Goodbye Nepal

Kishor, one of our Nepali friends, called our hotel early in the morning. We were checking out and ready to leave for the airport. Our Nepal adventure had - unfortunately - come to an end. But Kishor told us there was a strike and all the roads were blocked. I rushed outside to see if I could find a taxi but I didn't see any. We asked the hotel manager to call one and he came up with the same story: no taxis because of the strike. 'How do we get to the airport?' we asked him. He said there was a special tourist bus provided by the government for occassions like this and took us to the place where the bus was supposed to pick us up. But there was no bus and the manager started talking to the police. 'It's a bad day', he said. In the meanwhile rickshaw drivers surrounded us, eager to take us to the airport. That one ride would mean a day's salary at least. We didn't see any other options and stuffed ourselves and our bags into the rickshaw. The poor driver had to carry on of the backpacks on his back. The ride had just started as we saw a bus passing by. 'Tourist bus', it said. We told our driver to stop. Loes got out, ran towards the bus, came back and said the bus would go to the airport. We gave the rickshaw guy a small fee and got onto the bus. Policemen were on board to guide the tourists. On the way to the airport we saw loads of people in the streets, blocking the roads. Finally we got there and we were lucky to be in time still. Kishor was waiting for us and waved us goodbye. As the plane took off we thought of Nepal and what a great adventure it was. We met so many nice people, went to great bars with live music every night, hung out with the locals and started to feel like locals ourselves. We've seen the most beautiful nature and up in the air was another surprise: we could see Mount Everest. Now a new adventure awaits us in Thailand. Nepal, we'll miss you but we'll be back!