Kathmandu

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Kathmandu
The four of us, suze, Helen, sanna and i headed to the airport to finally say goodbye to india. True to form the airport although small and relatively quiet was a mixture absolute chaos and confusion. We were helped by an Indian man who grabbed us as soon as we turned up and tried to direct us through the administrative mayhem and then of coarse wanted paying. He did successfully get our bags scanned and onto the plane, but then came the checking in, there were two people on the counter, they were doing a job that could be done by one person, but instead they could only do half a job each, which made the whole process longer, this was exacerbated but the fact that their roles we not split up as first half and second half, the fist man did a bit then the second man did a bit then back to the first man again. We eventually checked in and went through to the departure lounge.
What happened with the bags?
Suze is petrified of flying and you half to admire her bravery to take a year out to go travelling, but if she is becomes anxious and sweaty on a BA flight you can imagine how she was on a local Air India flight. The plane started to shake and rattle as we took off and as we flew along in what looked like perfect flying weather the plane was thrown from side to side from turbulence that im not really sure was there. After a one our flight we landed safely if a little green, collected our bags and headed to the airport exit to be greeted by the usual mob of Taxis. As we drove to our hotel i noticed how the landscape had changed, much greener with a slight chill in the air, in retrospect the temperature was still probably in the mid to late 20s, but this was considerably cooler then we had been used to. The people also look different, it may sound cliché to say giving the geography, but they look like a mixture of Indian and Chinese, there skin is lighter than the Indians and a great number of them have oriental eyes, unsurprisingly it really is where India meets china. Also although still chaotic compared with western standards it is much calmer than India. The hotel we stayed at in Varanasi was of a European standard, and we wanted more of the same, or better, we checked into the Anapurna Hotel, which at £40 a night is by far the most expensive hotel we have stayed by some way. At to get that price we had to negotiate, we have friends already here and lots more to arrive in a few days. With its large foyer, marble floors, leather sofas and air conditioning, this is more like it. After we check in and retire to out rooms we agree to meet in the bar. The bar was wonderful, a perfectly non descript air conditioned hotel bar where they sold white wine, G&T and steak with mustard sandwiches served with chips.
We spent the next two nights, on the second night suze and sanna had gone to bed, but Helen and i stayed up a little longer, they had live music playing with a girl singing Nepalese folk songs, all very pleasant, with the occasional western love song which was always a bit weird. Then a Nepalese girl got up and spoke to the singer, she explained that she wanted to sing to her fiancé, and then proceeded to murder the song from Titanic, by this point me and Helen had had a few too many white wines and we rolled around the sofa in fits of laughter, when she finished we whooped like an American game show crowd. These two nights we racked up ridiculous bar bills so we decided to spend the remainder of our time in more traveller on a budget accommodation, Suze and Helen in the Ganesh Thamel and me in the one next door for a much more reasonable £5 per night.
The main destination for travellers in Kathmandu is Thamel, which is a maze of winding narrow streets with no pavements which is used by pedestrians, tuk tuks, motorcyclists and occasionally cars. The streets are crammed with shops, food stalls, restaurants and hiking shops/excursion tours as its a popular place for people to go before they travel to Everest. The streets are packed with Nepalese going about their every day lives and the food markets do a roaring trade, every inch is used as you are bombarded with sights sounds but most of all signs.



Sanna, Nick and myself we wondering the streets happily getting lost when we decided to duck down a small side Ally and have some food and a drink. We were sat there for about 5 minutes when Helen and Suze turned up, it always amazes me how much this happens, although Thamel is relatively small we were not on the main drag or in a Lonely Plant recommendation, yet you still pump into people. Suze was struggling she had eaten a tuna sandwich of all things which had cracked her tooth. Luckily Kathmandu is blessed with an abundance of dentists all concentrated along a street where they have a sculpture dedicated to Vaisha Dev some kind of tooth god. Vaisha Dev is really a lump, which is probably one of the oddest sights in the entire city. At first sight it is difficult to appreciate him for what he represents but for people who know what toothache means, this might be the only spot in the entire world where the ailing may pray to a god who is sympathetic to their pain.

Just after we had moved hotels i went for a wonder on my own, although i could not travel on my own as i need company to keep me sane i enjoy solitary walks as without conversation you notice more and inevitable end up interacting with the locals more. I noticed the amount of young male and female monks walking the streets apparently the monasteries are a major education tool for the Nepalese.


I also managed to get lost, i walked around and around trying to find my hostel, so then i retraced my steps and still no joy, the most annoying thing was that i knew that i was not more than 100m from my hotel for the majority of the time i was looking for it, its just difficult trying to find the right alley way.
The three of us spent our time exploring Kathmandu and many of the squares and temples the largest one being ******. Me and Helen visited ***** as we tried to walk down the main road towards it we were stopped by a security guard who said that we had to pay to enter, i noticed that the Nepalese didn’t have to pay and that others from the group who had visited did not mention any payment. We walked away, went for lunch at a revolving restaurant that had not had been upgraded since the 1980’s and entered the square for free from another side. It has numerous temples and we were befriended by two young Nepalese children as we looked around. The temples again demonstrated Nepal as a melting point of india meets china the first temples we looked around had heavy Chinese influences and had the lantern type structure but towards the end there were several statues that looked like they had been covered in blood, but i hoped red dye that we more Indian in appearance.

The hole region at the moment is in a state of political turmoil, in the build up to the Olympics the Tibet has effectively been closed by China to avoid further embarrassment caused to them by the free Tibet protesters. Nepal is in a transitional phase from handing power over from the monarchy to the democrats, however the party that looks likely to win any general election is the pro Chinese Maoists. On day as we were walking through Kathmandu we saw a commotion ahead with some protesters and the police. Although i would generally run away from a riot in a third world country i was intrigued and was confident that we were in no danger, i doubt that ill take the same stand point in Bolivia. As we approached the fracas i could see that the army were pushing women in ‘free Tibet’ and ‘stop accusing the Dali Lama ‘ and some monks against the saide of the street forcing them into the local shops, although i saw no violence committed against them you could see from the protesters faces that they were frightened and that they had been attacked, i assumed that this was by the army until i noticed another army unit up the street forcing another group away. Someone informed me that the peaceful free Tibet protesters had been attacked by the Maoists and the police had broken this up.

Once the opposing factions had been separated the army moved to disperse the maily Nepalese crowd that had gathered with the curiosity same curiosity that causes drivers to slow on a motorway when they drive past an accident. The Soldiers drew their batons and shouted dispersal orders and the Nepalese duly obliged. The only people left on the square were about 30 western tourists, half curious, but also with a sense of protection for the free Tibetan protesters, the police turned to those of us that remained and there ensued a stand off , the police armed with their batons, and us with our camera’s and our arrogance that the police would not dare wade into western tourists. Its an interesting side note when you consider that ultimately the westerners thought that they were so superior that they were immune from the orders of the armed Nepalese army. After a few minutes two things happened, first it became apparent that the protesters were not about to be bludgeoned and secondly on soldier came forward and in a true comedy accent “ok, thank you, can you go home now, thank you”.
By now the rest of the truck had turned up in Kathmandu, and the ‘last supper’ had been arranged at the K2 steak house which not only served steak but was also showing both the Man utd and Chelsea games the outcome of these games would decide the fate of the premier league title. Excellent.
Before the group all met up me Helen and suze met up for a glass of wine in the garden of their hostel. While in india visiting a fort / palace in Jodphu the three of us had done the hear no evil see no evil speak no evil monkey pose, while walking the streets of Kathmandu in the afternoon i had come across a street vendor selling small statues of the three monkeys made of camel bone, i had bought three. We sat down had a glass of wine and i told the girls that i had really enjoyed travelling with them and that i felt that i had made some really good friends that i hoped were not just temporary travelling buddies and had bought them each a little present, and gave them a statue each. They were so happy, and we had a little mutual ‘your the best’ ,’no your the best’ session. We then headed off to the K2 for great steaks and watched man utd seal the league. Towards the end of the night we were all a little drunk, steve the tour leader came over and said that he had really enjoyed having me as a passenger, and that i was one of the best passengers he had ever had, i thanked him and said that it had been great to meet him too, assuming that he was drunk, he grabbed me by the arm and said ‘so seriously Nathan, you got india, you realised that its a shit hole of a country but the Indian people are amazing and that the experience is all about them’. We agreed that when he was back in the uk we would go for beers, he seemed genuine but its difficult to tell, i really liked steve and i hope that we do meet up, but time will tell.
When the time for the end of my India/Nepal adventure i said an emotional good bye to Helen and Suze, i know that i would see Helen again as we had agreed to meet in Thialand in June, and i hoped that i would see Suze again. I flew from Kathmandu to Delhi, landing 10 hours before my flight back to the uk. I walked up to the airport doorway where a security guard checked my flight ticket he explained that i was only allowed into the terminal 3 hours before my flight. This gave me two problems, first i was not convinced that given the mass confusion with anything organised in india i was not sure that 3 hours would be enough to get through an Indian airport, secondly the airport is miles outside the city and seven hours is a long time to sit outside an airport in 40 degree heat when all the refreshment facilities are inside. Eventually i found a waiting room with some facilities the main ones of interest to me were the air conditioning, the bar and the cash point. You had to pay to use the waiting room, but the man on the door had difficulty with the concept that i had to go in to use the cash machine to come back and pay him.
‘no, you pay now, then go in use cash machine’
‘But i have no money, let me in and ill get some and pay you’
‘no you pay now, then go in use cash machine’
‘But i have no money, let me in and ill get some and pay you’
This conversation lasted a while until he did eventually let me in, when i came back out he looked at my flight ticket and explained that i had to pay double due to the length of time i would be inside. Whatever. I walked in the room was thankfully air conditioned but bare of any facilities apart from a gift shop and a couple of vending machines and seats lined up like an airport departure lounge. I went back outside to the man on the door to find out where the bar was, he asked me to follow him as we walked back into the room and then took the exit at the back, turned a corner where there was a bar. He hand his hand out for a tip, i explained to him that the bar was clearly not part of the room facilities, and you did not need to go through the room to get to it, and that he could stick his tip where the sun don’t shine’. Spent a few hours in the bar talking to some other travellers who were either travelling home or onwards before realising that i needed to arrange a taxi to pick me up from the Gatwick, as i had broken my phone i did not have the taxi number and their is only one number i know off by heart, so i called Laura. I landed in London exhausted, laura had done a good gob and my taxi arrived to take me home. It was a beautiful sunny day in London which apparently had not been the norm while i was away. While we drove past the church on lush green grass of Blackheath surrounded by Georgian houses i watched the people had flocked to soak up the sunshine, i have seen pictures in the galleries of the same scene from 100s of years ago it a quintessential England and on summers day. I walked into my apartment i could here sounds of my new flatmate moving around, this was going to be odd as we had never met and she had been in my apartment for several days, when a tall blonde girl walked around the corner,
“hi, im Nathan”
“im Hedvig”
“would you like a cup of tea?”

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