We had another very leisurely breakfast. Having been on the go non stop for the last month and a half it is really lovely to spend some time just relaxing. I can natter with Johnnie for hours. We managed to go through 2 big pots of filter coffee over breakfast. We had a short wander round the grounds and then arranged with the hotel staff to get a lift to an alternative hotel where we could use the pool facilities (as the pool was shut at our hotel).
There are 2 pools that the Hotel staff said we could use, one 5 mins down the road at a cheap hotel and the other at a high end hotel in Thamal (the main tourist/downtown area of Kathmandu). As we wanted to go into Thamal anyway to explore and also to check out our options for the next few weeks, we chose to go to the Thamel pool.
The taxi picked us up at 3ish. We popped into see the other pool 5 mins down the road just so we knew what it is like for the next few days. It was huge and will be lovely to use instead of our hotel pool and so reduced my disappointment at the lack of facilities where we were staying.
It was 4ish by the time we arrived in Thamal. It is actually quite a long way. The driver dropped us off at the Hotel in the Thamal and paid for us to have access to their pool for the afternoon. We did not want to go swimming straight away and went for a wander. I was not sure about what I am doing for the next part of my journey and so spent some time going to different tour companies and bike shops finding out about the cost of biking from Kathmandu to Lhasa, getting a bus or a jeep and any other alternatives. If I am going to bike on my own then it will be a ridiculous amount of money (>£2500) and I still might have to then leave Tibet and get into China from somewhere else due to visa issues. Getting a jeep/bus is cheaper but still crazy money (>£1000) and again I might have visa issues and have to leave Lhasa and go back to Kathmandu in order to then fly into main land China rather than just continuing my journey by bike. Arrggg! I really wanted to do this leg by bike and do not want to have to take another flight. I have always wanted to bike in the Himalayas. I thought that this probably meant that I will have to leave biking between Kathmandu and Lhasa to another trip but decided to sleep on it..... :-(
We went for a coffee at the Madcap cafe and looked at the rooms in their hotel. We decided to book a room for a couple of days later and move to Thamel and spend some time in a cheaper place and to be in the center of the city.
We met with Miranda and a couple of her Nepalese friends for Nepalese food at the Thakali Kitchen. It was a fun and late night. I was not in the mood for drinking but the others made there way though a couple of bottles of local rum. The food took ages to arrive and so everyone was drinking on an empty stomach. I ordered some "buckwheat stuff" other than rice with my Thali. Apparently, in Nepal you can either have rice or this buckwheat stodge! Actually it was very nice.
It was very late when we arrived back at our hotel on the outskirts of Kathmandu. We had spent 1 hour in a taxi driving round as the taxi driver did not know where the place was. We had given him the phone number for the place and a map of how to get there.... it seemed that he just preferred driving round instead of using either of these pieces of information. It was very frustrating! Oh well....
There are 2 pools that the Hotel staff said we could use, one 5 mins down the road at a cheap hotel and the other at a high end hotel in Thamal (the main tourist/downtown area of Kathmandu). As we wanted to go into Thamal anyway to explore and also to check out our options for the next few weeks, we chose to go to the Thamel pool.
The taxi picked us up at 3ish. We popped into see the other pool 5 mins down the road just so we knew what it is like for the next few days. It was huge and will be lovely to use instead of our hotel pool and so reduced my disappointment at the lack of facilities where we were staying.
It was 4ish by the time we arrived in Thamal. It is actually quite a long way. The driver dropped us off at the Hotel in the Thamal and paid for us to have access to their pool for the afternoon. We did not want to go swimming straight away and went for a wander. I was not sure about what I am doing for the next part of my journey and so spent some time going to different tour companies and bike shops finding out about the cost of biking from Kathmandu to Lhasa, getting a bus or a jeep and any other alternatives. If I am going to bike on my own then it will be a ridiculous amount of money (>£2500) and I still might have to then leave Tibet and get into China from somewhere else due to visa issues. Getting a jeep/bus is cheaper but still crazy money (>£1000) and again I might have visa issues and have to leave Lhasa and go back to Kathmandu in order to then fly into main land China rather than just continuing my journey by bike. Arrggg! I really wanted to do this leg by bike and do not want to have to take another flight. I have always wanted to bike in the Himalayas. I thought that this probably meant that I will have to leave biking between Kathmandu and Lhasa to another trip but decided to sleep on it..... :-(
We went for a coffee at the Madcap cafe and looked at the rooms in their hotel. We decided to book a room for a couple of days later and move to Thamel and spend some time in a cheaper place and to be in the center of the city.
We met with Miranda and a couple of her Nepalese friends for Nepalese food at the Thakali Kitchen. It was a fun and late night. I was not in the mood for drinking but the others made there way though a couple of bottles of local rum. The food took ages to arrive and so everyone was drinking on an empty stomach. I ordered some "buckwheat stuff" other than rice with my Thali. Apparently, in Nepal you can either have rice or this buckwheat stodge! Actually it was very nice.It was very late when we arrived back at our hotel on the outskirts of Kathmandu. We had spent 1 hour in a taxi driving round as the taxi driver did not know where the place was. We had given him the phone number for the place and a map of how to get there.... it seemed that he just preferred driving round instead of using either of these pieces of information. It was very frustrating! Oh well....
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