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FLRC Newsletter - April 2005 |
| We've Gone to Kathmandu | |
Dave and I survived the trip to Kathmandu!
Kathmandu. Romantic and exciting destination especially for a child of the sixties. I wanted to go there from the moment I spotted it on Marathon Tours calendar. The details were delayed for months and finally appeared around November. I knew precious little about either Kathmandu or Nepal and soon picked up on the US State Department warnings about unnecessary travel. Let's see. Marathons are necessary and essential—right?
Then came February 1, when the King seized control of the government, locked up the Prime Minister, and closed the airport and communications with the outside world. Luckily for us the country reopened within 24 hours. And on February 13 we landed in Kathmandu.
We actually had a great adventure and were never threatened by Maoists. We traveled as far as 30K outside of the city to visit the greatest mountain resort you have ever seen (Fort Resort, at 2000 m; actually an old Nepalese Fort with 22K mountain peaks in the distance.
The marathon was difficult. 4300 feet elevation—tough on the lungs, nonstop traffic (we were often forced to the side walks and several of our group actually were brushed or collided with traffic. There were all sorts of natural obstacles including many "sacred" cows in our path. The pollution was horrific (yellow and thick—it parched your lungs). The locals in three-wheeled vans, small buses, bikes, and tractor-powered gizmos were out in force on the highways, not expecting nor giving any right of way to runners. And the US Embassy issued an advisory for the day of the marathon—"expect demonstrations against the Government"—so there were lots of police in riot gear in town. The people in Kathmandu (half a million) didn't really understand or know what was going on with respect to the race, so there were no real spectators or cooperation from drivers. There were no electrolyte replacement fluids, and most of us were recovering from having travel sickness, so we were taking Cipro. That given—I finished second masters women (40 and up) and won $450, of which I contributed half back to the race. The first masters was 40 years old. It took me approximately five hours. There were no clocks, and I didn't have a watch, but I got in by 11 am and left at 6. Dave finished about 5:38. I think I was sixth women overall. I actually placed second in our group of American women. The women's winner was from South Africa, finishing in 3:48 and in second was a girl from Britain in 3:58.
The head of Toyota threw a fabulous reception for us that evening and an International event the next night in a temple! Lots of Nepalese dancing and music. What a trip. The group that was to go into the countryside for safari was canceled because of the blockade. The Maoists are in control of the regions outside Kathmandu. That said—we do expect to go back in April to trek to base Camp Everest—we will fly from Kathmandu to Lulka and trek from there. The Maoists don't have control in the mountain regions, at least not yet.
Nepal is beautiful, the people are wonderful—except to runners on busy highways—and Kathmandu is a trip, but given chaotic conditions of the marathon and the traffic I really would not go there again if I had a choice.
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