The Amazing Bhola

I went over to the OAT offices yesterday to try to track down Bhola, my tekking guide from 5 years ago. The guy at the office gave him a call and told him that he had a client waiting at the office, so he jumped on his bike and headed over. When he walked in the room and looked at me, I said only "this is a test". The words weren't out of my mouth when he said "Heidi!". I couldn't believe it. Five years have passed and I don't know how many trekking clients he's had since me. He wasn't expecting me and had no idea that I was in Kathmandu but it only took him two seconds to recognize me. What an amazing man.

I took him out to lunch and we had a great time catching up. This morning he came and met me at the guest house and we took off to do a bit of sightseeing in Bhaktapur in the Kathmandu valley together. It's fun traveling with him as we both like to walk a lot and we avoided taxis in favour of the local bus. He dubbed our walk to the bus station the "Kathmandu trek". Bhaktapur is a lovely old city just outside Kathmandu with lots of old temples and shrines. It is somewhat more commercialized now than it was 5 years ago, but it was still a wonderful respite from Kathmandu. It is much more quiet, much less populated with both locals and tourists, and the air is cooler and fresher there. We had a lovely morning wandering around the town and chatting.

I would still really like to do a trek with Bhola as would he with me. I still haven't been able to find anyone to trek with me over the next month or so. I did, however, meet another guide through an American, Frank, that I had dinner with the other night. This guide, Tshering Sherpa, has a single Japanese lady booked to do the Mustang trek starting on June 16. I am now in the process of trying to get some more details from the guide (price, itinerary etc.) and am hoping to negotiate a deal where Bhola can come along as the assistant guide. It would mean killing a few weeks here prior to the trek, which would be easy enough to do if I get off my duff and move out of Kathmandu. I could probably still head to India after the trek.

The bottom line is that I'm no farther ahead in my plans at this point, but have a few more irons in the fire. I'll go pick up my Indian visa tomorrow (assuming that it's approved) and try to firm up details with Tshering over the next day or so.

I am fairly confident that Tshering will be good, and with Bhola along I can only assume that we would be in excellent hands. Frank's friends have used Tshering and/or his company several times before and they are very pleased with him. This couple actually came to Nepal to get married at Thayangboche monastery (the one on the way to Everest) and Frank came along to witness the wedding. It sounds like it was really lovely and I can't think of a better place to get married. I met Frank at the guest house and we went out to dinner on his last night in town. He was great company for the evening and is best described as an artistic, Mennonnite, hippy throwback. He is also a soil scientist for the Department of Agriculture and lives on a working farm in Ohio. Fortunately, he also introduced me to Tshering, who I'm hoping may help me get to Mustang and also provide some extra work for Bhola too.

So that's where I'm at for now. Still hanging out in Kathmandu, but hopefully by the end of the week I should have some direction in my life. Stay tuned....