In June 2023, on 13th I announced that we would be organizing the trek in 2024 May. So that the ladies could have ample time to prepare mentally, physically and financially for this trek. Initially, the group had some 25 girls.
In October 2023, I announced the dates to be 9 May 2024 to arrive at Kathmandu. However, by February 2024, I realized that the trek may not materialize as the number of people was too less.
Amruta and Gauri were keen to go this year. I decided to give it a shot. So we almost booked the tickets. And the General Assembly Elections were announced. Amruta and I were to vote on 13 May 2024. It would have been a very irresponsible of me to not vote when I had an opportunity. So I requested for rescheduling the tickets to 13th Evening which was readily accepted. We booked Amruta's tickets very late as her passport arrived in first week of May.
On 13th May 2024, Amruta travelled from Ahilyadevi Nagar to Pune after voting and then we started towards Mumbai. This journey seemed quiet uneventful until we reached Khalapur toll plaza. This is where the rains caught us and entire traffic movement slowed down. Then we were caught in some idiotic traffic near Chembur. When we reached the check in counter, it was just 10 minutes before the closure. Yankee Dankee we checked in and went to the gate only to find that our flight was delayed by 30 minutes.
We had booked a funny combination with Sri Lankan Airways. The flight took us to down south Colombo with a layover of 8 hours before flying us to Kathmandu.
At Colombo Airport, we were seating in a big bay where it was all lights and people were constantly on a move. It was difficult to rest peacefully there. Some time later, Amruta and Gauri spotted a bay that was pretty much in a corner and had less light. So we moved there. Soon it was morning, just before our flight girls went to the toilets for freshening up.
This is when a man who was seated in the same bay tried to speak to me in languages I didn't understand. I told him I understand Hindi and English. So he changed tone and laughed and asked me " क्या लेके आयेथे? इधर क्यूँ बैठा है?" (What did you bring? Why are you seating here?) It went like a tangent. An official came and took him. The girls returned and we went for breakfast. On the way, Amruta saw a map of Colombo Airport and she said we spent the night where the people who have breached customs are supposed to be held! It was like a face palm moment. Anyway, we had moved off from there. The flight was on time and we touched down at Kathmandu at exactly 1215 PM.
At Kathmandu airport, I picked a local sim and we reached the hotel at Thamel in barely 20 minutes. I messaged Ngima that we had reached. He said he will see us at the hotel in the afternoon. We had some food in the flight and weren't exactly hungry so we ate food we had parceled from home and rested for a while.
Around 3 in afternoon, Ngima came to see us. He brought two duffel bags for us to pack our stuff. Four of us went around the market with where Amruta picked a pair of sunglasses. I wanted a windproof with some fleece lining and didn't want to spend much so I looked into some other shops. Gauri picked water purification tablets.
In the evening, we had dinner in the market. We also picked some bread and butter from the market and went to the hotel room.
We spent next couple of hours reorganizing our stuff into the duffel bags. Like every time, I had already charted my clothes and changing schedule so it was an easier task for me. The girls kept showing what they had brought and we discussed whether we would need it or not and classified the stuff accordingly. Soon 14 May 2024 ended and we drifted in the dreams of EBC.
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