Getting to Kathmandu

We hadn't done much international travel since Egypt so this blog has been pretty inactive.  We did go to the Philippines for an awesome family reunion in December of 2011, but I guess I was too busy to blog.

Anyway, the story of our trip to Nepal starts out like all good tales, a long time ago....
Once upon a time, back when Gavin was in preschool, there were four sweet boys that were friends: Gavin, Nico, Navin and Myron.

This picture from the first day of 'Pre-4' has (from left to right), Gavin, Nico and Navin....Myron didn't make it into this shot, but if you look to the left of Gavin's head it looks like his lunch did :)

So over the years the boys ended up going to different elementary and then middle schools.  But among other events, every year for his birthday Nico has been gathering the fabulous four for an overnight fishing trip.  Nico is a boy scout and when he turns 12 years old he is ready to do his Eagle Scout project.  It's pretty young for a scout, but his troop encourages boys to do it on the early side.  He decides that with his project he wants to help kids and he hears about the earthquake in Nepal in April 2015. Through his uncle who has trekked several times in Nepal, Nico's able to make a connection with a non-governmental organization in Nepal that has a connection to a school that was devastated by the earthquake.  He asks his 3 besties to join him on the trip for Spring Break 2016.

Here's a photo of when Gavin arrived in Kathmandu with Navin (red shirt) and Nico (green shirt) and Chet Bhatta (and I think Myron is behind Chet).  Chet is with the Foundation and facilitated every aspect of our trip. 

And here's a picture of all four (finally) at the school in Nepal - Navin, Nico, Myron and Gavin.

When Nico asked Gavin to go, we planned for just Greg to accompany him, while I manned the fort at home with Connor and Cici.  Greg called Turkish Airlines to book the same itinerary as Nico and company, but on the day that Greg called there was only one seat available on their itinerary.  Greg realized he had a school board meeting the night after that flight left, so he arranged with Leela, Nico's mom, for Gavin to go with everyone on that flight.  Greg would coordinate to fly out after his board meeting, 2 days later.  When Greg searched for tickets to Nepal he found tickets for a little over $600, about half of the price of the good deal on Turkish airlines.  It was a little bit of an annoying itinerary with an overnight layover each way in China, but these days sometimes you can barely get to Philly for $500.  It was too good a of deal to pass up... for all of us.

Our flight went from SFO to Shanghai, then to Kunming down in the southern part of China then into Kathmandu.  Yeah, we had never heard of Kunming either.   (You can ignore most of the other things on the map.)  With Greg's mandarin-speaking ability we weren't too daunted by the overnights.  It was a good excuse for him to brush up... and basically it was the only way the 3 of us would get to go.

With our crazy itinerary Greg, Connor, Cici, and I actually leave on April 5th, a day before Nico, Gavin and crew take off.  We fly 12 hours and arrive in Shanghai in the early evening.  By the time we get to a hotel it's dark and drizzly.  Greg asks the hotel for a dinner recommendation.  I kid you not, they suggest KFC.  Really?  Okay, it is the closest restaurant, but I downright refuse to not eat Chinese food for our night in Shanghai.  Greg perseveres and finds a hot pot restaurant, still on the same block.  Good hubby!

After dinner (delicious), we head straight to bed.  We need to make the 6 am shuttle to the airport, since our flight out is at 8 am.  Brutal!

Amazingly enough we make it on the 5 am shuttle and to airport (honestly that might be the most impressive thing I document in this blog!).  We find the world's most expensive lattes and have a breakfast of pork buns before our 4-hour flight to Kunming.

Kunming is a third tier Chinese city of over 6 million people.  That's bigger than each of the cities in California, with the exception of the Los Angeles area.  Looks like it got it's always been a transportation hub, as it lies on the trade route to Southeast Asia, Tibet and India.  Anyway, the airport is beautiful:

In Kunming we retrieve and deposit bags, find more expensive coffee and then locate our flight to Nepal.  We're finding in China that few planes get to park at the gate.  For the most part we need to take a shuttle bus from the gate out to the airplane.  Once the bus ride was something like 10 minutes!  And they are packed like you imagine a Chinese bus would be... think MUNI in SF Chinatown or 6 train at rush hour in NYC. 

Kunming to Kathmandu is a shorter flight, with no view of the Himalayas, but then we're there... Nepal!

The airport is on the smaller side, we find our luggage and press our way outside.  Almost immediately Greg spots someone with a sign for us, so there's no need to deal with any of the other folks offering rides.  They greet us with leis of marigolds and usher us to 2 cars.  Greg insists we can squeeze into one, not wanting our family to get split up.  They acquiesce, and we start off to the hotel.

April 28 - International School of Egypt

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.... or at least in a country far, far away was a dynamic High School French teacher that offered students the opportunity to take a two-week summer trip to Egypt. My sister, Sarah, was lucky enough to visit Egypt in 1993 or was it 1994 with Madame Amiry. Sarah's photos and stories from her travels were so vivid and amazing that Egypt popped to the top of my "Goals for the next 10 years" list that I created circa 1996. Greg and I were dating at the time and the good suitor he was he duly noted my priorities and over the years has supported me in checking the items off of the list. {My cousin Monique was thrilled when Greg proposed, as she knew that I was able to check off "Get hitched to Greg!"}

When we were dreaming of where our next big trip after Turkey (2007) would be, Greg said "We've got to do Egypt, it's still on the list!" As we were planning our trip, I remembered that I had heard that Mme Amiry was back in Egypt. So I tracked her down and we were fortunate enough to be able to visit her.

Well, she's been busy, busy, busy working to establish a top notch international school: The International School of Egypt. She's worked tirelessly to bring this school to life, shaping the school's philosophy and hand selecting the teachers for their first school year, underway now.  If you know of an elementary school teacher ready for adventure and international living - send 'em her way!

It was really great to see her, meet her daughter and grandson, and see the school that they are building from the ground up.  She toured us around taking us into the classrooms to meet teachers and students.  We enjoyed hearing about the 5th grade field trip, which was scuba diving in the red sea!!  I think Gavin impressed Mme Amiry when we checked out the room for Arabic lessons and Greg prompted Gavin to identify a few letters and spell a word in Arabic!

The tour included her pointing out her house, conveniently located just across the street from the school.  We smiled to ourselves when we heard her living situation is similar to ours - where she lives in a house with a unit for herself and then one for her daughter's family.

Following the tour, she treated us to a really lovely buffet at a hotel nearby.  We talked about language education, the movie Avatar (Gav thought she was soooo cool because she had watched it), raising kids, and old friends.  Finally, she needed to return to the school.  Her driver headed all of us back to drop her, then he was to drop us off downtown.  After all of the excitement during the ride back Connor fell asleep standing up in her embrace in the back of the car!  It was really sweet.

April 27 - Back in Cairo

We arrive back in Cairo melancholy because we really sense that our trip is wrapping up. This time we stay at a hostel just a block from the City View Hotel where we stayed upon arrival. We're feeling like veterans now.

We head back to the Egyptian Museum - even crossing the street without the protection of locals. Now we get it right. We split up. First I take Cici and spend 1 1/2 hours pouring over the artifacts in the museum, including the treasures of King Tut's tomb. They underscore that he was really not an important Pharaoh, so just imagine the treasures that were buried with some of the powerful Pharaoh's like Ramses II! Greg brings the boys down to the Children's Museum (aka the Lego Exhibit). Then we switch.

I tell Gavin all about the treasures of King Tut they are all upstairs, just like he read in the book! Does he want to go with Dad to see them? No, he's not done making his lego rocket ship. WHAT? Are you six years old or something??

Once Greg gets his fill of the museum we meet up in the courtyard. All of a sudden I hear "Cici! Cici!" A long lost friend - it's the waitress from City View, she's there with what looks like her sister. They smother Cici with kisses take about a dozen photos with their camera phones and then run off.

Kids say the darndest things...

1) So when we were in Luxor the first day Connor started in with this little scene that he'd act out. He'd pretend to be walking along with not a care in the world then he'd thrust his fist in the air and yell in a deep voice "BOOOMM!!" followed by "Ow! My pea-nus!"(in a high voice). This began in the hotel room and continued while we were out and about. Thankfully most of what he says to others still needs to be translated by Greg, Gavin or myself.

2) During one (much needed) bath for the boys while we were on the cruise I was getting their clothes ready in their cabin. I hear some giggling and then Gavin yelled to me "Hey, Mom, come in here, want to see my obelisk?"

3) Forward ahead to our return trip to Rome. We are engrossed in a fascinating tour of the Coliseum when I hear from behind a wall "BOOOMM! Ow! My OBELISK!"

Hmmm. I take solice in knowing that the boys are smart enough to figure that the obelisk was also a fertility symbol. Well, I guess it's kinda hard to miss :)

Overnight Train Part Due

The overnight train from Cairo to Luxor was such hit with the Nut Gallery we decided to take it on the return trip. Taking the overnight train back to Cairo from Aswan we felt like veterans. It was a much more relaxed experience. One reason is because the northbound train starts in Aswan, so we were able to board the train 20 minutes before it departed. When we boarded the train in Cairo, it was coming from Alexandria and we only had about 5 minutes to load our 11 bags (I know, we weren't exactly travelling light) and 3 kids onto the train.

We were prepared because we knew that we'd get dinner, but this time dinner was at 6 pm instead of 10 pm. The food was actually better on this leg too. For some reason they provide 2 or 3 entrees for each meal. Each sleeper car has an attendant that brings the meals and then later on sets up the beds. I had planned on taking a little video of the transformer magic, but he was too quick! Basically there are 3 or 4 seats on a bench. With the use of the magic key the back of bench flips down to a bed. Behind the bench headrest hides a ladder that is take out and attached to what I thought was a luggage rack. The magic key also opens up the panel above the headrest and a top bunk flips down. This little set up also has a little corner sink! I thought that might be the case when we first saw the couchette, but then I never really checked it out. Much nicer to wash your hands in the privacy (and cleanliness) of your own car versus the community bathroom. Yes, the toilet is pretty much an open hole that leaves your souvenirs on the track.

Gavin befriended our neighbor and enjoyed a few hours of making up stories with Tim who is backpacking across Africa and making his way to the world cup in South Africa! This time we all (including Greg) slept well and through the night.

Aswan -Sunday, April 25

Riddle of the Day

Q: What did the fish say when he hit concrete swimming around Aswan?

A: Damn!

We arrive back at our room in Aswan at the Keylani Hotel where we left most of our bags for our side trip to Abu Simbel. As per our "vacation" domestic roles I tend to the kids, trying to get them cleaned up and ready for bed while Greg hunts down kid-friendly meals to bring back to the room. The guy at the front desk is helpful pointing Greg to two good options resulting in falafel sandwiches (for 1 Egyptain Pound = 20 cents!) and some kiddie sandwiches - one with three hot dogs, one chicken panne (breaded chicken cutlet) and one beef shwarma. We dine then sleep our one night in Aswan. While we have tomorrow to check out Aswan in the evening we're on the overnight train again.

In the morning we enjoy the breakfast crepes and fruit served on the rooftop terrace. Then Cici and I head back to the room to nap and pack respectively, while the boys enjoy a quick swim in the jacuzzi-sized roof pool. Once all of our bags are packed we head to lunch and to the market. For some reason I can't move the photos around in this posting so I'll just describe the photos in the order they're pasted below.

1) One of the covered streets of the market

2) Typical wooden holder for their pita-like bread

3) Beautiful display of spices and indigo blue (for whitening laundy whites)

4) More bowls of spices

5) Dried hibiscus leaves for making a drink called Karkaday

6) Greg and a donkey that is used for making deliveries

7) Just a cute shot of Connor perched on Greg's knee at the lunch place while Greg chats up the staff.

Safe Travels - April 25

So, if you know our itinerary, you know that we're actually back home safe and sound. Since I wasn't able to post to the blog in real time, I am just going to continue to add blog posts to continue to recap our trip.

Egypt takes the tourist industry very seriously – as they should – it brings on a good deal of money into the country. They take a number of precautions to ensure the safety of travelers, some may be a bit much.

Every tourist site has a metal detector the pyramids at Giza, the various temples and even the Khan el Kahlili market when you enter from the main square. The Egyptian museum has two sets of metal detectors - although the purpose of the second one may primarily be to catch people sneaking in cameras, which are banned from the museum.

Another precaution they take to safeguard foreigners is the “Convoy”. As mentioned before we took the Public Bus from Aswan to Abu Simbel. When you set up a tour via microbus you need to leave at 4:00 am not only to get to the temple before the heat of the day, but because the convoy leaves then it only goes twice a day. The convoy is a police escorted convoy for the tourists. The logic behind it is that in the long stretch of desert there aren’t any police. So to keep foreigners safe from bandits they need the police to protect them. As Lonely Planet points out, now the bandits know exactly what time they can expect lot of tourists! But the Egyptian police (or is it the tourist police – really, they have this) feel it is safer.

I bet you are wondering what happens if you need to travel from Abu Simbel back to Aswan and you’ve missed the last Public Bus of the day… and inadvertently also missed the last convoy heading that direction. Well, my friends, do to our thorough research we have an answer for you.

Greg headed to the temple to check it out and on his way back was able to arrange a microbus to take us back to Aswan. As part of the negotiation Ramadan the policeman said that he would make the arrangements for us to travel. So they came to pick us up at the hotel. We said our goodbyes and loaded into the 14 passenger van that we had to ourselves. About 10 minutes down the road we arrived at the check point. "You're not part of a convoy!" they exclaimed. The driver explained that Ramadan the policeman had 'arranged everything.' "No, no, you must go to the tourist police and pay for someone to go with you." But when we left our hotel proprietor had warned us not to pay any more fees. Greg had Ramadan's phone number so they called him up. After a number of back and forths we headed back to the hotel in Abu Simbel. Ramadan the police man arrived and was talking and walkie-talkie-ing a great deal. While all of this was going on I found a dead ant and showed it to Gavin and Connor. Gavin decided to make the world's first ant sarcophagus! I passed the time by trying to photograph the Mama and Baby camel that came over from the neighbors.

In the end Ramadan talked one of his lackeys into riding to Aswan with us. We had our very own Watchy Watchy man! Watchy Watchy is what our friend Paige called the 'security" guys in the Dominican Republic that stand outside of every establishment with their semi-automatic weapon. This poor guy just sat there for 3 1/2 hours to Aswan and then turned around and sat for another 3 1/2 hours on the way back. So , do you feel safer with a guy in the front seat with a semi-automatic weapon? I'm not sure I did. I wanted to take some photos to document it, but we opted not to take any flash photos.