Update from Five Peaks Expedition - Hello from Kathmandu

From Lottie and Ade: We arrived in Kathmandu on Wednesday – after a pretty long journey – extended now by the 6 hours from Cornwall to Heathrow! This is a really busy place and on the face of it pretty squalid. However I love the hustle and bustle and the Nepalese people are really friendly. There is some real poverty, lots of beggars and children in rags and raw sewage – most upsetting of course are the really mangy dogs and puppies – of which there are hundreds. However the city is fascinating and full of colour, smells and buzz – the market streets are full of stalls selling traditional Nepalese crafts – carvings, pashminas, jewellery etc as well as 100s selling climbing gear – loads of knock off shops selling North “Fake” (Face) etc – and it’s cheap!

Food has been delicious – Hugo our tour guide has been coming to Kathmandu since the 90s – he’s run many Everest and other Himalayan peaks trips, so he knows all the best places to eat and drink. Sam’s bar – was a particular favourite of Ade’s and mine where we consumed many Everest beers! However Nepalese belly has started already – so I’m keeping things pretty plain at the moment!,,

There are two other guys (Doug and Brad) on the trip so we’re just getting acquainted. We’ve also met our lovely Sherpas Dendi and Galghan who fix everything from carrying bags to finding tour guides!

We’ve done some last minute gear shopping – fantastic deal on down jackets – after my many complaints that climbing gear is only brown and black – have now a gorgeous cerise light down jacket – so I’m happy and so hopefully will stay toasty warm!

We’ve also done a bit of sightseeing – went to the Monkey Temple – and got a bit Templed out 🙂 and also saw the Living goddess – a poor little girl kept locked up in a temple and revered until puberty, then gets kicked out – apparently we were really lucky to see her, but she just looked like a grumpy teenager to me :-). However luck isn’t on our side today as we were supposed to fly up to Lukla to start the trek, but the weather is against us and all flights have been cancelled. We’re on the first flight tomorrow so fingers crossed. We’ve come down to the pizza restaurant to use their free wifi and check emails etc. There is persistent rain outside – which we keep being told is really unusual.