Chapter 1: The Master Plan

The trip to Nepal took five months to plan and execute. For me – the one who is obsessive over details, paranoid over imagined situations and loves the sense of control - there was much joy in the preparation.

Nepal was recommended by good friend and ex-colleague Kara, who was originally from France. She had on a previous occasion visited Nepal and wanted to visit the same town in the same country again, and I only understood why after the trip. The other French friend and colleague Charmaine, married to a Sri Lankan was at ease with the Asian culture so she had no objections to the place. I am usually the one with least resistance in a group and it facilitates the decision-making process to a great extent. The way I see it, every suggestion has a multitude of sides to it, good, bad and in-between. The pros for Nepal far outweighed the cons. So whatever the cons, I was able to put a list of the positives together, take counter measures to face the challenges and look forward to it. To me what mattered most was getting to go anywhere safe and economical with a decent group of friends. This was also my first ever real holiday overseas, so wherever it was, it was going to be special and I was going to make the best of it.

After the destination was fixed, I realised that Nepal was also the birthplace of the Buddha and in a spiritual sense, it felt very fortunate to visit this historically significant ancient land I have heard so much about while growing up. I had the blessings of my mother to travel for this one reason! I wanted her to re-visit Nepal with me for the extra seven days I had as she would have enjoyed it very much, but unfortunately flights from my home country to Nepal cost twice as much as flights from United Arab Emirates to Nepal and it was beyond my budget during the time. So after all was decided, I announced my plans to my family. My mother was excited for me and with her wide network of contacts, I was introduced to a Chief monk of a monastery there and he was happy to help me out should I need anything while touring. Such is the power of networking.

We first discussed the possibility of an extended weekend in the month of May. Soon tickets were booked in July to coincide with a public holiday. A month to go and after a random conversation with a colleague from Nepal, I learned that July was the month of the heavy monsoons there! Disappointment (How did we miss this??? We didn't check the weather, that's how!!). Yet, we were lucky we found this out in time rather than have one disaster of a holiday spent in a hotel room, watching the rain flood the streets. The trip was on hold until all three of us could coincide leave – and that would be five days in October. Tickets were re-booked with penalty charges. Now, I tend to get excited about trips way ahead of time. I had more annual leave than my friends. And to top it off, we had five additional holidays, weekend included, for Muslim Eid celebrations. Without thinking too much, I went ahead and re-booked my tickets (another round of penalty charges) to add seven more days to the existing five days. Whatever I was going to do on those twelve days, I'll worry about later, I thought.

After a little research on the Lonely Planet forums while at work, I found a do-able five-day suggested itinerary. It suggested that we explore Pokhara (another region, that was either a 6-8 hour bus ride from the capital or a 25 minute flight) in addition to Kathmandu (the capital city that we were staying). When all agreed (and they did, without any hesitation), we went ahead with the actual planning. Closer to the dates, we found Ila, one more traveling companion from Algeria, increasing the head count to a nice round total of four. Everyone was excited (not as much as I was, but close) and everyone divided up little tasks to research, to email tour agents, to look for suitable domestic flights, to look for hotels, etc. We made good friends with a travel agent by email who was very learned, pro-active and efficient with our tickets. We found out later why he was so friendly when we met him in Nepal; he thought we worked for embassies as our passport renewals were all done in countries different to our places of birth (what an assumption!). So he figured we were good for promoting his business - his face dropped when we clarified his misunderstandings but he was a nice guy and even got us parting gifts. We bought travel guides at the bookstore, we spoke to people who knew the place, we got vaccines (I, the ultra-hypochondriac got both my hepatitis and typhoid shots), we got travel insurance, we were totally distracted at work, we were all on instant messaging at work and discussing things from hairdryers to US dollars to paragliding to malaria tablets.

The most trusted companion during the trip - could not have done without it. 

Fortunately for me, Charmaine was adventurous and happy to take up paragliding with me, so we were able to squeeze that into the agenda with a 50% vote. To be honest, the pictures didn't look that scary and it took a matter of weeks for it to hit me that it might be too nerve-wracking and death as a result of a dysfunctional paraglider or collision with another paraglider in mid-air would be anything but fun. The severity of things usually hits me a little late. But by that time I consoled myself thinking it was an opportunity not to miss plus I had moral support, and I am so glad I stuck to the plan. It was impossible to convince Kara and Ila to give it a try.

During this time, I was also introduced to a friend of a good friend (First I assumed she was Nepali with her very sound knowledge and love for the place, but I later found out she was not. She had lived there for 15 years of her early life, while her parents worked there) who was overjoyed to help me plan the trip. Having spent many years of her childhood in Nepal, she has a strong sense of attachment to the place and dearly misses it now as she is not in the county anymore. She keeps planning and waiting for the day she gets to visit her childhood home again. At times during the planning stage, she seemed more excited to be doing it for me than I was visiting the place! She was able to list out places that were worth visiting and give many practical tips which proved to be very useful during the trip. A couple of times closer to the date, when I was feeling very nervous and having cold feet – like when I realised I'm going to be alone in a strange country where I barely spoke the language, for seven days after my friends left and a few hours before the flight when I realised I hadn't checked on my visa requirements - she was there to console and get my spirits back on track. I am truly in eternal gratitude to her for that and truly wish that she gets to visit Nepal over and over again!

Here is an example of her enthusiasm (looks like she invented the word "stunnermajicness" too!). As we found out later, her accurate descriptions did justice to the real thing.

Quote-

OMG OMG OMG OMG OH MY GOD!! Did you realize (coz I just realized) that you are going to be in Nepal for the height of the Diwali festival - which is the BEST TIME in the entire year to be in Nepal??? Did you plan it like that?? Coz if you didn't you are seriously very very lucky!!!!!!

Coz its Diwali - the city is SO GORGEOUS!! Lights will be on everywhere, celebrations, color, lamps - it is just an AMAZING AMAZING time to be in the city!!! So please enjoy the best of the night! - there'll be kids singing house to house in whats called Deusi and Bhaili to get food and money (a bit like trick and treat except no tricks :) and mind the crackers tho they are LOUD.

MAKE SURE YOU ENJOY THE KTM CITY OUTSIDE YOUR PLANE WINDOW COZ IT IS GOING TO BE ABSOLUTELY STUNNERMAJICNESS ON THAT NIGHT!!! :D

Do try out sel rotti - which is this thin donut like thing that they make during this season.

I cant believe I missed this!! But OMG!!!! ENJOY!!

H

-Unquote

More time was spent planning the first five days of the trip (with my three friends) and less time spent on the next seven days I was going to be alone. I did manage to contact the Chief monk at the monastery and tell him which places I wanted to see. His written English skills were poor so I was not able to ask too many questions or get satisfying responses to all my questions. I also made it clear that I will bear all my costs while there, in hopes he will feel less burdened with my visit. It is difficult when you know you are imposing on others and not knowing what inconveniences they are undertaking to make you feel comfortable and happy. But then again, I guess people like the feeling they get knowing their involvement mattered and made a big difference in making someone happy (or they wouldn't offer their willingness in the first place, right?). So as I have gotten older, I have become a little more accepting of good graces like favours, keeping in mind to be thoughtful and less intrusive to them at all times. Also for this same reason, I have made it a point to lend a hand to anyone who needs it if I am in a position to do so. It kind of makes the cycle complete.

There was one more obstacle to bypass. Two days before the actual flight, one girl finds out that our outbound flights were cancelled and we were automatically pushed to the next day's flights, messing up hotel bookings and the domestic flights that were already booked and paid for.  There was a lot of inconvenience caused, trying to contact hotels and flights in Nepal for the possibility of making changes. It was too late and this was the tourist peak season and nothing could be done for the flights we booked from Kathmandu to Pokhara. Eventually, we figured the best thing to do was take an earlier flight from Dubai, get another earlier day of leave from work approved so that all bookings in Nepal remained unaffected. It was tough as handovers at work and report submissions had to be completed a day in advance. Two of us stayed two long nights at work, till 9:30pm to make up for this sudden change of plans.

But it was done! And we were officially off on a holiday! I was so nervous as usual with disturbed sleep, thinking of a hundred million ways that things could go wrong and the trip won't happen - this is my coping mechanism of mentally preparing myself for the worst IF disappointment follows.