February 11, 2017 Our plan was to leave Kathmandu on the 8th to trek Langtang, returning with time to spend a few nights in Nagarot (known for excellent Himalaya views) and Bhaktapur (known for its Durbar square and streets filled with temples). We got our trekking permits and park passes and set our alarms for very early in the morning. When we woke up, Jeremy was sick. Food poisoning. We think it was from a chicken burger the day before. I honestly don't understand how he can even eat meat here at all, given we see the same slaughtered pigs and goats sitting on the same street corner for 3 days at a time, and we also see chicken carcasses sprawled out in the open on tables in shops. Nothing is refrigerated or covered and it gets to over 20 degrees during the day now. We had to cancel our trekking plans for that day and hope to go the next day. In the end, we ended up in Kathmandu for 4 nights longer than we planned, frustrated and bored, and not sure we were going to make it to Langtang at all. Jeremy was too sick to do much of anything, and I was sick of the traffic in Thamel; every time you set foot outside you risk being run over by a motorbike or a car barrelling down the narrow streets. We mostly lay in our hotel room for 4 days, with a couple visits to the doctor and a couple to the trekking permit offices to make sure we could adjust our trekking dates. I did go to the Bodhnath stupa on my own one day, and it was nice. The stupa is Asia's largest, and it is very beautiful. People worship around it all day and the atmosphere is busy but peaceful. We finally got the all clear from the doctor today, and we are leaving tomorrow. But we are cutting it close, as we'll be returning to Kathmandu only one day before our flights out. But we are both very happy and relieved to be going at all, and hoping we have no more incidents.
