This morning we said goodbye to Dr. G. He is traveling on to do other work as is his job. We also checked out of our hotel in Kathmandu and headed to the airport to do some more traveling ourselves. The check-in experience was quite something! We were accosted by luggage cart pushers as soon as our bus parked. They pushed the luggage up to the entrance door of the airport where we then took our luggage off the carts and went in through the doors directly to the screening machine. The door was guarded and only a few people at a time were allowed in. We tried to keep our group together through the pushing and shoving from other travelers trying to enter. Then we had to enter through doors to the ticket area but first we had to be patted down, women through one door, men through another. Once inside we took our luggage to the ticket counter for Yeti Airlines, on which we have tickets to fly to the far west side of Nepal to the town of Dhangadi. Once we finished there we had to place our carry on luggage on another scanner belt and go through security…..women in one door and men in another again. Then into the general waiting area. No intercom system so I’m not real sure how we knew which of the two gates to go to but since we were not going by ourselves we had some help finding what to do. We are being accompanied by S and T, the pastor and wife of the church in Dhangadi. S is also the JF team leader and NCM coordinator for that area. We also have M, a member of the JF team and A, who works with NCM Nepal. Once it was time to go to the plane we again lined up, men in one line and women in another. Only a few were let through the doors at a time…but not men and women together. First the women, then the men. We walked outside to a bus which then took us to a very small prop plane. There were maybe 15 rows of seats, three to a row. It was first come, first serve and most of the team ended up sitting all the way in the back. Take off was interesting as you could feel the back of the plane sway back and forth down the runway and as it rose into the air. But the view was amazing!!! We flew at about 16000 ft, just above the cloud line and even with nearly all the snow-covered peaks of the Himalayan mountains. With a bright blue sky and the white mountain tops it was awesome as we flew along parallel to the range. About an hour and half in the air we did a quick descent, swaying from side to side, onto a very short runway at Dhangadi. The plane went all the way to the end of the runway then turned around on the runway to taxi back halfway to the terminal. It is a very agricultural area with not much around except for the small terminal. We walked down the steps onto the tarmac then walked over to a dirt path where we then walked outside the terminal to the front of the building where a crowd of people were waiting. We then waited there while two men pulled two large luggage carts full of luggage out the the front of the building under a tree. Behold…the luggage carousel! Each person handed the luggage man their luggage tag receipt and then he ID’d the correct bag before handing it to you.
There were two cars waiting for us. We packed our luggage into the cars, the packed ourselves into the cars. Ten people, two drivers and two cars. Nice and cozy! The drive into the town reminded me of traveling in Bangladesh. Narrow streets with cars and trucks meeting nearly face-on surrounded by motorcycles, bicycles, carts, tractors and people all on the same road. In Dhangadi we were taken to the Hotel Devotee, a pretty 5 story hotel behind a block wall and guarded fence. Immediately bellhops were outside, at the cars, and taking all the luggage in to the lobby. We were asked to be seated while they served us water and got us checked in. Then we were escorted to our rooms. Our room was on the top floor. It is very typically Indian/Nepalese/Bangladeshi. Small, sparcely decorated with older furniture and very hard beds. The bathroom is very minimal with a typical shower for this area – just a shower head on the wall next to the commode, no shower curtain. Here we must use bottled water to brush our teeth. Can’t trust the water! We have a nice balcony off our room. The weather was very nice and was enjoyable to be out on it for a little while. By this time it was nearly 3 p.m. We hadn’t eaten lunch so were told to meet at 3:30 in the hotel restaurant for lunch. Food is only Chinese, Indian or Nepali – Vegetarian, Chicken or Mutton. I had the Nepali special and Sam had Sichuan Noodles….both fairly spicy!
After lunch we met in the 2nd floor lounge where Darrell gave us a training session using the JF backpack we brought. It is so neat and compact! We will be doing JF showings the next 4-5 nights! Finishing that session we decided to return to the small restaurant for some ice cream. There were 5 different flavors listed on the menu. Each time one of us would order a flavor we were told it wasn’t available. Finally each of us who wanted ice cream got strawberry, the only flavor available! Nobody wanted supper after such a late lunch. We visited for awhile then split up to go to our separate rooms. It seemed so late…but was only 8:30 p.m. Tomorrow will be a busy day.
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