Singapore to Kathmandu

We arrived in Singapore at about 8pm and took a taxi straight to the Marriott where we had booked in for our two night stopover. As the hotel was very full because of the Grand Prix we were upgraded to a suite on the 26th floor! From a small town by the sea with buildings no higher than a couple of storeys this was somewhat DIFFERENT but RATHER NICE! The first thing I did was run a deep bath and empty the entire bath gel in. Well one can pretend at times to be starring in Pretty Women. It was bliss. Having only had showers, which I loathe, for 8 months as you can imagine.

Ken went walk abouts while I had room service and ate all those daft things that one shouldn't eat.

Next day I went shopping. Although a very large city one feels extremely comfortable walking around alone.

We then flew Silkair and for some reason had been upgraded both ways to Business Class which was very nice. China plates, proper cutlery and wine flowing.

As we flew over Kathmandu my heart sank as we saw nothing but buildings rather than the paddy fields of old. We then had problems as we didn't have a visa nor passport photos! So I was sent to the outside to get cash from the ATM. Chaos outside and the ATM broken! Back to seek advice to find there was another one 100 mtrs away. Got cash, had no idea what it was equivalent to and managed to get back to Ken to find that he'd had his photo taken and had changed Singapore dollars to pay, not a happy bunny here! We eventually found Shyam Badam, brides mother, and Bal Krishna, both Ken's ex teachers at Budhanilkantha School.

The drive up to Budhanilkantha I can only describe as a nightmare. Traffic was horrendous. By this time I'm feeling that I had been right all along about never returning to a place that you have lived in and especially after 30 years!!

So to the hotel where we are staying now for lunch and a chat before going to Bal Krishna's newly built house where we were to stay.