Back in Kathmandu

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11/6/10: Today was mostly a rest day, we spent most of our time catching up on internet and eating. I looked at myself in the mirror and didn't realise how much weight I have lost. I haven’t been this skinny for almost 15 years. Jacinta is the same; she has lost 20kg since we left and is still dropping weight. China will be the same as there is not going to be much protein in any of the food. Jacinta had her hair coloured, she was so happy to get rid of all her grey hair. It was also the first time she has someone how knew what they were doing. Both times in India they made a mess of her colour. I also had a haircut and beard trim, I was going to shave it off but decided to keep it a bit longer. The barber was exceptional with the scissors and he cut my hair like Edward Scissor Hands; if anyone actually remembers that movie. Later that afternoon we went out to a big steak dinner with our new friend Azeret from Mexico and her husband Fred from France. Everest Steakhouse was the restaurant; we both had a steak costing around 650NRS or around $10AUS at the time. It was an unbelievable steak cooked perfect all the way through. I was totally surprise surprised by this as they don't eat much beef or buffalo in this neck of the woods. Fred was in the process of finishing a book on Guadeloupe and the problems they have been having with the French government. Feeling satisfied with the meal it was Mexico’s turn to play in world cup soccer. Azeret was excited about watching her Mexican team play. It was hilarious to watch her stress over missed gaols and penalties. She really took it serious and was quiet dramatic and entertaining to watch, it was more exciting to watch her than the game. Fred was able to teach me about the finer details of the game over a few beers. It got smoky and later in the bar so we called it a night. We all talked in a circle while a drug dealer pushed in and tried to sell us hash. I was sick of being offered drugs every 10m in Thamel so I pushed him out of our circle and told him to f$&#@ off, his then tough 13-16 year old friends decided to come over and start something. They were all red eyed and stoned to the hilt. I yelled at them to F@#% off again saying we don't want your drugs. Jacinta stood in front of me stopping anything serious breaking out. The dealer later apologized for butting in saying “sorry it just my job” I responded with “It’s not a job”! I later thought about his situation, he probably has no education, no mum or dad or home. Half the reason there is so many dealers is the tourist support the growing problem. I just can’t stand how blasé they are about selling it to you. We were in a restaurant having lunch; a rickshaw driver tried to sell me drugs from the 2nd floor. I tried to ignore him but he so desperately wanted to make eye contact. He was yelling out to me “smoke, hash, weed” the whole time he yelled this he acted out smoking a joint. I slowly got more and more pissed off as I couldn't even look out the window after awhile. Back to our hotel room sanctuary for a shower to wash out the cigarette smoke our skin.
12/6/10: It was our mission to seek out some cheaper food in the Durbar Square area; namely a Lassi (Yogurt drink). We had been hearing reports about these unbelievable lass’s that people line up down the for. We hadn’t had a great lassi since Pushkar in India so it was a good excuse to go for a walk. We walked all the way to Durbar Square not realising that last time we walked around the back and didn't pay to get in. We asked the ticket guy and he pointed us in the direction of a good lassi. We found the store and had to lassi’s each, they were really thick just how we like them. On the way back we stopped in a local restaurant for some 30NRS Buff Momo’s (small Beef Dim Sims or dumplings) Feeling satisfied we walked back to talk about our upcoming planes to Hong Kong. We hit the internet for a short while when Miha and Nina turned up to our hotel. It was a great surprise as we were just about to e-mail them to catch up. They told us about their unbelievable experience in the Russian Helicopter and their blasé Russian Pilot; also not leaving out that the pilot made some minor repairs to the twin 2500hp engine with a huge screwdriver and a big hammer, also forgetting to close the engine bay cover while the helicopters rotors started to spin on takeoff. You could almost imagine an overweight drunk Russian with three day old growth still hung over on Vodka, but it all worked out in the end. Miha and Nina boasted about this cake place that sells the most unbelievable black forest cake next to their hotel so we walked back with them to try a piece. They weren’t wrong about the cake as it was the moistest cake I have ever tasted. The name is Snowman Cafe just off Freaky Street. We also found the real Lassi place that everyone was talking about. There were crowds of people all having a lassi from this shop. It was by far the nicest lassi we have had since Pushkar maybe even better. Content with the lassi and cake we went back to Miha and Nina’s rundown hotel with a few beers and talked about things in Slovenia and our upcoming travels to China. Miha and Nina were really interesting people; they had no qualms about going right off the beaten track to film small unrecognised minorities for their documentary in China. Apparently the Chinese have classed 50 minority groups in China but is more like thousands. It got late and we had to head back for a 15min walk back to our guest house stopping on the way for some more momos.
13/6/10 to the 16/6/10: We spent most of our walking back and forth to freak street 1km away just to have sweet lassi’s and the best Black Forrest cake you could ever eat from Snowman’s cafe just off Freak street. We also took advantage cheese from the local dairy place as we wouldn’t get any dairy products in china at all. Walking back and forth it was evident how bad the drug problem is in Kathmandu, there were 6-12 year olds all walking around with bags over their face sniffing solvent and thinners. The smell was strong enough when we walked past them, I couldn't even imagine what it would be like breathing in the bag. If they wanted to be dizzy and light headed take them up to Everest Base Camp or even Kala Pattha. Their eyes were fully dilated and it just didn't look right when they gazed at you. One of the young boys tugged on my shorts, I looked down into his big pupils as he made a gesture that indicated he was hungry and wanted food in his mouth; he was around 10 years old. I told him “NO, I’m not giving you any money because you will go and sniff paint!” he walked away knowing it was useless to try any harder. I spent most part of the mornings typing my blog. I couldn't believe how much I wrote whilst on the trip, its taking me ages to type everything out. Our flight from KTM to HNK got cancel and reschedule for the 17th, we didn't care too much. We were going to stay up and watch Australia play Germany in world cup soccer, but wimped out because it was a 12 midnight. I’m glad we didn't watch because they were thrashed 4:0. We had been slack on learning our Mandarin, I know once we get to china we will have wished we tried harder. I started our search for a van in Germany; we made the conscious decision to miss out on Egypt and Israel for the time being, choosing to do both at a later date, plus the plane tickets cost too much to fly to Israel.

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