Kathmandu, Nepal

I woke up early again today, at 06:00, showered, packed my bag, returned my room key, and walked out to the bus terminal area in Lumbini. I then waited for about fifteen minutes for the bus to show up; then I loaded my bag on to the bus, boarded the vessel, and waited for the large beast to take off down the road, which happened around 07:45. The ride was ridiculously bumpy and I think it would’ve been smoother and more comfortable if I rode in a stagecoach instead. Within the first hour, we stopped several times in different towns to pick up and drop off passengers before we were finally under way toward Kathmandu. We then stopped roughly every two hours for breaks and around 12:30, we stopped for lunch in a town near Chitwan National Park – I opted to eat a Snickers bar from a local food stand instead of consuming a proper meal at the designated restaurant for our lunch; I also wandered around the nearby vicinity and saw a condom shop on the adjacent alleyway (it sold other tools for human sexual intercourse as well). After lunch, we continued on down the rough road, winding through the imposing jungle which had overtaken the rocky mountain outcrops. We stopped by a scenic river for one of our breaks and I watched two inflatable rafts navigate their way through the rapids. Finally, after 17:00, we reached Kathmandu; through out the capital city, as we moved deeper down toward the heart, we stopped many times along the way to let various passengers out; near Thamel, the bus stopped and I, as well as many others, departed; I ended up sharing a taxi to Thamel with a French lady; once at Thamel, I exited the cab and walked toward the hostel I had stayed at previously in Kathmandu. Upon entering and checking in to the hostel, I was glad to see I was recognized and even more glad to see the stuff I had left behind in their care (laptop, hard drive, clothes, etc.) was still in place and not stolen. After sorting my stuff out in the hostel dormitory room and briefing a Spaniard on the Annapurna Circuit trek, which he will be beginning in two days, I went to a familiar restaurant nearby to have dinner – I had nachos, a barbecue chicken pizza, and a beer. Once that grand meal was completed, I went back to the hostel and downloaded all the photos I had taken (4,000+) on to my laptop; I then went out and bought some calories (both the solid and liquid kind), returned to the hostel, and began to go through the pictures in the laptop (a lengthy and arduous task); I stayed up past 22:30 working through the first several days I had been separated from my laptop before the battery became near empty and I had to stop for the night (I did not make much progress today; hopefully I can do better tomorrow). I then stowed my stuff in a locker and went to sleep for the night.