Hello blog!

Its my second day in Nepal... and let me tell you it has been quite an experience so far! I got here on Thursday afternoon, which is late Wednesday night in Spokane. There is a 13 hour, 45 minute time change from there to here. We are ahead and it seems so strange to be talking to family back home when they are in a different day than me. :)
Let me see.... lets start with when I left Spokane on Tuesday morning. We went to the Beine's house at 5 am (they are the family I am traveling to Nepal with) and loaded up their things. We got to the airport on time and our flight left at 7 am. We had to get de-iced of course, it is Spokane after all, and then we were off. We stopped in Oakland, then L.A and changed to the international terminal. Thank goodness Mr. Beine was observant because our bags were only checked through to Thailand! After about 45 minutes, that mess was cleared up and we got through security to find lunch before our 14 hour flight. Yes, you read it right, 14 hours in one small little cramped seat. Oh the joys of travel. :) The plane was 3, 4, 3 seats across the row. We sat on the right in the seats for 3 people. Mr. Beine and Nate were in the front, Nick and Jake were next, then me in the window seat (hallelujah!), then Mrs. Beine and Josh behind me. It was a bummer that we weren't all sitting together across a row... but it was fun to pass on messages from the back to the front by poking the person in front of you. The announcements were given in at least three different languages, we all had a little screen in front of us with music, movies, tv shows, and a map of our flight, and the flight attendants were all little Asian women in cute outfits with flawless makeup and perfect hair. And yes, 14 hours later they still looked just the same as when we got on. Lame. I sat next to a boy who must have been close to my age and an older gentleman on a totally packed flight. We could not understand one another, and they slept most of the time. When I did finally get out to use the lavatory, we had to wake up the poor old man. When I got back, he had fallen asleep. The whole plane was dark, and I didn't want to cause a scene... so I nudged his arm. The boy sitting next to me came back then and we both tried to wake him up. We were giggling like mad by the time he woke up about 2 minutes later. Ah! What fun! The food- well, the food wasn't so bad. We had two choices and they fed us all the time it seemed. My only complaint was that for one meal, which was breakfast but definitely not the time for breakfast, we had to choose between an omelet and rice something. I chose the omelet and ate just the fruit and roll that came with it. Yum! The two men next to me got the rice thing. It seriously looked like rice soup with granola, and then they put seaweed something on it. Uh! Gag me!
We finally got to Taipei, Taiwan and by this time my clock was way, way off. We had about a two hour layover, so I took the boys and we ran the hallways for awhile.... right in front of the Gucci and Prada shops. Haha- those employees were dressed to the nines and we were in day old sweats and sneakers. I bet they wished they could have been us!
After Taipei, we went to Bangkok and had an 8ish hour layover there. We got a hotel room in the airport and took showers and got to lay in a real bed. I say 'lay' because there really was no sleep involved. My body was so out of whack! We woke up, had breakfast, and then Mr. Beine paid for Mrs. Beine and I to have a shoulder and foot massage! So wonderful! An hour of treatment cost about 18 dollars! Love it. Apparently massages are BIG in Thailand.... so I am totally looking forward to our vacation there on our way home to Spokane in June. :) It was in this airport that I noticed that I am much taller, much blonder, and practically shout American when I walk into a room. People watched us wherever we went. I felt like a doll on display!
Anyhow- we made it on our delayed flight and thats when the fun began. The flight attendants wore lime green, hot pink, and all sorts of brightly colored Nepali clothing. The writing on the wing was in hot pink, and all our dishes for the meal were hot pink. Fabulous! If I was a flight attendant, it would be for Thai Airways. Nick was my seating buddy and we laughed the entire flight. We found this exercise guide designed for sitting on a plane and had a ball trying to out-do the other person. My first glimpse of the Himalayas was AMAZING! Can you say HUGE! The splendor of it all... God really had fun with these mountains. You couldn't help but praise Him as you took in the sights. What a great God we serve!
We landed, taxied to the end of the runway, and disembarked. No concourse, no terminal, no nothing. We then walked to a building to get our visas and stood in line for about half an hour. Now, in Nepal and most Asian countries, personal space is non-existent. I stood in line for my visa and the Japanese man behind me kept pushing me. He was older, tiny..... and I had a big backpack. No, I did not knock him over but oh- I thought about it. He ended up taking MY receipt for my visa, and I had Mr. Beine go get it back from him so I wouldn't do something I would regret. We were on hour 40 with about 5 hours of sleep- and anyone who knows me can really sympathize with me here. There is a reason my family calls me a grizzly bear in the morning. I'm happy to say that no harm came to the Japanese man from my hands. :)
Well, we got through there, got our luggage (a miracle it all came through!) and headed outside to meet our host, Dwarika, who was our transportation. He brought his son and friend who had a large van that is sorta designed like an old-school station wagon. By the time we got everyone in and our luggage, I could not see the boys seated in the back. Oh, but I could hear their squeals around every turn. Drivers here drive fast. And crazy. And, well, stupid sometimes. No one obeys traffic laws because I doubt there are any. Motorcyles, taxis, tractors, bicyclists, pedestrians, buses, fancy foreign cars... its all here. And they are all maniacs. I was scared silly but would not allow myself to close my eyes because I feared that I would miss something. It was/is alot to take in, my first time being out of the U.S and all. We finally did safely make it to our destination and then struggled to stay awake the rest of the day. I think we all made it to dinner, and then all crashed from exhaustion as soon as the last bite was taken.
Well, its time for afternoon tea. :) Hope you had fun reading!