customs and out into the street

after all the delays of the day, it wasn't surprising that getting through purchasing travel visas and getting through customs in Nepal took some time. 

we were expected in Kathmandu around 9:30am, and made it out to the arrivals area after 3pm. we were all skeptical that our arranged van to the last resort was going to still be there.... but totally lucked out, and someone was waiting for us. poor guy had been there waiting since 9:30am. it took another 45+ min waiting on the curb for the van to arrive to pick us up, but it was an enormous relief to know we didn't have to make alternate arrangements on our own. 

outside the airport in the arrivals area was insane and crazy. total 180° flip from where we had been. tons of people swarming, cops with whistles moving people to and fro, and cars honking horns circling, weaving, and being flagged down and ticketed by the traffic police. 

we stood around and watched. wide eyed, exhausted, hungry and overwhelmed. 

. 

Coming into Kathmandu

the scenery coming into Nepal was so stunning... and the plane ended up circling Kathmandu about 6 times wearing for a gate, so we got to see it over and over and over. ha. 

once we dropped below the clouds, we got the view of the high plateaus town / villages in Nepal were built on... and the the sprawl, and smog hanging over the vast city of Kathmandu. 

coming from the sparsely populated Bhutan, Nepal was already looking like huge shift in mindset. 

Himalayan Giants!

once we cleared the Bhutanese mountains, the Himalayan Giants came into clear view. we flew by all the tallest mountains in the word, and had spectacular clear views of the all! it was so incredibly breathtaking!!! I spent the entire flight with my nose and camera glued to the window! 

and Everest!!! couldn't have been a clearer, more amazing view!!! 

with no zoom, that's how close to the range we were. 

the southern Anapurna range 

Bhutan - Nepal

after the morning of being delayed, the views from the flight were again spectacular! 

we all managed to have right-side window seats, and had a view of the entire himalaya range just outside our window for almost the entire flight. 

layers and layers of hills leaving Bhutan on a beautiful clear day! 

jumlohari, and the high Bhutanese peaks bordering Tibet. 

finally, our flight was leaving.

our flight was scheduled to leave at 8:30am, and another plane arrived for us to use, and we finally boarded around 12:30pm. 

we killed time as best we could, but 4 hours was a long time to wait when we were all good and ready to move on. 

in the departure area after security, there were vendors selling snacks like chips and noodles, but nothing that made up for missed breakfast after three weeks of three meals a day. 

...and waiting

made it through security (with a few more souvenirs purchased with remaining cash), and we settled in to wait for a few for our flight to board. 

and we waited. and waited. departure time passed. they updated us that there was a delay due to weather in Kathmandu. it is only a 1 hour flight, so we can't leave the ground until we are cleared to land. 

and we waited some more. and more. they finally served some tea and biscuits (more than you ever get domestically on the us!), but didn't quite make up for our lack of breakfast. 

they then took our bags off the plane, and sent it out with all the folks going to India (destination of our flight after Nepal). 

all the airport staff were pleasant, but didn't have any info... and we didn't have a plane now. sigh. 

leaving Bhutan

our flight out of Bhutan was scheduled for 8:30am, so we had to depart the hotel by 6am. we all somehow managed to get all our belongings stuffed back into our bags, and were out of the hotel before the sun was up. and unfortuneatly, also before breakfast. 

we arrived at the airport, checked in, ditched our bags, and had one last tea with the guides, then said goodbye to them and our trusty van that carried us safely around the country for 2 weeks. 

it was bittersweet to leave our adventure behind, but we were all ready to go. 

final dinner in Bhutan

on our final night, our guide, tshe tshe, and driver, ashish, joined us for dinner. throughout the whole trip, they made sure we had everything we needed... but never joined us for meals (we extended many invitations). 

it was a fun night, and we really enjoyed chatting and reminiscing about the wonderful trip. it was such a full 12 days, and we all learned and absorbed soooo much. Bhutan is a really serene, adventurous, and cultural rich place to travel, and it was awesome to be amongst so few other travelers that we felt incredibly special everywhere we went. 

souvenir shopping in paro

spent our final afternoon in Paro wandering around the main town area shopping (spending our good tourist dollars). most of the items were more weavings (scarves), wooden masks (for the boys), books, postcards, etc. we were all running really tight on bag space, so tried to gauge purchases wisely. ha. 

after shopping, we returned to the hotel, and furiously worked on finishing our postcards, and put together a few thank you cards for our guides. 

our last Bhutan picnic lunch

we made it back down from the nest by 1pm-ish, and there was another lovely picnic lunch set up for us. the company who catered our lunch was also throwing a reception for some monks in the same location, so we got to sample even more of the more traditional Bhutanese dishes on top of the tamer chillip dishes they prepared. 

the exhaustion from three weeks of constant travel was a little relieved from the high from the hike to tigers nest, but I was definitely ready to start moving toward home.