RTW Nomad - Part II

After a beautiful three hour flight from Bangkok enjoying the scenery of the Himalaya mountains high above the sky and a not very smooth landing of the plane (just noisy and a little scary but everything was fine) I arrived in Kathmandu. At the aiport my guide Jagat was waiting for me with a sing that said "Namaste Carolina, welcome to Nepal) We took a taxi and after checking in the hotel, we went for lunch and talked about business going over finances and logistics and everything is as I expected. He is a really nice guy that has been doing this for over 25 years so he has a lot of experience and comes highly recommended so I feel very lucky to have him as my guide. After getting to know each other a little bit more he took me to a shop so that I could buy the rest of the trekking equipment that I need. I got two pairs of trekking pants, one pair of waterproof/windproof pants, a neck warmer, a bottle of water, a day pack and three trekking shirts for only $40 (everything is labeled North Face, but it's all fake but it will do the trick for the trek). I also rented a new down jacket for $15 for 20 days and an used down sleeping bag for $8 for 20 days. Now I am set for the trek.

I have been walking around Kathmandu for a few hours, going to shops, talking to the locals, avoiding traffic and I absolutely LOVE this place. It's so chaotic but yet so charming. There are chaotic places that I hate, but I think the locals are so nice and friendly that they make the chaos seem like an enchanted place. The weather is really nice, during the day it was pretty warm and now during the evening a light sweater is enough. I am feeling very good about this trek my only fear is to get too cold at high altitudes, but Jagat tells me that I will be fine. It's so great to walk around, look at posters and books of these great explorations, go through the shops looking at mountaineering equipment, meeting other excited travellers getting ready to go on their trek.

Tomorrow Jagat is taking me around Kathmandu to the major sights and to introduce me to his brother that used to be a Budhist monk and will explain everything about Budhism to me. The next day, we take the bus and the following day we start trekking. I feel so happy right now, I am so excited. This trip has been wonderful but to be here it's so unreal and so wonderful.

A couple of days ago some travellers were asking me if I had any issues with malaria pills. I told them that the ones I were taken were great and I didn't have any side effects.

Later that night I kept turning around in bed and I coulnd't fall asleep. I was extremely tired but for two days I was only able to get about five hours of sleep each day. The previous week was like that as well. When I finally went to sleep, I woke up by a horrible nightmare where I had to jump from building to building because something or someone was following me but I was scared of falling down when I took the leaps. After several leaps, I couldn't make it to the edge of the next building so I woke up jumping from bed. I was sweating when I woke up and my heart beat was really fast.

I normally dream a lot, but I have noticed that my dreams lately have been very vivid. A week ago I had a dream of squirrels holding each other tails jumping at the same tim through a window and posing for me to take photos, then there was a psychodelic transition to some frogs on a plate that were bright green and looked like art as they stood on a plate of brocoli. This dream was like the movie fantasia, short clips of animated things. Quite fun to be honest.

So after thinking about these dreams and looking at my calendar I realized that I have them the same day and the day after I take the malaria pills. Today, I am taking my weekly dose of malaria pills so I hope I have good dreams but I also hope that I don't have a hard time falling asleep.