The team is on the ground

I arrived a few days ago in Kathmandu. This place is pretty crazy. There are people everywhere. The first daunting task was crossing the road. Motorbikes, cars, tuk tuks and people all merge into a chaotic traffic blender. I quickly learned the trick is to move steadily in one direction and let the traffic move around me. A local told me that I would never get hit by a vehicle. I enquired if this was because they might lose their licence. He laughed and indicated towards the batons the traffic police carry around.

The heart of Kathmandu has three types of shops that just repeat themselves down every street. Gear shops, souvenir shops and money exchanges. I still felt obliged to look in almost every gear - this took about three days.

Yesterday Steve and Ben have arrived. We spent the day sorting out all our gear and making final purchases. The amount of gear looks like too much and too heavy. It's difficult to come around to the mind set of: We are away for along time, and most importantly, we're not carrying it!

In many ways Kathmandu feels very similar to Huaraz in Peru. I find myself having flashbacks to a 2007 climbing trip in that area. Just to make it authentic my guts have decided to reminisce as well. Hopefully this bout won't be as debilitating as the "happy stomachs" of 2007.

We fly to Lukla tomorrow morning. Ben spent a bit of time this afternoon sorting out a wireless laptop connection as well as a cell phone connection. So if technology plays the game we'll post again soon.