Arrival and Registration

After a 3.5 hr delay in Istanbul and subsequent uneventful flight, I landed in Kathmandu. Airport is smallish. I was able to exchange money and acquire Nepalese rupees, as well as a Nepali sim card. Customs was straight forward, expedited by having obtained a visa in advance.

Once outside the airport it was a cacophony of cars, horns, and people waiting to greet the new arrivals. Fortunately my contact Nipesh with NCCDF was there to pick me up. He identified me immediately and we got in the hired car. Kathmandu roads are crazy. Nominally it's drive on the left, as in Britain. In practice it's drive where there's room available, honking when you speed up to pass. Traffic is about 50% vehicles and 50% motorbikes. I'm still not sure who's crazier but am glad I'm not driving.

After the harrowing ride we arrived at the NCCDF office / guestrooms. It's actually quite luxurious and far more comfortable than I anticipated. Photos / details to come.

Having arrived, it was time to obtain an ID badge and pay the $200 tuition.  ID badge is below. For me who is used to the digitally printed ID badges, I'm quite impressed with how official a piece of paper with handwriting, a stamp. ,and a pasted photo can appear. Curiously they documented the serial number of each bill I used to pay tuition.

Rest of Monday was uneventful - I actually ended up sleeping 13hrs as I caught up from poor sleep while travelling.