Day 5.

Chaos at check-in for the flight back to Kathmandu in the early morning. Luckily we were booked on the first flight of the day so skipped to the front of the queue.


Another colourful boarding pass (for flight #1) with a view out over the airport apron.


Our aircraft after landing. A Dornier Do 228 instead today.


They make very quick turn arounds, making us queue on the apron to board before the flight had even landed, and only turning off the port side engine.


I managed to snag a front seat, and got to literally look over the pilots shoulders on the take-off roll.


Climbing out over the hills.


Quite foggy in Kathmandu and only saw the ground when we got quite low in altitiude.


The Dornier being prepped for another flight into the mountains.


Picking up our packs at baggage claim before catching a mini-van to our hotel.


Back at the Kathmandu Guesthouse. It used to be an old Rama palace but has now been turned into a hotel.


I then caught up with everyone for breakfast at the Himalyan Java cafe.


And had a delicious ham and cheese omelette for 300 rupees (~$3).


Ramesh then took us for a walk into town to the local shops. Got some good portraits of the locals, including this interesting looking guy.


Necklaces.


Out shopping.


Rickshaw driver.


We stopped off at a brass/copper shop where I got a souvenir Yakow to take home.


At an upstairs pashmina shop where the ladies did some hard bargaining.


We then went to a Thamel vegetarian restaurant called OR2K for a late lunch.


The pesto toasted sandwich and banana lassi I got to enjoy.


I then headed off on my own and went for a walk to Durbar square in the the old town. An interesting place to wander about and take it all in.


Kala Bhairava, a manifestation of Shiva.


And plenty of pigeons.


Banana's for scale. I then walked back through the city to the hotel.


I caught up with some of the guys for dinner at 7pm, having some very tasty pork tandoori.


And saying farewell to our guide, Ramesh.


The restaurant, 'Rum Doodle', is a traditional meeting place for trekkers, and had signatures for famous mountaineers who have eaten there, including Sir Edmund Hillary.


Apa Sherpa, who has now made a record 21 ascents of Everest.


New Zealand mountaineers, Gary Ball and Rob Hall, who climbed the seven tallest mountains on each continent in seven months. Ball died in 1993 of cerebral edema from altitude sickness. Hall died in the 1996 Everest disaster, and will be played by actor Jason Clarke, opposite Jake Gyllenhaal playing American Scott Fishcer, in the 2015 movie 'Everest'.