Travelling Home

My last day in Nepal was bittersweet. While it was time for me to return home to face the obligations that I’d accumulated for myself and to check progress on my home renovations, I was disappointed to be ending this lovely adventure. There is much more of Nepal to experience and spending the time in Nepal with Ayreen and her friends was making the thing just so much more rich and engaging. I normally don’t mind travelling alone – have done so for years – but I was revelling in the difference that having a social circle to engage in the new environment with was making.

Ayreen had a last meal with me at Sudesh’s New Orleans restaurant before I left for the airport from the Kathmandu Guest House. The trip out to the airport was typical of cab rides in Kathmandu, but as I’d left in plenty of time, I arrived in good time and everything went as smoothly as one could expect. Importantly, as we climbed out of Kathmandu in the airplane – and it was a steep ascent! – I was looking down on Kathmandu in wonder and then looked up and could clearly see Everest in the distance. I had just ticked off the one thing I wanted to do (on this trip) that hadn’t yet been achieved. For the next 30mins or so there were other spectacular views of the Himalayas as we flew out of Nepal.

A typical view for me out of a cab window in Kathmandu	Kathmandu (pop: 1.44m) from above
Everest in the distance from directly overhead Kathmandu	The Himalayas

I want to finish with some reflections on my trip that haven’t fit into the travelogue.

The Nepali people are almost invariable hospitable, kind, patient, and friendly. For this reason, travelling in Nepal seems easy (though Ayreen having one of the languages was very helpful) and is routinely pleasant. Having said that, Kathmandu is a major Asian city with all that that means in terms of crowding, pollution, noise, and general chaos. If you’re nervous in traffic, don’t go to Kathmandu! Also, as lovely as the Nepali people are, they’re built on a scale that is much smaller than me, so me moving through their environment is challenging for me. That’s not their fault, of course, but it is a noticeable inconvenience or discomfort for me.

The two countries that I’ve visited are geographically very different and very different to (my) Australia. They are both beautiful in their own ways and the architecture in each of them speaks clearly of a response to the environment in a way that I really like. Oman’s desert landscape is wildly and ruggedly beautiful; its geology on display everywhere you look. Nepal’s mountainous landscape is also beautiful. It wraps around you (the horizon is frequently less than 1 km away) in a completely different way to Oman (or Australia) and the drama in that close up world is wild.

Ayreen has been just the best possible tour guide for my adventure in Nepal. But much more importantly, she has been so generous in her kindness to and support of me as a friend who she met just once 15 years before. I am blessed to have met her back then and to have been able to spend this time with her again now. Thank you, Ayreen.