Arrival (and unexpected stay) in Kathmandu

I said at the end of my blog before we left, that we hoped not to have our plans complicated by strikes - we hadn't expected to be waylaid by weather either! I'm writing this from the second day in the Kathmandu airport in an attempt to fly out to Pokhara, where the airport has been closed due to bad weather for several days (very unusual in Nov, when the weather is usually clear). If it doesn't open in the next hour or so, we will skip Pokhara for now, and fly directly to Bhairawa, an airport to the south of Tansen, this afternoon. We hoped to connect with some people at Green Pastures Hospital on our way through, to get things organized, but we'll be there in a week anyway. Here's Jamie and I looking chipper at the beginning of the morning still hoping to head out to Pokhara, the crowds in the airport, and the luggage all stacked on the tarmack.

We arrived in Kathmandu at 10pm Thursday night, pretty tired, but very excited to be here at last. We stayed at great hotel (Sacred Valley Inn) and were very happy to be sleeping in beds again. After too short a night, we were up early for breakfast on the roof.

We headed off to the office to do paperwork to get local PT and OT registration (a first for NepalAbility) including fingerprints - a requirement in a country where not everyone is literate.

We also passed off donated items for the conference we are helping lead in two weeks back in Kathmandu and I got to meet several friends that I knew from my time living here, which was great.

It was a short visit, as we had to rush to the airport to catch our plane to Pokhara...that never went. After lunch in the (only) airport restaurant, we decided to rebook for today. We went back to our hotel, and got to have some much needed down time, a proper night's sleep, and I managed to have dinner with a friend that I would otherwise have missed seeing this visit to Nepal, so in the end it worked out just fine. This morning we got to work on presentations again together at the hotel.

PS – I'm posting this from Tansen, where we have arrived safely (the weather in Pokhara continued to be bad today, and kept the airport closed). We are happy to be here at the lovely hospital guest house, and especially to know we don't have to travel again tomorrow!