After arriving at the border town we booked our tickets for the 3pm bus to Kathmandu and settled back in a bid old café over looking the bus station, drank fizzy pop and played cards. This close to the border with India meant that the people didn't look too different and we soon had a small group of bored Indians intently watching our game.
About half an hour before our bus was due to depart we decided to get on it and secure our seats, true to form, Djalma climbed up to the top of the bus and secured our backpacks himself and then we were on our way to Kathmandu. The bus wasn't too bad although the seats did come apart a little too easily and it broke down for rather along while in the dark. While we were waiting for whatever it was to be fixed, nature called and I dashed off to find a dark safe place behind a bush and answer in privacy. No such luck, I found some abandoned (I hoped) tuk-tuks and pulled my pants down trying to finish my business as quickly as possible but not before some people strolled down the road I was crouched near, forcing me to hurriedly pull up my trousers, ripping them in the process, fortunately I don't think anyone saw me peeing. Relieved I went back to wait next to the bus trying to cool down in the minimal breeze, soon enough we were off again and only stopped for a very expensive dinner before our first morning stop.
We got off gratefully at around 7am and stretched our legs in the direction of the truckers stop which had huge dishes off precooked food sitting out in the open ready to give some poor bastards the shits. Us. We had some breakfast very similar to the food in India and then went off to find the bathroom. Dear God. No running water not even a bucket with a dribble to try and wash yourself, instead two massive turds reclined lazily on the not-so-white porcelain bowl. Fortunately I didn't need a number two – we hadn't carried toilet roll for a long time so I've no idea how I would have managed non-skiddy knickers had I needed more than a number one. We left and it wasn't long before we descended into the smoggy, dusty, syrupy air that Kathmandu lives and breathes in on a daily basis.
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| From Part One: Kathmandu, Nepal |
We got into a tiny little micro to go into the backpackers centre, Thamel, and watched the families on motorbikes and mopeds speed along the roads with small masks covering their faces. We arrived in Thamel, an area full of shops; chemists, music, hippy clothes, hiking gear, bakeries, restaurants, bars and hotels, lined up in roads, overhanging with massive signs and advertisements, looking identical. We spent an hour trawling round in the heat before, of course, heading back to the first place.
We chilled out for a couple of days in our cheap smoky little room sharing one of the twin beds (no we couldn't stretch to a double bed on our budget!) and generally relished the feeling of being off the bus, which incidentally, took a good 20 odd hours from border to capital.
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| From Part One: Kathmandu, Nepal |
On the 19th, a Tuesday, we left our apathy behind and set out to do a little exploring, we visited Durbar Square got our little visitors cards and started out on one of the walking tours mentioned in the LP. We did it in reverse and passed through some beautiful squares, one of which was right next to our hotel. It was full of little statues, some of the Buddha some, I think, of Hindu deities, there is a big cross over between Hinduism and Buddhism in parts of Nepal. Behind everything was a monastery which I later visited with Kate.
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| From Part One: Kathmandu, Nepal |
We continued walking and passed by lots of shrines, unbelievable numbers of them, some were small and outside shops, adorned with patches of bright, waxy red and orange pigment, others were arranged round trees, set into walls, some used as washing lines, a climbing ground for small children and even more for worshipping and receiving blessings.
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| From Part One: Kathmandu, Nepal |
We walked down a long bustling street, packed to the gills with people and open fronted shops selling all kinds of things; metal pots and pans, bronze and other precious metal deities, knock-off designer clothing, backpacker gear, beads, jewellery, and everything in-between. All the time we were walking down the street, looking into shops, taking pictures and trying not to knock people over we had to keep an eye out so we didn't loose each other in the crowds.
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| From Part One: Kathmandu, Nepal |
The next day we set out in the afternoon to try the second walking tour (we are such old fogies!) it was much less central and meandered round residential areas and quiet back streets, still plenty of the small shrines though! We went past wells lined up with buckets waiting for women to come and draw water for the house, we went past houses that instead of having taps had pumps inside them which I found fascinating. Going down one street we saw lots of women dressed in red carrying offerings of food, queuing up outside a particular shrine (it must have been a birthday of the deity or something) and we took a moment to sit and rest and watch the the chatty cherry red ladies wait their turn to receive blessings.
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| From Part One: Kathmandu, Nepal |
A couple of days later, having talked to various agencies to try and arrange rafting, paragliding and an elephant safari but failing, we headed out for a walking extravaganza, we got a micro bus to the outskirts and walked up to a monastery set in some beautifully manicured gardens.
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| From Part One: Kathmandu, Nepal |
When we tried to walk in, a grumpy grounds keeper huffed and puffed his way over and told us it was closed and that he didn't speak any English. Having walked for a fair old while in the heat and the dust we weren't put off so easily, well I was but Djalma wasn't and asked repeatedly if someone else spoke English, it turned out that one of the monks did and he gave us permission to have a look round. We weren't allowed to take pictures but we walked around the prayer room, which was beautifully painted in incredibly bright colours.
We left the monastery to walk round and try and find another monastery further up, I confess I was tired and acting like a tired 5 year old, and that's being generous. We trudged up pass miles and miles of prayer flags before giving up; with no other monastery in sight, other places to visit and a sister to collect from the airport.
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| From Part One: Kathmandu, Nepal |
We walked back down and in the direction of Boudha, a very important Tibetan Buddhist Monument.
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| From Part One: Kathmandu, Nepal |
We walked round spinning the prayer wheels and taking pictures before climbing up one of the surrounding cafés and ordering the cheapest thing on the menu, a very expensive mint tea where we enjoyed the gold tiles sparking in the sun.
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| From Part One: Kathmandu, Nepal |
The place was buzzing with devotees, monks, families and tourists, we joined them after walking round the top of the white monument taking it all in and watching the people pray. After that it was off to the airport, yes more walking where we sat and waited for my little sister to arrive from the the UK!
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| From Part One: Kathmandu, Nepal |
On the way to the airport we had passed by lots of vendors selling the bright waxy pigment that people dot onto statues and we managed to get a tiny bit for free, we bought a flower garland as a little welcome gift and took them with us to give her a little tika and the flower necklace when she arrived. Djalma filmed her arriving in secret, blatantly ignoring the policeman who tried to wave us away from the exit but I got my long awaited hugs, planted a fingertip of red powder in-between her eyebrows and placed the garland of flowers round her neck.
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| From Part One: Kathmandu, Nepal |
We got the bus back into Thamel and after depositing her bag in our room (which I did hastily tidy before she arrived) we went out for a set meal and a beer before booking our tickets to Chitwan for early the following morning and crashing into bed exhausted.
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