Kathmandu
Trip Start
Aug 28, 2005
1
25
37
Trip End
Dec 10, 2005
Kathmandu,
Nepal
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Kathmandu has a wicked vibe to it. So cool! We are staying in the area called Thamel which is the main tourist area now. Thamel is a little like a cross between Khao San
Rd in Thailand meets the Old Quarter of Hanoi and all sorts of people of all countries and ages too. Kathmandu was big with the hippies in the 70s and the sounds of Bob Marley, Jimmy Hendrix and also Jack Johnson blast out from everywhere. The streets are narrow with potholes and dust everywhere. There are people everywhere, lots of touts and trecking guides trying to get work. Yesterday we watched snake charmers that had set up close to our guesthouse and had cobras dancing to the music! There are also fruit sellers, shops selling outdoor gear, pashminas, hippy clothes, inscense, postcards, maps etc. We even saw a couple of cows strolling through the main street the other night. There are old cars, motorbikes, bikes, cyclos and busses. Typical asia style and all honking with little road rules. Heaps of character to this main area.
Buddha statue
It is the very start of their busy time of year and good conditions for trecking. It has been sunny everyday so far. Clear blue skys but a whole lot fresher than SE Asia with temps only about 10-25 degrees - much cooler than Bangkoks 30+ degrees. We applied for our Indian visas and now have to wait for
11 days for them to get processed. Quite a process to get them done and would have definatly saved more time and less stress getting them done from Bangkok although $20 more expensive. We arrive at the embassy 10mins after it opened, went through the whole security check then qued for 2.5 hours to hand over the 1st form and get a receipt to come back in 11 days. The visa service is only open from 9.30-12 each day and we got to the front of the que at 12.10 to hear the guy say, "sorry we are closing now". Lucky Dan was quick to polietly talk him into staying another 5 minutes and he did ours and the 2 guys queing behind us. Now we have to play the waiting game till the 7th till we return to complete the visas.We are hoping that the shambles getting an Indian Visa is not a glimpse on what India will be like - fingers crossed!
To fill in out time we have organised a 6 day treck up in the Himalayas!!!
We have hired a freelance guide for $6/day to come along too. We met Mr Kumar today and he was our guide round a World Heritage Site in Kathmandu called Durbar Square. Durbar square has 43 relevant buildings most which are temples and shrines both Hindu and Buddhist and in Nepal, Chinese and Indian styles.
Charming!
We were lucky enough to catch a 10 second look at the Kumari or the living goddess who is believed to be an incarnation of a goddess Taleju. She lives in the building Kumari Bahal. Qite an odd custom that has been going since the mid 1700s. A young girl is chosen from a certain group of Nepalese and she has to met loads of criteria to be chosen. Things like spending a night alone locked in a dard palace, watching 108 cows get slaughtered and have a pure body with no defects on here skin, eyes, hair etc and have a similar zodiac to the ruling king. The current Kumari is now 8 and has been the goddess since she was 4 and the new king started ruling and she will contine as the Kumari until she reaches puberty or her body turns impure such as bleeding from a cut or something. Once that occurs she returns to her family to live a normal life again but they say it is bad luck to every marry an ex-kumari!. Very interesting but a little strange. Our guide was a hoot and so knowledgable so im sure we will have fun trecking. Yesterday we walked up to the Swayambhunath temple or Monkey temple. This temple on the hill overlooking Kathmandu is one of the most famous in Nepal.
We were all packed and up and ready to go this morning at 6am. Our guide met us and took us to the bus station but unfortunatly the bus was full as there was a protest and strike yesterday in Kathmandu. Tickets are all booked for the bus tomorrow leaving at 6.30am!
We have had to pick up a few winter woolys for the treck as we will be climbing up to 5000m hopefully if the weather is clear otherwise we will get up to 4000m which is higher than Fuji which we did in August.
Curry and Beer (and Dan too)
Im sure the winter woolys will be great in London when we arrive! Back into the Red Planet guesthouse today. There is however a Peace Music Festival starting up later today which will be cool to check out. Apparently they have 2 stages set up, 1 for reggae, blues, rock and the other for techno, house and famous DJs from England etc.
I am missing the SE Asian foods. Thai has to be one of the best cusines in the world and I cant really tell the difference between Indian and Nepalese food so far. The curries are good but not very spicy and nothing seams as fresh as the food in Thailand.
Well thats about all from me for now from Kathmandu.
Tomorrow its another early start for the 9 hour bus with the locals up to Syabrubesi at the start of the Langtang National Park and start of our treck. Our guide tells us that he will buy a bus ticket to ride up on the roof of the bus the whole way?!? Apparently legal here!?! Anyway, more news after the trek. Aim to be back on the 6th of November so we can pick up our visas for India on the 7th.
Dan choose our snack pack and we have 5 Mars bars, 2 big blocks of Cadburys milk chocolate, 1 pack of peanut cookies and 1 pack of coconut cookies! Should keep us energised!!!
Change of plans....Dan picked up food poisoning and has spent 24 hours vomitting so the trek has been delayed till the 1st of Nov depart. Likely suspect was the spinach and cheese quiche : ( More days in Kathmandu to fill in and rest up.
