24 Hours from Boudha

The journey from the Happy Valley Guest House to our house in Cardiff takes less than 24 hours, door-to-door, via Delhi, Vienna, London, Chepstow and Newport. It's good to know that we are only 24 hours from Boudha.

Kyabjé Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche came to the hotel to see Ngak'chang Rinpoche who had been unwell. We were fortunate to see them as they took tea together in the hotel lobby. It was good to meet Kyabjé Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche one more time this visit.

Thursday was a day of goodbyes. We had made a great many friends in Kathmandu and visited some of them to say goodbye.

We met with Dharmendra who works at Lumbini Handicrafts. He was always friendly, helpful and cheerful whenever we visited his shop, and was happy to spend a lot of time re-stringing tengars (malas) for people.

We visited Ama-la at the Double Dorjee restaurant and gave her a small present. She presented us with Katags (white scarves) as is traditional amongst Tibetans.

We went to see Palmo our favourite tailor. She visited us later at the hotel and presented Katags to her customers.

In the evening we orderd momos from the Double Dorjee. Ama-la came over specially to make sure that the Tibetan bread was delivered warm and to say goodbye to Ngak'chang Rinpoche.

We had spent the last few days packing. At least Nor'dzin had been working some magic to persuade cases to hold far more than I would have thought possible. So we were all ready to go when the taxis came at 9 in the evening.

Eight of us were travelling together on the first leg of this journey (from Kathamandu to Vienna) so there were three taxis booked to take all the people and luggage. It's a fairly short drive (over typycally bumpy roads) to the airport. The airport is just visible behind the stupa from the roof of the Happy Valley Guest House.

These days most international airports are brightly-lit friendly places, well signed and comfortable with many shops and restaurants. However Detroit (Michigan) isn't and neither is Tribhuvan.

We arrived at the airport three hours before the flight was due, and we needed all of that time to check in. The bag scanning process was quick but checking in took ages. We also had to pay a 1700 rupee (£15) tax to leave the country and change our remaining rupees into dollars (they don't give pounds) for which we received somewhat less than the proper value.

After the baggage was checked in (ours all the way to London) we then went through the hand baggage search. It wasn't obvious where to go, but fortunately we had more experienced travellers to follow. Even the most innocuous hand luggage was turned upside down and we were left repacking our bags whilst queueing for passport control. The baggage check was made more tortuous by being asked incomprehensible questions about what we had bought. For future trips we'll pack little in hand luggage and make it really easy to search (and repack).

Eventually we walked though into the departure 'lounge' which was large, gloomy and full. For those who had to use them, the toilet facilities were somewhat 'primitive'. A supply of 'wet-wipes' is very useful in these situations. If your carry-on luggage has a hard case it can also serve as a seat.

The contrast beetween our experience in departing from the airport and in spending time in and around Boudha is huge. Generally the Nepali and Tibetan people are friendly, happy and honest. (You can also usually find a decent toilet when you need one).

Eventually the Austrian Airlines aircraft was ready for us and we entered an entirely different world. The aircraft that flies in from Vienna is immediately cleaned, refueled and turned round to fly back again. I had no idea that this could be done so quickly. The staff were frienly and helpful and we soon found our seats and stowed our luggage.

We took off at around 00:30 hours on Friday morning (Nepal time). The return flight went via Delhi for a change of crew and to take on food and fuel. No passengers got on or off.

Although there were eight of us on the plane, we weren't seated together, so it was not possible to have time to talk. A shame as there was no time for goodbyes in Vienna either. Some people did manage to sleep which is useful when you take off at midnight and then spend the next eight hours chasing the darkness around the world.

We were slightly late into Vienna and had to run from the gate where the Kathmandu plane arrived to the gate from which the London plane would leave. We spend at most 10 minutes in Vienna airport. I had thought to buy some Viennese chocolates for the people at work but there was simply no time. I'll get them in Cardiff instead.

We made the departure gate with minutes to spare. The plane had been somewhat delayed because of bad weather in europe. We hoped that the luggage would be transferred successfully (a flight attend and assured us that it was quicker to transfer luggage than people).

The flight to London took off an hour late, butwent without problems. We were pleased (and a little surprised) to see our luggage lurching along the conveyor belt and piled it onto a trolley for a short trip though customs.

Although we were an hour late we still had enouugh time to get to the bus station for the 10:35 to Cardiff. At Cardiff we heaved our luggage into a taxi and were home in 15 minutes.

It was good to be home with the boys, storm damage, and Christmas decorations.

And it's good to know that we're only 24 hours from Boudha.