Kathmandu

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Another early morning today-we were up at 0515 ready to leave at 0545 for the Everest flight. It was only a 20 minute drive to the airport but in traffic we were told to add an hour onto this hence the early start. We checked our bags through security and got a coffee as we waited in the departure lounge. At around 0730 we were called forward to board the bus which took us out onto the runway where we sat for around 20 minutes. I think in my heart I knew that the flight wasn't going to happen, especially after we were told we were waiting for ten minutes for the mist to lift. I doubted very much that this would happen in ten minutes and sure enough we turned back to the departure lounge. We waited another 20 minutes there just in case but then it was confirmed that all Everest flights were cancelled. Oh well. I was a little disappointed as it would have been great to see, and it's what I'd saved my money for all trip instead of getting a single room, but we'd seen a gorgeous sunrise and beautiful scenery when paragliding in Pokhora so I didn't mind too much. There was a chance we could try again tomorrow, but with the weather forecast predicting the same, plus my departure flight back to the UK, I didn't think it was worth chancing. Everyone else had the same thinking apart from Molly Brown who said she wanted to go again. That sealed the deal for me, I'd rather go free diving in the Ganges than be stuck on a 16 seater aircraft with her!



Back in Thamel we went for breakfast at the pumpernickel cafe where I ordered a coffee and eggs on toast. Back at the hotel we had a quick change and decided to walk to Durbar Square which is home to all the ancient palaces and temples.



The streets were so narrow and winding and again heavily built up. There seemed to be distant areas for selling things, for example the first street had lots of food on tables outside including many plucked chickens. Then there was an areas selling cooking utensils, and another selling clothes. Although there were people constantly sweeping the street there was still rubbish everywhere and in a few places gathered into huge piles which were stinking. Eventually we reached Durbar Square which was listed as a World Heritage site in 1979. The palaces courtyards and temples were built from the time of King Malla (1484-1520 AD) it is the biggest medieval royal palace complex in Nepal and different buildings had continued to pop up until 1907.



There were pigeons everywhere and again lots of market stalls. It was a really busy area, but amongst all the chaos stood a man on the temple steps waving a huge Nepalese flag and beaming from ear to ear. He looked so happy, a bit of a character and many people were asking to have their photo taken with him.



Out of nowhere a man waved beckoning us through a small door of a building, shouting hurry hurry, no photos no photos! We all bundled though not really knowing what were were meant to be looking at. We ended up in a courtyard where he pointed across and up to a window. Stood looking out was a young girl warring heavy eye make up. Aft 10 seconds or so she was gone. There seemed to be a buzz of excitement, and then Steph came out with-I've got a post card of her! I bought it yesterday, I knew I recognised her! Back outside we read the plaque besides the entrance ' Kumari Ghar-House of living goddess Kumari'



We learned that the Kumari is a young girl chosen from the community to represent the Hindu goddess of power, only after she passes a series of tests. They are hidden away in temples only emerging for festivals and even then they are carried and not allowed to walk anywhere. They don't attend school and are only seen in public around 13 times a year, so the fact that we had just got to witness this special event her in Durbar Square made our visit all the more unique. Once the girl ranches puberty, she is retired as a Kumari and returns to the average life of any other Nepalese girl. I have put a link at the bottom of the blog which is an interesting read.



We wandered around the markets where Steph bought some earrings and I bought am OM bowl. Now I think it probably has a proper name, but it is one of those handmade metal bowls with a wooden thing that you run around the edges to make an OMMMMMMM sound, like when you're meditating. I don't know why I wanted one (another one for the bookshelf back home) but I did like the noise it made and it was fitting for it to come from a country steeped in Buddhism, especially from the market in and amongst the temples too.



Next we went to visit one of the many old palaces. I was too busy looking up at all the windows as I walked into the courtyard and semi fell down the step sending my phone flying and the guard laughing (although he was trying his best not too-bet they wouldn't do that at Buckingham Palace!) before long we had to get back to the hotel ready for our afternoon activities. (Via a shop or two of course!)



This afternoon we were going to visit SASANE a charity supported by the tour company also known as a Planterra project similar to the home stay we had visited in Chitwan. More specifically, this branch of the charity here in Kathmandu was called 'Sisterhood of Survivors' the charity aims to rescue girls from the Sex trafficking / slave trade and give them an education or skills to work.

It was a big house where the girls lived and downstairs was a huge kitchen where they gave us cooking lessons and learned hospitality skills and how to speak English. We learned to make Momos which were little dumplings dipped in a chilli sauce. They were delicious!!! So moorish, and we all had great fun trying to mimic the girls culinary skills (making it look so easy). After that we sat in a little dining area and was served the traditional Nepalese meal of Dal baht, which again was lovely.



As it was our last day, we all had a whip round for a tip for Raghu and Harry stood up after dinner to make a speech. He thanked Raghu for not only being our CEO, guide, interpreter, traffic warden, pharmacy, dietician, personal assistant.....the list went on, Raghu really did have to wear a lot of different hats on this trip! He finished off by saying something along the lines of this.....

'Raghu, when we were in Varanasi, on the river Ganges, you explained to us about the caste system of your country. When I asked which caste you were from, you told us the warrior caste. (I have since googled this and indeed it is true, the name Rathore comes from the Rajasthani warrior caste) he went on to thank Raghu for helping to make our trip a truly memorable one, and finished by saying, we couldn't have had a better soldier to lead us on our travels, which I thought was quite nice. Raghu thanked us and gracefully accepted our gift before we were served masala chai and got ready to listen to the girls of the SOS project to give us a presentation.



We watched a short video on the work they do and I was really surprised to learn that Nepal has the highest rate of people being trafficked for sex (I don't know if this is the highest in Asia or in the world, but either way I didn't expect that of Nepal) the SOS project helps to take these girls out of that environment and train them to become paralegals in order to stop this trade and prosecute those involved. Also to give education (many of these girls don't finish school as they are sold at a young age)

Girls work at the borders and in police stations in Pokhora and Kathmandu and villages and are able to provide a safe haven for girls rescued before they are smuggled out of Nepal. Some families even sell their own children, some believing they will be going on to better things or some actually knowingly to sex traffickers. I just can't ever imagine the life some of these girls have had. When looking at travel companies for my planned trips, I didn't pick this one because of any ethical travel reason, but because I liked the itinerary of the trips. Having visited these projects they support it gave me confirmation that I'd booked with a great company as our travel experience has the opportunity to support these projects and give something back to the communities we visit. I was so glad to be able to be a small part of this positive work they do, and it's little things like that which make these trips that bit better. I bought some handmade bracelets here for the girls in my family, and felt grateful that we will never know a life that the girls here have done.



We thanked the girls for the cooking class and wished them well, and headed off for our final bit of sightseeing. If I'm honest, I did by this point feel all templed out, but figured I'd probably not ever get to see these again, as I really didn't know if Nepal would be a place I'd get to visit twice or more.



We made our way to Bhaktapur, which if I'm honest was a series of squares with lots of temples that I would definitely have got lost in, had we not had a guide. There were lots of little shops, like oriental woodcraft and a brass and bronze museum. Down one of the streets were lots of trinkets and I bought a little miniature Buddha for Daryl. I don't know why but I have this thing that I buy him a tiny ornament, and the collection is slowly building. I decided that Buddha may be a good reminder to chill out sometimes, especially given all the recent pressure of uni work, on top of normal work. Down the same street was the famous 'Peacock window' which was so delicately carved from wood. What made me laugh though was right in the window next door was a huge cockerel just perched on the ledge, as if to take all the glory and steel the wooden peacocks thunder! (He did for I took more pictures of him!)

In the square, stray dogs wandered, and playfully nipped each other, mopeds sped along and goats sauntered across the pavement. We stopped at a wood carving place, which although wasn't to my taste, was undeniably impressive given the time and skill that had gone into creating the furniture. As we walked to another square we noticed that a bride and groom were having pictures taken. We'd seen them throughout the day, and decided it must be for some promotional shoot as it looked a bit too staged, but nevertheless it drew in the crowds and we all took pictures of the beautiful 'bride on the temple steps'.



A common theme throughout this trip was Shakira taking a 'selfie' photograph everywhere we went. She was the queen of selfies, but also insisted we all got in, so we piled on the stairs, full of laughter, mixed with happiness and sadness that this was our last day. We got lots of group photos on those ancient steps, and even though it was the same pose, it seemed everyone wanted one for their camera. Rather than just take the one picture and share it, we sat there for ages posing like idiots whilst everyone's cameras or phones were passed to the front.



I bought some prayer flags, and some bindi spots for Isabelle as anything to do with dressing up is right up her street. I also bought a little figurine for me, of the Hindu God Ganesha, a lucky momento to take home with me. As we sat and waited for the others who had gone for coffee/ toilets/ cigarettes, I was chatting with Lesley, when a little scruffy dog came and sat by us. Most of the dogs had been typical scratty strays, but this one won my heart and despite the long filthy coat, seemed so content snoozing by us As we sat. I had a moment where I wanted to ring Daryl and tell him to google 'bringing a dog back from Nepal' it was one of the things we had talked about (getting a dog although not from Nepal) and I quietly sat excited about the things I had to look forward to when I got home.



We left Bhaktapur as it was getting dark. I was glad I had managed to get a little bit of shopping in this morning, as we were definitely out of time when we arrived back at the hotel. Earlier I had been to the knife shop where I'd purchased a Kukri for Daryl. There were so many and lots of pictures of brave ghurkas showing how they were to be used. The story goes that if a Ghurka draws his Kukri, he is not allowed to replace it back without drawing blood. Ideally this would be the blood of the enemy, but if not, he would draw his own somehow in keeping with tradition.

Never haven taken weapons on a flight before, I settled on a smallish to midsize knife with a cover and holder for a kind of display. I knew it would fit in my backpack, as there is no way they'd allow that for hand luggage!



We dropped Chris off at his new hotel and said our goodbyes. He was joining his new group tonight as he was doing another tour. This time going to annurpurna base camp. We gave him a bit of stick for deserting the group on the last night, but luckily, Raghu had booked us into the same place for dinner, a British restaurant called Kilroys of Kathmandu. After all the recent curry, I ordered a steak which was a nice change.



I had to laugh when the other group walked in and someone shouted 'there's Chris!' Chanelle didn't even look up from her food and replied 'Chris who?' We all wondered what she was on about until we caught on-Chris was no longer part of our group. He had his new friends to play with, and we were totally freezing him out (only jokingly of course!) he came over to our table to say everyone was really nice, but really quiet and he missed us already. We said our goodbyes and wished him well for his next trip. Suddenly out of nowhere and without warning Molly Brown stood up and boomed 'right ya'll, see ya on Facebook' not mine you won't! I thought. That ship has well and truly sailed. I'd firmly 'unfriended' her earlier, the true definition of a 21st century cold shoulder. If she was off my Facebook, then it must be final. Not ever would I have to see or hear her again-hallelujah! She didn't come over to me to say goodbye, and I didn't make the effort either. Immature perhaps, but there are some people worth standing for and some I can quite happily sit on my arse and continue to eat steak for. She was in the latter category-hell even Daryl would be hard pressed to get my attention if I was eating steak. My travel buddy flurried out of the restaraunt and out of my life in the same whirlwind manner she'd entered it only a couple of weeks previous. Oh parting is such sweet sorrow.......

I said bye to Chanelle and Sue who were on an early flight to Korala the next day via Delhi. I wished Chanelle good luck with being reunited with her bag-how she had managed 2 weeks without her stuff was nothing short of amazing. I think if it was me I'd of booked a flight straight home again. I thanked Raghu who was also leaving early tomorrow, and said bye to the Austrian Girls. I gave Shakira a big squeeze and really hoped we could meet up in South America in a couple of months although the continent is huge and it may be unlikely, you never know. Mr and Mrs Wong hadn't joined us for dinner which was a shame, but they had kept themselves to themselves for most of the trip, so to be fair, it didn't really seem obvious they were missing. I said bye to Lesley and Keiran but arranged to meet them for breakfast in the morning and share a taxi to the airport.



Back in the room, I chatted with Steph and packed most of my things before getting into bed and snoozing away my last night in Kathmandu.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27885141



http://sasane.org.np

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Photos

So much rubbish!
En route to Durbar square