All day I have been trying to think of a funny joke among the line of “What’s an interventional cardiologist’s favorite city? Kathmandu.”
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Keep the day job.
I woke up at 1:00 AM
Went back to bed until 3:00 AM
Got up and started my day.
Figured out to use the origami coffee bags. Very cool.
Went down for breakfast. What a feast. The Korean breakfast at Paradise City was awesome. They had this noodle bar. I filled my cup with some noodles, lettuce, chicken meatballs, and some mushrooms. I took the bowl back toward my table when I was intercepted by the noodle chef who ran that station. Turned out it was a soup bar. Make you own soup. Once you have all the ingredients the chef boils it to cook the veggies and noodles. Total tourist move.
During breakfast we all agree that we have successfully made the leap to local Korean Time and congratulate ourselves on strategic withholding of sleep. (Important post script for this conversation: later That day, at around 2 PM, we all fell dead asleep on the plane. Total time zone hubris)
The Korean dad at the table next to us was wearing a Detroit Tigers hat. I asked him if he was a Tiger fan. Nope never heard of them. In fact there were lots of American sports logos everywhere you looked: Tiger Woods, New York Yankees, Michael Jordan.
I started my acetazolamide.
We took the bus to the airport and it was amazing that nothing in Inchion looked older than a year. The airport was filled with American and Luxury brands. The Dunkin Donuts, Krispy Kreme and Jamba Juice surprised me.
We flew out on Korean Air Boing 777. John and I were in the middle section, each of us on the aisle without a middle passenger. Score! We flew all the way across China, seven-hours to Kathmandu. Seems like Jets are not allowed to fly over the Himalayas so you need to take a southern approach.
We landed. Snapped some photos. Bought a visa. Collected our luggage. Met Jim from Embark Tours. Took a 15 minute bus ride to the hotel. Met with a lot of the group. I am rooming with Stan. I had sesame chicken and some dumplings. Really good.
After dinner, Stan John and I walked into town and I got a t-shirt and some post cards.
Pretty tame day. Tomorrow we get to really see the city.