Kathmandu (slight reprise)

Sorry for the theatric pause after the paragliding, it was slightly unintentional.

Paragliding was great, none of the initial buzz of Bungee or Skydiving as there is no moment where you take a giant leap for mankind. Instead you start running like hell down a hill (with poor attached Nepali guy running behind you) and gradually take off. Then the thermals on Sarangkot push you higher until you suddenly realise that the ground is a very long way below and all you have for protection is a small canopy above your head and a Nepali instructor who seemed to be quite stoned at the time.
Half of the reason for doing it in Pokhara is the fact that you can see the Annapurna range when you are in the air, but of course it was cloudy so all I could see was the vague outline of the lake below me. But then again at one stage an eagle came out of nowhere and started soaring beside us, which was quite amazing. Especially when he cocked his head to one side and threw a beady eye at us as if to say "what you doing in my airspace white boy".

Left Pokhara without having seen a single snow capped peak, except for the ones which are plastered on ever postcard around town, which I felt like destroying. Next stop Bandipur, a tiny hill top town on the way to Kathmandu. It promised great views of the Himalayas and the ride up from Dumre involved a small pickup truck and 18 people. 7 of which (including myself), stood on the back and hung on for dear life. The town itself is gorgeous, old Newari houses and a definite non-touristy vibe (something which unfortunately Pokhara cannot claim). So I spent the night in an ancient crumbling down house for the princely sum of 200 Rupees (2.50 Euros), complete with mini-wood balcony looking out over the valley. But the clouds once again got the better of me and no Himalayas were sticking their white summits out at me.

So back to Kathmandu the next day and in reverse "If Mohammed will not go to the mountain" style I decide to book myself on a mountain flight, which takes off in Kathmandu and flys up to Mt. Everest taking in 50% of the world's 8000m peaks on the way.
Had to be up at 5.30 am which proved to be quite difficult as I had partaken in one too many beverages the night before and had a head that felt like it had been kicked around by a Yeti and my mouth felt like a Yak had slept in in. Some how made it to Kathmandu domestic terminal which without doubt is the funniest airport in the world. It more resembled market day in a Nepali village than an airport. People were sprawled out all over the place, massive Sony TVs in boxes waited to be transported to some mountain village, a tea vendor lay cross legged in front of the checkin counter.
I checked in with my Buddha Air, which was reassuring as surely nothing could go wrong with an airline named after a Deity? Imagine flying with Allah Airlines, Krishna Carriers or even Jesus Jetways? The plane was tiny and was filled with a small group of Spaniards and 3 Obese Americans. I was quite sure one of the women would not fit in, but somehow she managed to squeeze in the door.
The safety drill was non existent, which I suppose was fairly logical as:
A) It's called "Buddha airlines", what could possibly go wrong?
B) Well if we do crash, you have 6 more lives
C) Let's face it, if we do go down, this is not the country to do it in, as flat level landing spaces are few and far between.
We took off in a jiffy and rose above the cloud cover, which just like a magician removing his hanky from a table to produce a dove, produced the most amazing row of jagged peaks as far as the eye could see. We flew eastward, catching some impressive peaks on the way, but the moment you see Everest is one of those goosepimple moments. It is just MASSIVE, it makes the other mountains (even Cho Oyo & Lhotse which are still 8000ers) look like molehills. It really does look like that if you put a ladder on Everest that you could climb into outer space.
It was all over too soon and it just left me with enough time to get another Chai and head back to bed to sleep off my hangover.