A view of the Himalayas from the air.

A view of the Himalayas and the wingtip of our Budda Air aircraft.

[Photos by Nancy Olson and Matt Candelaria]

Journal by Matt Candelaria

Just got home from a weekend in Nepal. Unfortunately, the LONGITUDE Expedition decided against driving through Nepal, so I decided to fly there and take the "Mountain Flight" to see the mighty mountain. Nancy joined me on this weekend get away. When we arrived in Kathmandu, I quickly understood why it is not good to drive though Nepal. There was a curfew imposed, and on the cab ride of five kilometers to the hotel, there were around 8-10 stops from the military that was stationed at pretty much every major street corner in the city. We were the only people besides the military and a couple other cabs coming from the airport. I was anything but comfortable.

The next day, we there were no Mountain Flights, so we hung out in Kathmandu. There was a curfew at 2 p.m., so we had to do our shopping early. The town did open up from 5-7 p.m. for dinner, so at least we were not completely trapped in the hotel. The next morning we finally got the Mountain flight.

Mt. Everest is really amazing. I looked in the cockpit, and we were at about 26,000 ft, and the mountain was still above us. Really amazing. We were flying on Budda Air, and at first I thought they were doing a really great job. They let everyone in the plane (16 of us) go up to the cockpit one by one, and the copilot showed us Mt Everest. It seemed
really cool. I didn't take many pictures, because I figured I would do that out the side window when we finally got there. Turns out, we should have been snapping away, because we were probably 10 miles from Everest when the plane turned around and headed back to Kathmandu. I was really disappointed, but at least I got to see the mountain.

We had to leave for the airport early that day because of curfew again, so we spent the day waiting around Kathmandu Airport. We met a couple of nice ladies from Australia and Israel, which really helped pass the time. We had spent so much time talking with them that it was sad to say goodbye.

Strangely, when I finally got back to familiar old Delhi, I felt at home for a moment. I guess I just felt safer because of the way things were in Nepal. I didn't like being in a potential revolution.

Matt

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