http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Nepal , Kathmandu en-us Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:12:38 +0000 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:12:38 +0000 Kathmandu greeted us with a culture shock as expected. Getting the visa for Nepal at the airport was fairly straightforward however once out of the airport we were very pleased to have organised a ride to our hotel. As we walked out of the airport hundreds of people tried to grab our bags offering the lsquobestrsquo deals for taxis and hotels. The traffic is crazy. There appears to be no roa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-464097.html Our grand plans for our third day in Kathmandu were slightly interrupted by a nationwide strike ordered by the Maoists as protest against the governments lsquoexcessive use of forcersquo. Basically there were about 15000 people squatting illegally in a forest so the government sent the police in to clear them out. Only the squatters didnrsquot like this so much so they grabbed their knive http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-459296.html Well Im off to India today 17 hours on a night bus with a strike scheduled for morning. We might end up walking the last leg What have I been up to the last week you ask Well the answer is being sick. I seems that getting lost in bamboo forests was a bit too much for my body to handle. So I took myself to Pokhara to recover. A really beautiful place where I could sit by the lake at love http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/Thamel/blog-459010.html The trip from Delhi to Kathmandu began with another rude awakening this time at the ungodly hour of 4.30am. We tumbled out of bed and into an auto rickshaw for the 40 or so minute journey. It was a bit chilly so we thought to ask the driver to turn the heater uphellipbut then we realized that rickshaws donrsquot have heatershellipthey also donrsquot have walls or windows either but oh we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-458391.html Well People sorry I haven't updated this on a while but I was nearly going to give up on it all during the last month. All will be explained in time.My first thought when I got into Kathmandu was 'What the fuck happened this place' The infrastructure of the place was shocking. Dusty dirty potholed roads power lines hanging above peoples heads and wotnot I know there was a war going here but http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/Thamel/blog-456853.html Back in Kathmandu after a long and steamy hot shower.This buddhist temple if very similar to Buddhanath in appearance differs in far much more ways from others. It is not related to the temple being on top of a hill. It is in the decorum that completely surrounds the area. Gold painted statues plainty of exvotos far much more popular so livelier lovelier than the serious Buddhanath. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/Swayambhunath/blog-456389.html Beth and I are in Kathmandu after a quite long plane journey. We left on Monday morning by catching the bus up to Sydney where we were met by Bethrsquos aunties Sue and Reet. We had lunch at the airport and after a long while we boarded the plane. We had got exit row seats which were great and the a380 was a lot of fun in that it was such a big plane. Beth and I had vegetarian and Hindu meals http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-455713.html Having met up with Jan and Dan..the tandem cyclists....and I was sure that was the end of my wonderful coincidencental meetings. But on my last night in Kathmandu I went to a Thai restaurant...Yin and Yang....which was great...but as I sat there Ian and Kristen from England who I had met several days earlier just before crossing the Pass...at the truly rusticdisgusting..Jimi Lodge....walked in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-454127.html Just a quick post to say that we arrived in Nepal with no problems. We spent a couple of days in Kathmandu before flying to Pokhara to start our trek. We are in the second day and so far it has been amazing. Tomorrow morning we get up early 5am to climb for views of the entire Annapurna range. So far we have survived the drop hole toilets cold nights and having one shower every two days We are http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-454114.html Hey GuysI am in Kathmandu I managed to give myself food posioning the day I got here so this blog is slightly delayed. Silly me I thought if my stomach could handle anything in China I could eat salad in Nepal. How wrong I was Anyway all better now So a recap of what has happened between Lhasa and here. After nearly two weeks in the car 4 days in Lhasa was a welcome relief. The firs http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/Thamal/blog-453808.html Heei Ankom Kathmandu pa ettermiddagen i stralende sol Hadde en overnatting i Bangkok forst. Geir Olav hadde ordnet sjafor til a hente meg pa flyplassen sa det var service det Sa bar til kontoret der han jobber og hilste pa diverse kollegaer av han deriblant en norsk kollegaArve. Allerede pa veien fra flyplassen og inn til byn sa skjonte jeg at her var det et ekstremt kaos av trafikk det v http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-452399.html We arrived in Nepal after a week or so in Rajasthan. Although we had enjoyed our exploits in Sariska it was a breath of fresh air literally to arrive in vibrant Kathmandu. Physically and spiritually Rajasthan and Nepal seem close but Kathmandu's clean streets smiling faces and bustling activity were actually poles apart from the squalid gutters and sullen resignation we'd seen in India.The fl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-449950.html Nepal has been on my wishlist for ever...the land up there...I did not know exactly what to expect. Read a fair amount of blogs on the country but not that many were very glorious.So here we are to judge by ourselves. My parents are in Bangkok for few days enjoying grandparenting with Leslie and we are off for few adventurous days. Our first stop Kathmandu. We did not stay in Thamel the touris http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-449201.html Getting to Kathmandu takes about 6 hours on a coach which we thought would be more comfortable then the local buses but hey mistake there. We had seats at the back and it was the bumpiest ride ever we both on a few occasions almost fell of the seat and i don't know how Dani actually managed to sleep on that thing. Well after surviving that we arrived in Kathmandu and because we did not really h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-448299.html Irsquove spoken with a lot of people here in Kathmandu over the past week about music education opportunities for advanced western music and I hear nothing but frustration from teachers students and administrators. First quality western instruments are very hard to find and even harder to afford. More importantly though there is a general lack of advanced western music teachers. Nepal http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/Lazimpat/blog-447872.html I asked the people in the restaurant in Kathmanda ldquodo you have juicerdquo They said they did. They even said they had ldquoReal Juicerdquo When it came it was fake juice. It was fake mango juice It was really yummy though I went out the front of the restaurant and made a friend. He had a sewing shop. I thought it was a bit weird that someone with a sewing shop didnrsquot have http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-447764.html Our plane from Beijing took us to Abu Dhabi. It meant overnighting in the airport there which is a pretty big set up. It was our first time flying with Etihad. The food was excellent and the boys gave the inflight entertainment a 1010. Our morning flight to Kathmandu was detoured to Bangladesh due to bad weather. We refueled and were soon on our way back to Kathmandu. The Kathmandu Garden Hote http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/Pashupatinath-Temple/blog-447763.html October 24Well I'm finally here in Kathmandu Nepal and it's as crazy and chaotic in some sort of weird semiorganized wayThe flight from Bangkok of just over 3 hours presented 2 amazing sights. First the Ganges river delta on the south coast of Bangladesh was amazing as it spreads so far and it's easy to see how when the river overflows its borders there are millions even 10 million people wh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-447655.html Namaste from our 2nd capital city Kathmandu.We wrapped up our tour of India on the 20th and had scheduled some well deserved down time exploring the sights and sounds of Kathmandu. Unlike the picture that Lonely Planet paints of the city it is quite a pleasant place to relax in. We were warned of the traffic and pollution but when compared to New Delhi it feels comparatively cleanWe're stayin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/Thamel/blog-447410.html We flew from Aurangabad to Delhi that afternoon so we could fly to Kathmandu the next day. I have to say we were disappointed with our hotel in Delhi. Someone had really not paid attention to the housekeeping details in our room. The sheets were dirty had many dark chocolate stains we didn't have enough towels or a bath mat in the bathroom. To top it all there was a badly designed shoe storag http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-447172.html