Flying In

I am going to apologize upfront for what may soon seem like an appalling lack of vocabulary and the severe overuse of the word breathtaking. After being here less than a day and most of that being at night, I have a sense that, despite alternate adjectives that might seem workable, really only breathtaking will do.

That first breathtaking moment came when, having finished my nth? movie of the long flight, no sleeping on crowded planes for me, I raised my window shade as we approached Kathmandu. I don't think I took another full breath until after our wheels touched down. 

From my window, (sit on the left side of the plane as you arrive in Kathmandu from the west) sticking up through the clouds and still shockingly high and present (that would be the mountains not me) the Himalayas displayed their peaks. The late afternoon sun lit up the crowns, that alone was breathtaking, but even more they just kept unfolding and unfolding and unfolding, huge peak and high valley followed by the next huge peak and then the next. Only one other couple sitting directly behind me seemed as stunned as was I. Why everyone didn't just rush to our side of the plane to see the mountains I don't understand, but most everyone else seemed decidedly nonplussed.

And then, it got better. Much closer peaks surrounding Kathmandu began to break through the cloud cover, and then we passed a low ridge which seemed to magically stall the clouds. They just stopped like traffic at a train crossing, and the Kathmandu Valley emerged in full sunlight. Terraced ridges on the outskirts with Monasteries perched on top...I mean really, it was like the picture books, who knew?

No wonder people thought this place was the home of gods or Shagri La, or any of the other legends that one can think of about Nepal. 

The rest of the day, including the 2 hour wait in line at customs is a blur, but that vision of the mountains, I can't wait to see them up close!