Tied up in Kathmandu

Monkey Temple, Kathmandu
Kathmandu is nestled in the valley of the mountains around the foothills of the Himalyas- as most people know, as it is the jumping off point to the zillions of treks which eventually lead to the big one- Everest. It is also full of Buddhist and Hindu temples that are older than old- some around 600 BC or so.

Nepal is a gentler, cleaner version of India, and though some of the same "rules" or lack of them apply, people are a bit more laid back, and there is not so much rubbish around to clutter up the landscape- which is probably magnificent except that the 4 days I was there it was cold and foggy and smoggy [more on why later] and so I did not see the backdrop of the Himalyas -which was a bit of a disappointment.


Our first night saw us finding our hotel by driving the wrong way on a narrow one way street, which is the main shopping and nightclub drag for Thamel, a touristy district of Kathmandu. The hotel is gorgeous and tucked away a few streets back from the hustle and bustle, but easy to walk to the action if you want it. The lobby and surrounds are resplendent in "antique" wood carved pillars and decorations which add a nice touch. My room is practically palatial compared with the last few nights, and it overlooks a gorgeous garden. There is a German couple there, who are in the process of adopting a Nepali baby who had been abandoned by her parents....apparently a common event in Nepal- as we are to meet several people who are in similar circumstances. The baby [2 1/2 is called Sita, and her adoptive parents are beaming!]


Day 1 was spent chilling out [an easy thing to do because the temp is about 8 degrees C- though the TeeVee says it is 12, I do NOT believe it]- having massages and shopping and just hanging. Day 2: we head for a series of temples in and around the city, but only make it to one- the Monkey Temple, because the city is on strike over rising petrol prices and every street is clogged with traffic. We decided to go back to the hotel, because we knew we would not make it out of the city, and it took us 3+ hours to go about 2 km's



Monkeys eating brekkie at Monkey Temple
Day 3: My last day- the city is still under seige by the strikers and the is locked down- most shops have closed their doors and people are making fires out of kerosene and tyres at each intersection of each sector around the city. There is a bit of protest and a bit of festival feeling throughout and people are walking everywhere. The sky is filled with black smoke and it stinks of kero. We walk to Durbur square- which is filled with temples [Hindu, Buddhist etc] and I am given my 17th zillion guided Hindu religious instruction lesson -walking around the square with a young "government" guide. He keeps pointing out the Karma Sutra carvings on the temples with glee-walking clockwise around each temple, hand raised above his head, index finger pointing to the "frescoes", and I feel more and more claustrophobic: hemmed in by Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, talk- I am drowning in Hindu god words which revolve round and over and through my brain until I have to stop him and tell him to go away. He ends up following me [unbeknownst to me] and literally bumps into me that night in Thamel- at least a 45 minute walk away from where we were that afternoon. We had to be rude to him to get rid of him and he still followed us into a cafe. The waiter got what was going on and had to ask him to leave. Creepy! My only "bad" experience in an otherwise gentle time in Kathmandu.
Like most happenings in this part of the world, nothing turned out as planned- we were going to go to a school in the country and visit some Buddhist temples outside the city, but ended up bound to Kathmandu by strikers. The results were good, as the pricing bodies brought the petrol prices back to where they were- how long that will last is anyone's guess, but I was impressed by the speedy and positive results.

Back to Delhi with an overnight stop at a hotel for rest, recovery and a cleanliness pit stop. I have managed to develop sniffles and coughs so I need some r and r.



View of Pagoda from Hippie Temple,
Durber Square, Kathmandu