Kathmandu via Dhaka

Au reviour, Thailand- next stop Kathmandu, Nepal. Looking to pick up the pace a bit, we book a flight with Biman Bangladesh Airlines to Kathmandu, with an all expenses paid stopover in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka.

After countless delays, we take off for Dhaka. The air hostesses are dressed in saris, and the food has a distinctly Indian flavour. With a cheeky grin, one of the air hosts offers us hot pickle- from a jar with a spoon hanging out of it. HOT PICKLE he calls, like a spruiker selling wares. Classic!

Arriving at Dhaka, we are given a hotel token and herded onto a bus....and we launch headlong into the Dhaka night. The traffic is wild, everything- the buses, the cars, the buildings, are dated. Our hotel would have been cool in the 60s- now a cross between opulence and tackiness. But the place has an intriguing, unashamed, almost arrogant energy about it- completely fascinating. Unlike Thailand, things are still unsure, a little shaky, in Bangladesh, making for a refreshing and stimulating change.

After a leisurely breakfast, we bus back the airport. The flight is spent staring longingly out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Himalayas from the air. After about an hour, the flat plains of Bangladesh give way to small foothills- we can see the convergent boundary where the Indian plate collides with the Eurasian plate....the nascent beginnings of the Himalayas!

Unfortunately, this is all we see of the mountains- its too hazy. But the fun is only just beginning- we are landing in Kathmandu.