Not Nepal Agan

Monday 10th October – Nothing To Declare

The good news for me is that today I’m off on another adventure to Kathmandu for a trek around the Annupurna Circuit. Accompanying me on this epic journey is my young partner in crime James of TransLink fame. With typical transport precision we timed our arrival at Brisbane International Airport within minutes of each other. After a big hug from Alice, James and I entered the sacred transit hall where we lined up in a short queue at the Thai Air check-in counter. The tip here is make sure you check-in online and thus save lining up in the conga line. To quote Thai everything including immigration was as smooth as silk.

The only issue was that Thai announced that the plane was delayed by 90 minutes so our take-off was now timed for 15:30. No problem as my Priority Pass would for a small fee give us access to the new business class lounge. Entry did not include alcohol but that was of no concern given the time of day. The surroundings, wi-fi, food and coffee were all excellent which made our stay very relaxing. By 14:30 our aircraft had yet to arrive at the departure gate so we assumed we would be delayed further. We happened to glance up at the departure screen and saw our epitaph “FLIGHT CANCELLED”. Without any prompting we both sprang into dynamic action and headed down to gate 79 where our flight was supposed to depart from. We had walked into a maelstrom, absolute chaos as overwhelmed Thai staff tried to explain what was to follow. Essentially we had to fill in an arrival card, then walk down the ramp as if we were boarding our aircraft and then hang a left so we could exit onto the arrival floor. The process after that was similar to when you arrive. It was a quick walk through duty free where I was tempted to see if we could buy anything which was followed by immigration. As we headed towards the baggage carousel I quipped to Border Control “Nothing to Declare”. After picking up our luggage we exited back into the outside world and thus ending my quickest trip out of Australia.

Our ordeal wasn’t over as we had to join a very long queue where Thai staff was issuing accommodation and transport vouchers. In the end James and I wrote our details on the boarding passes and handed them to a Thai representative. As we were from Brisbane we did not have to wait but we would have to return to the international terminal the next day at 10:00am at which time we would know our fate. The staff was absolutely winging it (nice analogy) and seemed to have no idea on how the process should work when a flight was cancelled. There was also no explanation as to why the flight was cancelled. The only saving grace was that Alice had not departed for the wilds of Currimundi and was able to pick us up. We dropped James at home just before four with plans to pick him up the next day at nine.

Later in the evening I started the process of rebooking our accommodation in Bangkok and Kathmandu. Given the late notice we will most likely have to pay for the cancelled nights. The travel insurance will not cover it as the excess is $200 and as usual I have booked rooms that are under $40 a night. We may be able to claim something back at a later date from Thai Airways. There were no messages from Thai so on spec I thought I would check my booking. Low and behold there was a fatal error message but there were details of a flight to Bangkok via Melbourne the next day. It was getting late so I contacted the Thai 24 hour number in Bangkok who forwarded me a copy of our new flight details. I gave James a call and he checked his details and came up with the same result. By 10:30pm we had worked out that we would meet at the domestic terminal around 8:30am where we would catch the 10:00am QANTAS flight to Melbourne.

Tuesday 11th October – Milk Run to Bangkok

Alice and Bob drove me to the airport and once again James and I coordinated our arrival to near perfection. It was so perfect that we just beat a busload of other stranded passengers to the QANTAS check-in counter. They were expecting us but the system wasn’t. The QANTAS staff were great and we soon had our boarding passes for Melbourne and our bags checked through to Bangkok. By 9:00 James was tucking into a couple of Vietnamese vegetable rolls while I checked my messages. He also tried to contact the Brisbane Thai office but that was an exercise in futility as they were not answering their phones. The irony of it all was that we would have missed this flight if we had relied on Thai Airways contacting us. James’ sister did receive a call from them at 8:40am but that would have been too late for him to make this flight.

The flight down went smoothly and as soon as we landed we high tailed it to the international terminal. It was about a 10 minute walk and as a result of our speed we were second in line for the disenfranchised Brisbane. The Thai check-in lady was exceptional as she booked us through to Kathmandu and without too much cajoling from James gave us the exit row seats. The staff were told not to upgrade any of the Brisbane passengers or provide them with meal vouchers. It was a pretty poor effort from Thai management given the inconvenience that the cancellation caused. Nevertheless all of the passengers were in good spirits and looking forward to their shortened holiday.

James did finally get on to the Brisbane office but couldn’t get any satisfaction from them. There was an apology but no recognition of the poor effort they made in contacting customers. I don’t know where we would have been had we not looked at our booking on-line. From that conversation we have deduced that our flight was diverted into Bali due to mechanical issues and they have a couple of hundred Brisbane bound passengers stranded there. I suppose I could think of worse places to be stranded.

After an easy passage through immigration and security we killed a couple of hours over an expensive airport steak sandwich. Take off was scheduled for 16:15 and we were hurtling down the runway soon after that. Our aircraft looks like it has seen better days as it rattled and squealed as it headed up into the stratosphere. Our seats are excellent as we can stretch right out and relax without anyone in front of us reclining their seats into your knees. The hosties were excellent and kept me well lubricated with water, wine and a couple of meals. After two movies I grabbed a little shuteye and perhaps it was the small snifter of cognac that according to James caused me to drool. Anyway we had a tailwind which got us into Bangkok 30 minutes early and the opportunity to reach our hotel before 22:30.

James and I put on our speed boots and did a half marathon to the immigration counter where much to my surprise there were no queues. We sped through immigration and after clearing customs were soon at the carousel. Our speed was so good that we beat our baggage by about ten minutes. We are staying tonight at the Silver Gold Garden hotel which offers a transfer to and from the airport. It is a budget hotel and at $31 for a double, transfers and breakfast it is a bargain. We found the transfer section and about 10 minutes later we were on our way to the hotel. After checking in we made a bee-line to the local Tesco store and purchased some water and snack food. It has been a long day and the bed looks inviting. Oh! By the way we do have twin beds.

Wednesday 12th October –Back to Kathmandu

Despite me getting up and down a few times throughout the night James did manage to get some sleep and gave a good impression of a faulty chainsaw. Seriously though I did get a good night’s sleep and awoke just before the alarm went off at 6:00. This will give us enough time to clean up and have breakfast before catching the 7:30 shuttle to the airport. The buffet breakfast down by the canal was a simple fare but the fried rice was a standout. By the time we finished the shuttle was ready to leave so we joined the rest of the guests and were at the airport just before 8:00.

We were lucky having our boarding passes as this allowed us to just drop our bags off. Within minutes we were through security and immigration and heading off to find a coffee shop. There was a Burger King but we sidestepped them and took a seat at Starbucks to while away the time. I could feel the death adder in my wallet as I parted with a 165 baht ($6.20) for a large cappuccino. The coffee was okay but it did give us a chance to logon and ring home with an update on our progress. The flight departed on time and just over 3 hours later we touched down in Kathmandu.

Immigration in Kathmandu is usually a nightmare as everyone is vying to be first in line in order to facilitate a smooth transition into this mountain kingdom. James and I were among the first off the plane and as we hit the tarmac, it is old school here as you have to descend down steps, and did our fast walk into the immigration hall. I thought I knew what I was doing and ignored James’ advice and headed straight to the immigration counter. It turned out that we needed to purchase our visa ($US40 for 30days) at another counter. Bugger our advantage was lost but fortunately the visa payment line wasn’t too long and within ten minutes we were back where we started. I left James at immigration and headed down to the baggage collection area. Nothing in Nepal is ever simple as you have to put your carry-on luggage through security to access the baggage area. It was a sea of chaos as everyone was jockeying for a position in a very cramped area. I eventually saw our bags on the carousel and elbowed my way through the masses to retrieve them. James arrived just as his jumbo pack appeared.

Outside it was a sea of tranquility as all the touts for the various hotels and taxis were kept at bay by a stout iron fence. James spotted a wizened old man holding a placard with my name on it and the hotel where we are staying. He guided us to a minivan where our bags were stowed. For his troubles I gave him the $US1 note that Alice had found in her stash of foreign currency a few days before. The trip to our hotel the Tibet Peace Inn was surreal as there was hardly any traffic on the roads. It is normally teeming with traffic with blaring horns and suicide motorcycle riders. We did find out that it was a holiday as the Nepali’s a celebrating their Daisan Festival.

At the hotel they were very welcoming however we were a little shocked at having to pay $US10 for the taxi. I must be getting tighter or maybe it is the principle of being ripped off that I don’t like but it was only $4 more than it should have been. Our room although small for two big men is clean and functional and good value. There is cable television and wi-fi in the room. There is also backup electricity for when the power shedding is on. After settling in we went for a walk and have made a booking for a two day rafting trip on the Bote Koshe River. We are opening our wallets on this trip as it is $US130 per person. For the trip to come off they need three more passengers so we will see what happens. Back at the hotel we had some good news as the manager will not charge us for the night we missed on Tuesday.
We finished our day off at the Roadhouse Café in Thamel where they specialize in wood fired pizzas. The place was packed which is a good sign so we had to take a seat at the bar. Our pizza arrived fairly promptly and was delicious. After the trials of the last three days we were ready for an early night.