01/14/2025 – Beginning the journey home
After a nice breakfast, we said goodbye to our compatriots at the resort and clambered into our car for the ride back to Kathmandu. We will stay one night before flying back to Delhi where we will stay one night before jetting our way back home.
The car ride back to Kathmandu was relatively painless. It took only 4.5 bumpy hours. Half way through, the driver stopped for a pit stop. We used the facilities and Kathy and Dave got a snack and a Coke Zero. The bottles in Nepal have the smallest openings we have ever seen on a drinking bottle – barely big enough for a straw, if one was so inclined. At one point, Kathy was attempting to take a sip from the bottle when we hit a very large bump. She advised Dave, “Do not drink Coke!” Dave looked at her, with Coke Zero dripping from her nose and advised her, “Do not snort Coke!” The anti-drug message delivered, we made it back to the Ramada Encore Kathmandu and checked in to our room before enjoying a lovely lunch of Mo:Mos and chicken skewers at the rooftop restaurant at the hotel. The thoughts of those villagers near Chitwan were still ringing in our heads as we dined as if we were in the top 1%. Maybe we are.
After lunch, we went for a walk around the alleys and streets of Kathmandu, buying some souvenirs and gifts. Dodging motorbikes and cars had become second nature for us now. We then went back to the hotel to relax before dinner. After dinner, we walked again and then settled in for the night. Tomorrow, we head back to Delhi for our last day of this trip. India has just started a holy festival that happens every 3 years and they are expecting the world’s largest ever gathering of humans. We don’t have a clue where they will fit the expected 400 million celebrants (that’s more than the total population of the United States and Canada combined!) Fortunately, most of the celebration will be along the Ganges River, not in Delhi. Hey! Maybe Delhi will be empty tomorrow because they’ll all be at the festival!?! Check in tomorrow to find out.