Down and Out in Kathmandu: A Backpacker Mystery

Chapter 1a

Compact soldiers fidgeted with their machine guns as the newest arrivals entered the airport. Zelda joined the visa queue and took out a paperback. As the long line nudged forward, she noticed that the owner of the backpack behind her seemed to have disappeared. Begrudgingly she dragged the lonely luggage forward with her own. The stocky, dread-locked man soon returned, apparently not noticing his bag had moved.

"You should really be more careful," she said.

"Pardon?"

"You should really watch out more, you know, be more careful. There are probably pickpockets and thieves all over the place just waiting for a chance to grab your bag."

"What?"

"Your backpack! If you haven't noticed it's pretty chaotic in here and I can't be held responsible if anything happens, so you should watch out for your own stuff. I could have stolen from you twice now and you never would have noticed."

"You can do what you like but it's not bloody likely that you'd get too far, in case you hadn't notice those blokes with Uzi's," he replied, gesturing towards the armed men dotted around the hall. "Besides, I don't recall asking you to watch my bag."

Kicking herself again for not getting her visa ahead of time and now starting off so badly with the ruggedly attractive stranger behind her, Zelda took a deep breath and began again. "I noticed you getting on in Bangkok, where did you connect from?"

The man let out a deep sigh, followed by a long stretch and a yawn. "Australia. Man, what I wouldn't give to be on a sandy beach smoking a joint right about now." He started into upper-body twists, his springy dread-locks danced around his bronze face. "Say, do you know how much the visa is gonna cost?"

"Twenty-five dollars for one month."

"American dollars?"

"Uh, yeah," replied Zelda sarcastically, not realizing Australians used dollars too.

"Oh. Don't suppose customs take traveler's cheques, do they?"

"No, but there's a currency exchange right back there that I'm sure would be happy to help you - in case you didn't notice in your earlier wanderings."

"Fantastic! Would you mind watching my bag just once more? Cheers..." He was already walking towards the booth, digging a passport and traveler's cheques out of his money belt.

"What a jerk," Zelda mumbled. Unable to concentrate on the book in her hand, she glanced around the crowded arrivals hall, purposefully avoiding setting her eyes on the man's bag. It seemed like every available surface was covered with paintings or carvings of fierce-looking demons and other strange creatures she vaguely recognized from her guidebooks. She knew she should be excited to finally see these things in real life, but her fascination was outweighed by her overwhelming sense of fatigue. All she wanted to do was to get to her hotel room and lay down on a real bed. The weather certainly didn't help her mood. Nepal was a heck of a lot warmer than she thought it would be, and the airport didn't seem to be air-conditioned. After pulling her long brown hair into a ponytail with a scrunchie, Zelda carefully wiped the sweat off her face and black-framed glasses with a Kleenex.

A few feet later, the bubbly blonde stranger returned. "Cheers for that! You're a sport. Do you need to change money yourself? I'll watch your rucksack for ya..."

"Thanks, but no. I've got everything under control." Zelda twisted back to face the slowly shortening queue. She pulled out her wallet anyway and silently counted her cash. It wouldn't hurt to get more rupees while she had the chance, she thought. The exchange rates here had to better than at Seattle-Tacoma International airport. A few moments later she turned to face the Australian again. "Actually, I would like to get some more money, as this line isn't really moving very fast. If you don't mind?"

"No, not at all. I'll be here."

Zelda sprinted to the currency exchange, changing greenbacks for rupees in record time. Racing back, she was relieved to see her bags still safely in line and seemingly unmolested. Sure, there were armed guards everywhere, she thought, but those bags were filled with gifts for the families she'd be staying with and that guy was a complete stranger. Zelda muttered a "thanks" while casually checking the zips on her bags.

"No worries," he replied cheerfully. "So, how long are you going to be in Nepal anyway?"

"Oh, about three months or so I think. Everything's open-ended at the moment." Zelda couldn't help chuckling for the first time in days. After thirty-two hours of flights, bad food and long layover's, she was actually in Kathmandu, well, at least technically. She could feel a smile spreading across her face. The months of preparations - sub-letting her apartment, quitting her job as a computer programmer, getting several rounds of vaccinations, and arranging all the tickets - finally seemed worth it. Everything was going as planned and soon, very soon, she would begin her own amazing adventure. She was sure of it. Somehow the delays at the airport didn't count.

The man behind her slammed one hand into his forehead and thrust the other towards her chest. "Where are my manners? G'day, the name's Ian."

"Hi, I'm Zelda, my name is Zelda," she said, her own hand extending automatically to grip Ian's right palm.

"Goodtameetcha. This is my first time abroad, at least by myself," Ian confided. "I'm planning on traveling around the world - so long as my money lasts anyway," he announced with a big wink and a grin.

Before they could continue, Zelda noticed the armed guards were motioning for her to move. "Oh, it's my turn! Good luck Ian," she sang, whilst throwing on her biggest smile for the customs officer and two soldiers flanking his sides. A few flurries of his brown wrist and she was charging downstairs towards baggage claim....