What is this in your luggage?

Qatar airlines is the bee's knees (if you're a young lad like garrison, you need translation into modern English: it's awesome). Highlights included apple pancake breakfast, curried veggie masala dinner, latest release movies on the personal seat back touch screen, collectible burgundy care package including booties, tooth brush, and eye covers for sleeping, and unlimited hi-end alcohol (which was not utilized to its fullest potential because we are after all, professional climatologists with a reputation to maintain- ok, actually the whole flight felt like it was 4 am so drinking seemed a bit disgusting). By our sunrise landing time in Doha, it was already 85f and humid, with a fine brown haze blanketing the view as we approached the peninsula. The Doha airport sported a hybrid apple-hi end camera store, Ducati motor bikes, and designer perfumes galore. Traffic seems to have grown to exceed capacity; the bus ride to the airplane at the end of the runway took at least 10 minutes, and the men's restroom had a 5 minute line. 

We arrived in Kathmandu around 3 pm. Let's just say the time zone is actually something like 11 hours and 45 minutes ahead of arizona time- the extra 3/4 hour really threw us off. The police guard station at the end of runway was a small white phone booth sized check point with "police" hand painted onto the side. The terminal was a red brick building. Customs officials stopped us, intrigued by the opaque coring weights in our luggage. Garrison pantomimed the entire coring procedure to a baffled customs agent who didn't understand the word mud. After our guides met us, men appeared at random demanding money from Garrison for loading our luggage, even though they never touched the bags. The drive to the hotel was a bit nerve wracking; the rules of the road seem to be more like general guidelines. Mopeds, cars, trucks, bikes, and pedestrians all jockey for space, and the only rule seems to be not to hit something. The horns are constantly used to say " I'm here" (and not " I hate you" like they seem to say in the States).

The front of the hotel looks relatively my normal, but the back seems to have been sheered off, with rebar poking out in all directions and old mattresses rotting where hotel rooms used to be. The room is me quite nice.

Today we visited our guide agency, passing cows, goats, and a variety of shops along the way. We spent a leisurely morning and early afternoon waiting for the power to come back on in the city so we could photocopy our passports and visas for the permitting process. Our guide agency host cooked us a delicious multi course lunch of rice, lentils, okra, and a gourd curry. Although the power was out most of the day, there was a brass band blaring loud wedding procession music on and off throughout the morning and afternoon.

After meeting with our organizers, the final itinerary is coming together, and we are eagerly anticipating a Saturday morning departure for mid western nepal.

Sunset in Kathmandu from our hotel window

The rooms across from us have been gutted and made into a sort of patio