Our Engagement Story

PICTURES TO COME!

On April 19, 2011, Jay and I finally began our trip to Nepal. We had originally planned this trip for October 2010, but the airline had overbooked the flights and we had to postpone our trip until the following year as winter is not a good time to travel to this region. We were excited to explore another part of South Asia after having made two trips to India and deciding that we loved the culture and food.

After a three-hour flight from HK to Dhaka, Bangladesh, and a one-hour flight from Dhaka to Kathmandu, we were finally there. Our first day in Nepal included a tour around Kathmandu to with our first stop at the Pashupatinath Temple. This is one of the most significant Hindu temples of Lord Shiva in the world, and is on the banks of the Bagmati River. It is the oldest Hindu temple in Nepal and dates back as far as 400 A.D. (if not older). It is regarded as one of the most important locations for pilgrimage for the followers of Hinduism, which made it that much more special for us. While only Jay was allowed to enter the temple, we wandered throughout the complex viewing the various burial sites and ceremonies that were open to all visitors.

Our next stop was Durbar Square, where we viewed the palace and tested out the fish-eye features of our new camera (our last camera had been sacrificed to the sand dunes in India...). We had lunch in Thamel and shopped the local markets. And we ended the afternoon with a drink by the pool at our beautiful hotel that had a view of the Himalayas. However, I will admit that I did not sleep much that first night as I was nervously awaiting the morning activity scheduled for Day Two of our trip.

Backstory: In January, about three months before our trip, Jay asked if I wanted to do a special tour in Nepal which includes a flight around Mt Everest. Since I knew we would not have the time to hike to Mt Everest or Base Camp (and let's be honest, neither of us were in physical shape for those treks), I agreed to do some research. I do not like small planes and am a freak about aerospace safety, and unlucky for Jay, my research did not produce positive results. It turned out that flying in the Himalayas at the altitude of Mt Everest was not particularly safe. There had been a crash of one of the tourist planes about one year earlier, and that was the last straw. I said that I would never in a million years get on one of those planes and thought that was the end of it. But Jay is quite a persistent fellow, and he asked me repeatedly over the next month. I finally capitulated and we agreed that we would book the flight, but if it was too windy, too cloudy, or there was any rain, we would not get on the plane. I was convinced that we would not be getting on the plane and did not even include it on our itinerary, but the week before our trip I spoke with my dad on the phone and he said it was going to be a once in a lifetime experience. Mr Safety himself was recommending that I take the death plane, so I figured it could not be that bad. I slowly started warming up to the idea.

On Day Two of our trip, we woke up at 4 am to check the weather and get ready for our 7 am flight around Mt Everest. It was a clear day and it is safe to say that weather conditions were perfect. I was intrigued by the views from up above, so I agreed to do the tour.

We arrived at the airport at 5:30 am to pick-up our tickets, and stood in line behind a group of students from New Zealand. If I was not nervous yet, I was about to be. The domestic terminal at Kathmandu airport was barely a stable building. The ticket counters were not unlike booths at a carnival. The tickets were handwritten. Security was a mess. But after we passed through security, I had passed the point of no return.

We waited to board our flight for an hour and first boarded a bus to the runway. The bus drove away from the main airport, past military buses and planes, and eventually stopped at a joke of a runway next to planes that fit a maximum of twelve passengers. I was terrified.

After Jay pulled me off the bus, we boarded the smallest propeller plane I have ever been on. The plane took off, and I my nerves were soon calmed by the breathtaking views of Kathmandu Valley. The first fifteen minutes of the flight were spent climbing to an altitude of 28,000 feet. Then we started passing the famous peaks of the Himalayas. There were twelve passengers on the plane, including the two of us, and two flight attendants walked the aisle pointing out the various mountains by name. We were allowed to walk to the front of the plane and sit in the cockpit with the pilots for a 180 degree view of Mt Everest. It was far more beautiful than I ever could have imagined, which was portrayed by the 200+ photos I took in less than 20 minutes.

After I made my trip to the cockpit and sat back in my seat, Jay had the brilliant idea of asking a flight attendant to take our photo. I turned down to my backpack for five seconds to grab my small camera, and when I looked up, Jay had fallen into the aisle. Well, that's what I thought, but he was actually kneeling on one knee ready to make a speech. He started with the words "When I'm with you I am in a cloud..." and then spoke for another two minutes, but I cannot remember a single word he said except for "will you marry me?" I was crying, but came out of my daze long enough to say "yes" and give him a big hug. The flight attendant snapped a few pics, which I have included below. The best part? It turned out to be a very private engagement as nobody else on the plane even noticed Jay was proposing....they were staring out the windows at Mt Everest!! Seriously, our pictures show the other passengers looking in the opposite direction.

After we got off the plane I was still in the clouds. We took a taxi back to our hotel, called our folks, and then headed to the hotel restaurant for Momos to celebrate (Nepalese spicy dumplings). We spent the afternoon walking through the neighborhood next to the Hyatt and eating near Bodnath Stupa.

Day Three of our trip was spent hiking the Himalayas. The funny story about this day was that Jay had originally decided that proposing during this hike would be his back-up if the weather was bad and I would not get on the tourist plane. However, halfway through our hike his asthma and the altitude got the best of him and I found myself carrying both of our back-ups, water, and cameras for the last three hours. We were both very happy that the weather had been good the previous day.

Day Four included more wandering around Kathmandu, an afternoon at pool, and drinks at a rooftop bar overlooking Bodnath Stupa after work, which is when the locals make their laps around the Stupa (quite a unique sight!). We flew back to Hong Kong at 11:45 pm that night, and once we were back to reality, the wedding planning began.

Our engagement story was very special for the both of us for so many reasons and we are excited to spend a day in Kathmandu this April during a 12-hour layover from Bhutan (almost one year from our engagement!).