pictures

Those pics are mostly all in Thamel, except for the one of me and b, thats in Hong Kong and then that tower is also hong kong. (Thats where they filmed Batman!)

Day 1

This place is unbelievable. Seeing it in the day is so much different. There are people everywhere and the whole place smells like incense. Not so much hassling, but we definitely stand out, even in our special gear! The place we stayed last night was called Kathmandu Guest House, and its right in the heart of Thamel. it is wild!! the streets are about 10 feet wide and with all the stores open in the day and people everywhere (lots of tourists too), and cars and mopeds driving all over the place, the streets are pretty crammed. So many little clothing stores and supermarkets. We are going to be going to our volunteer house probably this afternoon. They are probably a bit confused by us because we did not end up there last night after the airport caffufle. Pretty sweaty here, hard to wear slacks and tshirts in 30 degree humid weather. Im probably going to buy some of the handmade skirts (may as well become a hippy) that are really colourful. They are like 10$ (canadian).
the airport was quite the joke too haha, security may as well not exist, and the visa application process was just all over the map. Im pretty sure people here do not pay attention to time either. Just go with the flow. anyways, off to explore!

thamel

dear god.
we have arrived in kathmandu. quite the third world...we just got arrived at midnight here after a very overwhelming entrance to the country. Long story short, we were not familiar with the names of the girls who picked us up, and were being hassled by manyyyy people trying to get us in their taxis. We were not comfortable going with them so we ended up checking into a guest house that we knew of in Thamel. It is a GATED compound!! Bridget and I were a bit frazzled, and overwhelmed...but we are feeling much better now. Tomorrow we will go back to where we are supposed to stay and scope it out properly in the daylight. Pretty sure everything is fine there but its hard to say when you are in such a foreign country. and holy shit it is chaotic. no road system really, people just driving all over the place down roads that are like 10 feet wide and dirt. Definitely a bit out of the comfort zone, but should be good by tomorrow. :)
Will try to call home tomorrow once we get our sim cards! dont fret parents, we're safe! xoxox

love kk and bridge

Hong Kong

Got to HK this morningat 730. AMAZING place. Pretty sweet flight too, slept for majority of it. Have spent the day wandering around Kowloon (maybe its noteven called that i cant remember). SUch a cool city. Super warm here, kinda cloudy but really muggy. After abandoning our blackberry and iphones, we hit up some hagglers and got ourselves a couple of MINISCULE cellphones and sim cards so we can call back home, and eachtoher if we get lost. we can use themin nepal too which will be reallygood since we arent going to always be together. Cost us about 30$ each! woot. they look like oldschool calculators, but like 1/4 the size. Id postpics but i dont know how in these weird cafes.
off to go wander around.

xoxo
gossip girl

(kk and bridgy)

The Deal

Arrive in Hong Kong on May 11th early morn. Stay one night and leave for Kathmandu on the afternoon of the 12th. Have a few days to parooze the city and get set up and adjusted to the time change.