Tuesday 29 December

Today is the day we move on. It wasn't the warmest night, but it's behind us now. Malcolm goes down to place our breakfast order. I turn on the TV and am surprised to hear/see Joyce Myers' enjoying everyday life show. I haven't heard her since we left Australia. It's nice to hear her encouragement to make Jesus a priority in our everyday life. After breakfast Malcolm starts packing up. It's pretty cold so we go on one last walk up the hill. The mountains are so majestic. We finish our packing and just relax. We have to pay our food bill so we are awaiting the owner to return. He's supposed to come about 12. Amazingly frozen is on TV and I finally get to watch it. The owner doesn't arrive till after 12 so we miss the bus. Good thing we have time. We pay and get a photo with him before heading to the bus stop. We find the right bus and get a seat. We have to wait about an hour and the bus fills up. The early birds get the seats. It's nearly an hour to bhaktapur. We see on the map there is a momo place just around the corner. We check it out and order two plates. They're really good and cheap too. We buy mandarins and head to the next bus stop. Again we are early and get seats. The bus gets so full as we drive along. Ppl are literally hanging on from the outside. Thankfully is much emptier by the time it's our stop. We cross the road and it's around a 2km walk to the airport. It's dusty and chaotic. We go through security into the airport. We can't check in just yet so we sit and get ourselves ready. We buy some food with some money we can't exchange. My donut is old hard and mouldy. Malcolm gets me a replacement. We are sitting right by a shoe shining machine. It's very popular and we use it too. Once we check in Malcolm exchanges the money- they give us a very bad rate. Maybe about half the amount we think we should have got! We have to fill out forms for immigration and go through a check point and security. They want to take my tiny blunt scissors away. I say I've taken then on planes all around the world. I'm allowed to keep them without too much fuss. Malcolm gets a drink with his remaining rupees and we wait for boarding. We meet some Nepalese girls going to USA to study. A huge move! It's a short bus to the plane and we are set. We end up sitting next to one of the girls. We discover the reason for the India stopover is the fuel shortage in Nepal. They only have enough to get to India where they will refuel for the remainder if the trip. The simple refuelling turns complicated when a passenger who was feeling unwell insists on getting off the plane. They have to fill out paperwork and find and unload his two bags. We are now an hour late. I'm not worried. Less time waiting in Abu Dhabi airport.