Hello All,

Sitting in my new "down scale" hotel room. This one costs about 10% of yesterday's (just in case I am in Kathmandu a really long time). It's a bit mustier, has hot water only when the sun shines, and most importantly, has a movie channel.

I have watched more movies in the past 24 hours than the past 18 months. Raj had his wife take me over to Qatar Airlines in Durbar Marg-about a 20 minute walk from Thamel. They had no sign out front of their office, but we deciphered the puzzle and took a number.

The middle woman seemed quite helpful, but I drew the one to her right. She kept saying, "no seats in May or June" no matter what question I asked her. She sent a message to Toronto asking about how much to upgrade my seat since there might be a slightly better chance of getting a seat in a higher class. I'm supposed to check back tomorrow.

I asked her about buying a ticket. She said, "no seats." I asked her about stand-by, she said "no seats but you are welcome to try." So...I'm working hard on my Buddhist slogan of the day: Abandon all hope of going home.

I checked the internet today and Qatar did have one seat on Sunday in business class-maybe it will still be there tomorrow after Toronto gives the word, she says abandoning hope. :-)

I'll see what they say tomorrow and then perhaps drag my huge duffles to the airport to try stand-by. She said the Doha to London leg might also be tricky so even if I manage a KTM to Doha flight, they might not let me on. Maybe I'll trek back to basecamp :-)

I spent the afternoon wondering around Thamel aimlessly until I ran out of steam and wilted about 3 (which probably precludes trekking back to basecamp). I think that's very much a legacy of the giardia. I'm slowly introducing food groups and trying to build back strength. It feels like I've been in Kathmandu for a month even though it's just a day and a half. Funny how time works.

Once I truly abandon hope and surrender to being here a long time, Raj will hook me up and help me get into exploration mode but until then, I'll just hangout here for a few more days in recovery mode.

Thanks for hanging with me.

TA

This Everest-007 Update is made possible through the generous support of AppleCore Interactive, www.applecore.ca