Waking in a Hotel in Kathmandu

I visited India and Nepal for the first time on a Buddhist pilgrimage led by Shantum Seth in 2007. The following is from my 2008 trip to India, Nepal, and Tibet.

This is from the 2007 pilgrimage, when we crossed the border from India via tour bus (not plane, as I did in 2008)

I’m in the hotel in Kathmandu. It’s shortly after 4:30 am. But I’ve been in bed for hours — I have a virus (as in hacking up yellow phlegm). I woke in a train’s sleeper car at about 4 am. I have a slight touch of altitude sickness since flying from Delhi to Kathmandu and didn’t even notice until the middle of the night. I’m afraid I’m a bit in shock — here in Nepal on my own after about two weeks with a sangha in Dharamshala, India.

Nepalese people apparently don’t speak English as clearly as they do in India. But maybe I’m generalizing. What I really mean is… the travel agent doesn’t speak English that clearly. Maybe I’m struggling because I’m so accustomed to how Jagdish and a few other Indian people speak English; Shantum and the Raj speak it with a British accent, and the Rani almost had a British accent. I’m sure it doesn’t help that my ears are congested.

My travel memoir Every Day is Magical: A Buddhist Pilgrimage in India and Nepal is available on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/Every-Day-Magical-Buddhist-Pilgrimage/dp/1499258895/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=everyday+is+magical&qid=1615941737&s=books&sr=1-1