Everest Base Camp Trek - Kathmandu

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My husband, Tim, and I just returned from a month-long trip to Asia. One week in Bangkok, followed by three weeks in Nepal - a few days in Kathmandu, its capital, followed by a flight to Lukla and a long trek that took us all the way to Everest Base Camp at just under 18,000 feet, where we spent the night (in below-freezing tents!) and hung out with the climbers!

We'll start with Kathmandu (pronounced Katmandu). Kathmandu was a wonderful, crazy place! Broken pavement, cars with no emission testing required spewing black smoke, entire Nepali families riding on a small motorbike (babies feet flapping as she sits on the gas tank), sacred cows roaming around as they please, no semblance of travel laws of any kind, Buddhists worshipping at Hindu temples and vice versa, and - most importantly - some of the friendliest people I have met anywhere. Good food, but everyone I know got traveler's diarrhea to some extent. Some cases were mild, but others had fever, chills and vomiting and needed antibiotics! Thankfully, those are OTC and cheap, so we all stocked up for the trek.

The things for sale in Kathmandu are all either made in Nepal or carried over the high passes from Tibet. We found yak-wool scarves and blankets, pashminas, cotton shirts, almost anything embroidered (these guys are whizzes on the sewing machine! they whip it out right there and sew up anything you want), silver and yak horn jewelry, singing bowls, Tigers and Goats games (a local Nepali game), and lots and lots of pirated stuff - knock-off North Face, and a clever twist on a knock-off of Mountain Hard Wear: Everest Hard Wear! Even the knock-offs are good quality, although I wouldn't wait to buy my Everest summiter boots in Kathmandu! (Many people do!) And everywhere you go, they will be playing the CD "Tibetan Incantaions". Everyone in our group bought it because you just get so used to hearing it! Brilliant marketing.
The climate is about like San Diego. It's latitude is similar to Miami, but at 4500 feet above sea level, it's pleasant outside, despite the smog.

Good places to go in Thamel: Fire and Ice, Rumdoodle Bar (cool autographs of Everest climbers such as Rob Hall), Northfield's. All of these places are impossible to map out, as Thamel has no system of straight streets...everything just winds.

Fun things to see: Durbar Square, Stupa, Monkey Temple, Hindu Temple (where public cremations occur among playing monkeys), Lizimpat, Bluebird department store, and Third World Craft Nepal. Also, check out the Tibetan Refugee Camp. They make beautiful carpets (we brought one home) and seemed pleased to have visitors.

Cautions: Tap water comes out yellow! Yes, yellow! When you take a shower, purse your lips together very hard as to not get any water in your mouth! Be very careful what you eat.... (i.e., no ice if you don't trust the restaurant, and sometimes even if you do!) As far as general safety/crime, Kathmandu seems to be extremely safe. We walked all over and never felt that we got into a seedy situation. No encounters with Maoists or the new young communist league. I was amazed how safe it felt. This is partly thanks to that fact that nobody can drive over 20mph- they COULD if they could find the open space! So even the crazy taxi rides are pretty safe.

Oh, if you are not alert, something strange (and funny!) will happen to you. Tim was negotiating a taxi fare when all of a sudden someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to look, and bop! he was dotted (blessed) on the forehead, with a big orange Hindu dot. Immediately, the blesser requests payment. As we only had enough for the taxi, we quickly got in and drove away, my friend and I in the back seat, laughing (and quickly rolling up the window) as he followed us...

We stayed at two hotels and our friends stayed at a third, and I can recommend all three: The Yak and the Yeti, The Radisson, and The Hotel Tibet. Radison and Yak and Yeti have pools, and the gardens at the Yak and the Yeti make you forget you're in a third world country...

In general, just expect buildings anywhere and everywhere, curved, uneven streets, open-air little shops whose salesmen try to tempt you inside, rickshaw drivers trying to take you around, and lots of smiles.

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Photos

Durbar Square
Historical center of Kathmandu

Thamel
Shopping in touristy Thamel... but actually Thamel has the craziest traffic of all! You have to jump up into the stores when too many tin-can taxis, rickshaws, and bikes try to get through, especially at dusk...

Thamel
You can see how narrow the "streets" are. Can you believe this is two-way traffic for cars, if they so choose to make it? :)

Young Nepali Seamster
He made us some "Everest Base Camp Trek" shirts - custom! - in about ten minutes. What talent!