Arrival, first impressions

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Arrived safe and sound. After some initial trouble passing customs, finding the right truck and getting trough the busy Kathmandu traffic, we arrived at our destination: shangri-la boutique hotel and had a hearthy welcome from the manager, Bino.

Had food (an Indian curry for me) at a place I think was called 'French kitchen', with Holly from England, who we met in the bus. The next day we arranged a driver and guide and went to see Patan and the royal palace. We would never have found all the small places that were interesting. Nothing is marked. No street names entryways, signs, etc.

So on the way there, we dove into a small alley / square, took off our shoes and went up the stairs into a house. At the top, there was a small 2 room apartment. A single piece of furniture adorned the room.. A chair. No one in it, though.

The guide explained: 'have you ever heard of the Kumari? She's a living goddess, selected when she's 4-6 years old. She's not allowed to touch the floor ('floor is lava' game, for your whole youth). When the girl turns into puberty ('bleeds'), she is no longer the living incarnation of a godess and put out into the streets' :/

So. A 5 year old girl is lifted from the other room and brought before us. Whether we wanted to do a blessing and/or leave an offering.. we looked at each other with a puzzled expression..

Out we walked, our little adventuring party, as 'Mark the blessed', with a red dot-thumbprint on his head', 'Simon the trusty treasurer' who recently lost a 100 roepies, and 'Holly the intrepid and fearless leader' (whose name was on the form we filled out this morning) and myself. We had many an adventure that day, of which you will find some photo's below 😊

An attentive reader will see that Mark turned into Mark the half-blessed about an hour later due to itchy and not-so-good paint :P. We went on to see Bouddha and Pashupati. The latter one is a place where they cremate their dead and had some fake and real swami's loitering about. No photos of them, though.

Finished off with some clothes shopping and learning to haggle. Had food at two places, first one came recommended and was in a nice area, but we didn't like the atmosphere much, because of the stale light, tiles and sober setting. We found another outdoor place nearby, with trees, live music and.. ok food 😊.



.. reading this back, I think I'll change from a 'we' vibe to an 'I' vibe, next blog, so I can tell you a bit more of what I saw and thought, instead of making it just a static story. At least everyone is updated 😊

Hi, namaste, good night, have a good one. Bye!

Helpful hint: travelblog puts the photos way at the bottom

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