Nothing much has changed

---

Day 1/2 - Kathmandu

After a long flight through Delhi, where none of the cafés sold Chai Latte, we arrived into Kathmandu. The weather was hazy, so there were no views of the mountains on the way in. Glad we've seen it before!

For those of you that haven't had the experience of the Visa applications into Nepal, it would try the patience of a Saint, or Buddhist monk! Nothing has changed from our lsat visit 6 years ago, its still a rugby scrum, with very little sense, and people that wait until they have got to the front before they get their wallet out to pay! 45 minutes later, we were through, luggage collected, guide located and on the way to our hotel. The traffic hasn't improved, horns are the order of the day, it's more dusty than ever, and the rubbish situation is worse than ever, not to mention the odd cow sat in the middle of the road.

We were eager to just drop our bags and get out and about, but we had to meet our tour organiser Birendra, who was 15 minutes late, but in Nepal that's ok. We collected our plane tickets and visa for the next part of the journey, and he confirmed a collection time of 7am on Monday. We also paid him for the rest of the trip, which he was a little nervous about doing in public, but we weren't that bothered. We then went upstairs, changed and set off towards the Thamel district, which is where most of the tourist things are. After a bit of walking, past the odd raw meat seller - no refrigeration, mostly in the dark as the electricity situation hasn't improved over here, we found a place to eat. Wood fired pizzas, a Trip Advisor sticker in the window and free Wi Fi sealed it for us.

After a good calzone and pepperoni pizza, we headed out to find a bar. We went at first to the rooftop bar we had been to last time with mum and dad, but after persuading them to let us in for a drink, we could only have this one because they were shutting up around us. We could here some live music coming from nearby, and just next door really was Sams Reggae Bar where the live band were playing Coldplay! The locals seemed to be getting very excited by them, and quite a lot were up dancing especially when they switched to playing local music. Towards the end of their set, they burst into a Reggae version of Guns and Roses.

The next morning we were woken not by the incessant horns, but the sound of two chaps playing tennis next door to the hotel. We headed out to explore, by a more direct route than the night before, and it wasn't long before we were approached by a chess set seller. We wandered round Thamel but agreed not to buy anything until we returned as we didn't know what there would be to buy in Bhutan. After offers of chess sets, henna tattoos, flutes and hashish, we made our way towards Durbar Square where we knew the Holy Men would be. We went for lunch in one of the rooftop cafés overlooking the square, and we could hear a profusion of "plinky plonkers". We went downstairs and there were a lot of people stood outside where the Kumari lives. Last time we visited there was civil unrest so there was no chance of her emerging. This time, her guilded carriage was outside, so we jostled for position and sure enough, after about five minutes, she was carried out and placed in the carriage and carried away. One of the many guides that tries to get you to hire them told us that she was going to a horse fair. Once we had seen her we sauntered back to Thamel for refreshments.

---

Photos

The Kumari
Selected as a human incarnation of the Hindu mother goddess, Durga.