seeing everest from the plane was amazing. it stands above the clouds and you cant even believe what you’re seeing.kathmandu is a riot of color, sound, chaos and confusion; its like the bar in star wars. the hotel is great. our schedule is already nuts. driving through the streets in our bus…an outdoor barbershop on the side of the road, baboons, and apparently no traffic rules whatsoever.

flew in with the colorado contingency and slim jim. heading back to collect mike and the uk musicians.

and, if anyone flys thai air in the near future, check the seat pocket in front of you. if you find a black video ipod with a ton of bruce and jay-z on it, its mine. well, my pack is that much lighter.

The flight was easy; 18 hours wasn’t long enough. We had a ton of gear to check in and get through customs, but all was smooth. Damien, Stash, Myself and George Devanney travelled together. I was really excited about Bangkok, but we got here late in the day and it’s pouring rain, so sightseeing was out. I had a great list of things to see, but we basically got in a cab, went to dinner (a half hour drive each way) and came back to the hotel. Everyone from the bellhop to the cab driver tried to get us to a massage parlor, but we politely declined. Tomorrow AM we get to lug all our gear back across the road and check it in all over again.So much to do when we get to Kathmandu…last minute shopping, sightseeing, meeting the people we will be spending the next three weeks with, and starting to shoot our documentary. Look for podcasts in the coming days.

Alex

i’m not sure what’s more bizarre, the fact that i am leaving for nepal in less than a week, or the fact that i am blogging.  (i feel like doogie howser and carrie bradshaw rolled into one).  i am not sure if we’ll be able to update these posts from the trek, but if so this is where i will leave reminders, instructions and messages for you all as i remember things i should have told you before you left.

physically, i think i am ready, (thank you cuz james and john), packing is a whole different issue. there’s always monday.   i really hope we’ll sucessfully be able to post video podcasts every night for you all to see…editing on a mountain using solar power will be a new experience.

oh, and ignore the link to my website above, the site won’t be up for months.

feel free to post messages for me here, i am not sure i will get them on the mountain, but i imagine i can check when we get back to kathmandu.  as a back up, call kate in my office.  she’ll be bored and mastering spider solitare in my absence.