Last Stop in Kathmandu

I've been back for about a week now, and a very busy week it has been. I realised sometime in Tibet that I only have two blank pages in my passport and therefore need a new one before I go anywhere else. I visited the Canadian consulate in Kathmandu and was informed that passports can now only be issued in Canada, and since it would have to go through the embassy in Delhi, it would take a minimum of four weeks. Given that Nepal was going to kick me out of the country in three weeks, this wasn't looking good. The thought of going to Delhi to kill a few weeks while I waited for a passport was not sitting well.

The next day I went to Nepali immigration to get my final visa extension. I only had 25 days of eligibility left and therefore had to basically swear on my first-born's grave that I would in fact leave the country within that time frame. Fortunately, this wasn't a problem as I think I presented myself as someone who loved being here for the beauty of the country rather than because I was smuggling drugs or pirated DVDs. It had to get approved by everyone short of the king, but I finally got my visa which left me with one blank page in my passport.

Based on a recommendation by my Aussie travelling companions in Tibet, I have decided to head off to the Middle East. Before anyone starts to panic, I am not planning to tour Iraq or Afghanistan, or volunteer for a mine-sweeping mission. I will fly to Istanbul on Thursday, October 18, and spend the next 18 days or so in that area. The Canadian embassy in Ankara and the consulate in Istanbul have been absolutely wonderful in advising me on my passport problems and I look forward to meeting the Consul when I get there. They will accept my application for a new passport and send it off to Ottawa. They will also provide me with a temporary passport to travel on until my new one is ready.

On November 4 I will join a tour in Istanbul which will take me though Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. The tour doesn't cover much of Egypt except Mt.Sinai and the Red Sea so I'm currently in the throes of booking an add-on that will take me to Luxor (Thebes), Aswan and a short Nile cruise. Of course I'll be seeing the pyramids and sphinx and Egyptian museum as well. Of it all, I am most excited about seeing Petra, which I've dreamed of doing for years.

The biggest stumbling block at the moment is getting my passport and visas in order. First I need to get my temporary passport which will take about three days. The Canadian consulate will have my new passport sent directly to Cairo, so it will be waiting there when I arrive back from the tour. The Jordanian visa is apparently very easily obtained in about 24 hours in Istanbul. The Syrian visa is another story and the Canadian embassy has informed me it can take up to 15 days assuming they decide to grant it at all. They (the Syrians) apparently aren't thrilled about issuing visas to people who are applying outside their own country. The Canadian embassy in Turkey has promised to provide me with a letter of recommendation and seem willing to help out in any way they can. I will suss out the situation when I get there and find out what I can do to ensure a smooth process. I'm not sure that I'd buy a burqa for the occasion but will happily cover my head and ankles and/or take a man (read: owner) with me when I go to apply.

In addition to all of this planning, I have managed to blog my Tibet trip and get my photos uploaded. I also had a very pleasant visit with Toni, a woman from Hamilton who was on my Bhutan trek last fall. She is in Nepal doing the Dolpo trek that I so wanted to do but didn't have time for - I'm very envious. We spent a few days together exploring some interesting old temples and parts of Kathmandu that I wouldn't have ventured into otherwise. After treating Kathmandu as home for so long, it was nice to see it through tourist eyes again. We only had one mishap when we accidentally stumbled onto a funeral at a burning ghat by the river. The fire hadn't yet been lit so we didn't realise what was going on until we virtually tripped over the shrouded body. Oops. Even though I don't know her that well, it was really nice to spend time with someone with a somewhat of a shared history. And the girl talk was great too.

So that is life in Kathmandu. I will be spending my last few days here saying my goodbyes and sorting though my stuff. I have accumulated so much here that it would be impossible to carry. I'll be shipping a bunch of stuff home and leaving some other things behind.

I'm really going to miss this place but am also very excited about my next adventures. Dad - I guess I'll get to see the sunset over the Bosphorus. I'll be sure to let you know how it measures up to the Taj Mahal.