After 2 hours and 40 minutes, the plane finally landed at the airport in Kathmandu. As soon as I stepped outside, I saw a burly Caucasian man holding a poorly written sign in Chinese with the words "Ren He" on it, and An Si waved to him.
Then An Si whispered, "This is the team leader of the guiding company for this expedition, Smeier, an American. I'll translate whatever he says for you."
"No need," Ren He said with a smile, stepping forward and speaking in fluent English, "Hello, when do we set off for the camp?"
"Oh, not yet," Smeier said, surprised by Ren He's fluent English and standard West Coast accent. He continued, "Two Japanese climbers will arrive in 30 minutes. The other five team members have already reached the camp. We need to wait for those two Japanese climbers before heading to the camp. But... is this companion also participating in the Mount Everest summit? If there's an addition, it'll cost extra."
