and windows are open until late in the evening. I only celebrate when I'm in my warm sleeping bag. There is also no hot water here. If you want to wash, you have to boil water and use it (just like in the old days or grandma?).

I think all of this contributes to the fact that we are not super fit....

So it's a matter of waiting and drinking tea....