062902 22:07 HST

Yesterday morning at 9:30 am I cleared Chinese customs (in Tibet)
which was 100' down the road from my hotel. Kind of unnerving
as you go through 3-4 checks, guards, etc with lots of quite
animated discussions in Tibetan and Chinese between my guide
and the "authorities". Then there is a 45 minute ride (about
2 miles) down a muddy 1-1 1/2 lane road to the dividing bridge
over the river. The last 1000' is a shanty town jammed with
trucks, busses, teenage hustlers offering portage, money changing,
junk handicrafts, etc. Somehow my guide establishes contact
with the Nepalese guide who is to shepard me to Katmandu and
we walk through the congestion and mud accross the bridge into
Nepal. Similar conditions on the other side with vehicles and
people waiting to go the other way (into China).
Near the end of the chaos I get my Nepal visa ($30) after a friedly
interview with some kind of immigration official. He wants to
bum a ride into Katmandu (can I say no?) but eventually changes
his mind as we have several "tour" stops on the way and have
to leave straightaway. (Its now about 9 am with the 1 hour,
45 minute time change on crossing the border.)
We find our driver and climb a similar road back up to several
thousnd feet above the river. Again, extremely precepitous but
we have a much better vehicle (Nissan diesel SUV) and driver
than I had in Tibet. For the next 10 miles we go through numerous
washouts and landslides that are barely passable. It turns out
the road had just reopened after being closed for 3 days. (During
that period, passengers (from autos, busses and trucks used as
busses) slog up to a mile to bypass the problem. You pay porters
to carry your baggage and arrange (or have your guide arrange)
transport on the other side where many of the vehicles turn around
and head back to Katmandu. I was told that its a very capitalistic
system with lots of extortion during these times. Fortunately,
we were able to get through.)
The most unbelievable part is seeing minbusses, trucks and compact
cars going through in conditions that are barely negotiable with
4 wheel drive SUV's in compound low gear. Like many places in
the past week, there always seem to appear many people to push,
pull, etc. everything through (even the trucks and busses!).
I asked what the charges were and was told they were "probably
government workers". While there were many clearing/repairing
the road, I doubt whether they were doing the extra work without
some kind of compensation. Eventually (after about an hour) we
hit a paved road. It was smoother than anything I'd seen in the
past week and with the better vehicle, we travelled at a halfway
decent pace. The driver actually planned ahead and slowed and/or
deferred to to climbing vehicles (we were descending). Eventually
we got into lush vegetation and climate similar to Hawaii (although
like Kona weather). We had lunch at a beautiful tourist resort
hotel that was practically empty. (Their tourist business has
practically dried up because of 9/11, the Indian/Pakistan troubles
and the Mao terrorists problems in the west of the country.)
I checked into the 4 star Shangri-La Hotel in Katmandu. Oh how
wonderful to have a shower that has not only hot water, but a
nozzle that rains it down in buckets. Four newspapers in Engish,
a dozen TV channels in English, lights that work and are bright
(vs. the intermitent single candle power things I had in Tibet!).
I was in heaven.
I have to close so I can check out and head to the airport for
the long flights to Rochester.