Still in Kathmandu!

Well this is unexpected! After a night with very little sleep - I didnt drop off til about 3am and was up again at 5.30 I was picked up at the hotel and taken to the rather less glamerous than it's name suggess Kathmandu International Airport. In fairness we were at the internal flight terminal which is the little sh*thole around the corner form the main concourse used for international flights.

Our plane was due to fly at 8.05, first one of the day and my Sirdar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardar_%28Sherpa%29) was awesome!! He saw his friend behind the check in desk and litterally climbed over everyones baggage and even some passengers to get right to the front of the queue. In fact we didnt even bother queueing! We were flight side as everyone else were giving us absolutely filthy looks as they patiently waited. I looked around and the Sirdir had gone again... he returned to explain that the main party had gone ahead yesterday and reported back that there was a fuel shortage for cooking. They couldnt get it anywhere so he happened to see another friend and arranged to borrow some!! So it doesnt matter where you are or what you do, it seems that throughout the world it isnt what you know is who you know that counts!

Countless hours passed as flight after flight was delayed then cancelled because of bad weather at the Lukla airstrip http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lukla meant no planes could land all day. SO I find myself at the Kathmandu Crown Plaza! We will try again to leave tomorrow.

Already my decisoin to have a private trek with spare days for bad weather etc has proved justified!

Oh and bizarrely - in all the joints in all the world, I bumped into Dr Jim from Ben Foggles Extreme Dreams - Killimanjara programme and had a good natter to him.

Must go. byeee!