Kathmandu impressions

August 31, 2007.
Hi everyone, Everything is going great! As you know we arrived safely, and have now recovered my lost luggage which apart from being a bit dusty is in great shape. It has been a hectic few days and it seems strange that it was only five days ago that we left. We managed to explore a bit of London during our layover there and saw some of the sights surrounding Westminster hall and Buckingham palace. Zach also had his first fish and chip supper! The flights went relatively well, with Jet Airlines being very pleasant to fly on. They provided excellent food and entertainment, and put American Airlines to shame. The airport in Delhi was a bit of a nightmare, and it was there that we first discovered the missing luggage. It was in Delhi that we first felt that certain elements of our journey were out of our hands. (Not that this is a bad thing, but it was apparent.) It was a huge relief when we finally landed at Tribhuvan airport, although to be fair I suddenly was awakened by Zach with "Hey dude, we're here!", much to my sleepy surprise. What can I say? Lack of sleep made it possible! Since we arrived we have had many experiences which are new and foreign to us, perhaps the most startling being the roller coaster taxi ride from the airport. Neither Zach or I were prepared for the taxi's here, nor were we ready for the frenetic and chaotic rules of the road! Su Deep has been an amazing host as we have been in Kathmandu, I don't know what we would have done without him. I really can't thank him enough for all he has done for us. Su Deep and his friend Pravash showed us around Kathmandu yesturday, which was quite a trip! We saw many of the temples and palaces here and they explained the history and significance behind them. The architecture is stunning and the craftmanship on display at the temples is simply mindblowing. There is so much detail and history etched into the structures it is hard to take in as a whole, instead the mind wanders across a sea of details with new surprises constantly catching the eye. There is so much life here in Kathmandu, it is so vibrant and jam packed with energy and people. Yesturday we met Narayan Paudel, the headmaster of Sarkuwa, and he seemed enthusiastic about our arrival. I guess there is going to be some sort of trip around Nepal for the kids that we may get to tag along with! Tomorrow we depart from Kathmandu and the the next leg of journey begins. We are anticipating it greatly and are excited to get to the country and out of the smoggy loud city. We will be traveling by bus and it promises to be an exciting journey. We'll be sad to part ways with Su Deep, but can't wait to get started teaching. I have uploaded some photos to my G-mail account so you may look at a few of the places we have been. Unfortunately we have not found a solution to transferring Zach's pictures to a computer so for the moment his photos are unavailable, and he has taken a lot of good ones! Hopefully we will find a way to remedy this situation. You may access the photos I have taken at http://picasaweb.google.com/d.cam09 Feel free to share them with everyone who has been involved or has an interest in our journey. I wish everyone the best and send my regards, this will be our last point of contact by ways of email for the foreseeable future until we can access the internet again. Namaste,David Campbell