Into Nepal and Kathmandu

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6/10/09

The border crossing from Tibet into Nepal.
Minibus run from the old custom gate to Chinese border custom building, the 8km ride cost 10 yuans. The bus go when filled up. It was a straightforward procedures. Bagages searched and checked out. Finished with the China side you cross the friendship bridge into Nepal. A small table checked again your luggage before arrived the Nepalese custom house. You could pay up front for VOA, I saw some travelers did that and it wasn't took them a lot of time. Me...visa already in hand, still...need to filled up a form and date stamped on my passport, and done. 90 days mean...depart on 3rd Jan, 2010! I did calculated the timing, avoided to had to leave the country on new year day! So...here I am standing on Nepalese soil finally! Looking back at the on coming crowded from the custom gate, mostly were local traders doing the border run, and those labours carried goods either into China or coming into Nepal, then was the western group tour, which they had their transportation waiting for them. Not much individual travelers, a small group of chinese traveler appeared, but they were already fitted in a jeep, although driver still insisted one more could be ok, but I wouldn't want to squeezed in and travel 4 hours in a sardine can! 2 hrs had passed and still I was there waiting, seem like there was no other way but sit tight with the other inside the jeep. Or go with the local bus as I heard it will be leaving by 1pm(but no idea where the bus was), later noticed that there were many bus waiting just further down the road from the custom house, seem like they depart when full. Anyway...just before I went looking for the bus, a pick-up truck beeping me from behind, "600 rupees" I bargain, as the normal rate was 700. After a couple of moment delayed. "come in, come in" the driver shouted back, 4 people already inside, 3 fitted on the back and I need to stuck with the one in front, sit over the joy stick!
Once crossed the border, the landscape was totally different, it was greener and as the altitude went lower, the valley getting wider, I saw more vegetation, the scene were welcoming, almost like back into Yunnan. Like the Chinese sit on the back said. For the almost 120km journey the lower we got to was 500m above sea level, I was actually sweating under my fleece jacket. The landscape on the 2 sides of Himalaya were completely 2 different world!

Note
Nepal time is 2 hours behind the China time. China 14:00pm. Nepal 12:00pm

7/10/09

Kathmandu(@1400m), a chaotic city! I spent the first day in trance. Walking around but not knowing what I was doing. I lost the skill of looking for guesthouse, there was so many of them, millions of signs, so many colours, name board hanging in mid-air, but you couldn't really stand and read them on the narrow street, the traffic was a mess, everything running on the small street, fighting to be the faster. I didn't think I had absorbed anything into my brain the first day. It was a big contrast from the Tibet I had just seen, the busy scene, the population, the sound and noise, the tourists, not that I hadn't seen anything like this before, but it had been a long time for me to encountered a city like Kathmandu, streets in the old town were narrow but almost all of them had traffic. It made Kaosan road looked like child play. The only town I'd been to in the continent was Dhaka in Bangladesh, and that was a more wider city and not as difficult as in Kathmandu. Kathmandu just too congested and uncontrollable!

10/10/09

The first few days was rain in Kathmandu, so I just better off doing nothing as my back-pain was still there, walking out without carrying a backpack was free, but not able to take any picture was a challenged! Temples was the main theme in Kathmandu, there was so many, just too many, counting in this territory they were rich! Every street had temples, stupas or whatever construction that could related to the religion. Looked at all those wooden panel that was rich of engraving, thing like that in China would be tourist highlighted in town and the center for camera! And needed to pay to get a view. Here...exhibited on every street like an art corridor...for free, and most people won't even took the time to really admiring them if that wasn't the outstanding one, because there were far too many high standard displays in the city. What a luxury! My favourite walk must be the one from Thamel to Durbar Square, always choosing different lane, through different squares, the Thahiti Tole, the Asan Tole, Kel Tole and the busiest Indra Chowk then reached the Durbar. There was all walk of life in between all these square, street market occupied every spaces all day! And further down Durbar Square was the Freak Street where I came everyday for internet, only 15/hr, while in Thamel they charge 100/hr! Temple house in Nepal has its own style, a stone platform with certain steps up in a pyramid shape, then a wooden pavilion building on top, normally had 3 storey, full of decorated, cladding of engraving alike, and many of them engraved with erotic image on the struts, by viewing them would cause a stiffened neck as they all exhibited on high ground. Durbar mean palace in Nepalese, to entered the area you need to pay 300 rupee, but it was very difficult to achieved the entrance charge as there was so many people there in the square, and it wasn't an enclosed area where wall had been erected, it was all open, people and traffic all shuttle through all the time, so only the most honest tourist or those unlucky enough to being asked to buy ticket, otherwise you could just walk in and that was it, of course I always got a guilty feeling while inside, but....looking around...local people were far out number then us...tourist! And they were free to came in and do whatever they like. So...I let the feeling passed very soon afterward! Like today I walked the 2km to the Swayambhunath, the religious shrine right outside of the old town on top of a small hill, the famous pair of eyes is the calling card of Nepal, you could find the image in many t-shirt and postcard. A long staircase run the length to the top, and before you got to the landing there was a ticket booth, clever... Not setting on the beginning of the step, but here in a place after you had climbed a hundred steps! Again...free for local and 100 for foreigner, I got a glimpsed of the small temple top appeared on the top of the stair, then I turned and scaled the step down. But then I saw a side way on the left half way down, and it took me back to the hilltop, I was in! Actually the whole complex was just like a small souvenir market, I wondered why they charged entrance as there were cafes and shops just like a normal town square, and the main stupa, the one that got the famous eyes printed on 4 side was under renovation, mean there was no picture with the eyes! Luckily I hadn't pay!

11/10/09

Momo was my first dish in Nepal, what is momo? Streamed dumping it was, most of them are stuffed with beef or just vegetable, but you could get pork meat or chicken favour in some restaurant. One plate with 8 to 10 pieces (depended on the price), poured over with sauce, taste depended on different kitchen. Price was cheap, range from 25 to 50 rupees(depended on where you eat), then top up with a ice cold coca cola was wonderful, just like the poster inside the restaurant said, "momo with coca cola is the best mix"! A small bottle cost only 20 rupees, I dig it! There were many choice of foods in Kathmandu, but for cheapee like me, I went to the local diner, fried noddle only 30 rupees, but taste wasn't that great, the only way to cured it was by squeezing the bottle of kechup and mustard to raise the taste! What else...of course the rice set, a plate combined with rice and different dishes, it was rather filling as they would refilled and refilled on your requested, of course only for rice and vegetables and salad, no meat would come second time! And it would be about 150 rupee/person, and if you took the vegetable dish set the dal bhai, it would be no more than 100 rupee. And during the day, tea stop was one of my routine, they were everywhere, it could be in a shop, it could be by the road side, or it could be just in the passage between 2 doors! a cup of masala tea cost only 8 rupee, sometimes go with couple of donut and it could be my lunch! Snack was mostly deep fried thing, be it in any shape or colour, the taste was the same, as the stuffing was the one and only choice...smeshed potato with pea! There was many sweet and pastry shop same like in India, and many good looking bakery around town too, and all got rather busy around 8pm, as the price would be 50% lower, so many traveler waiting to stocked up for their breakfast the next morning. One of my favourite was the dairy product outlet on both end of the Thamel area, where you could get fresh milk and yoghurt, even cheese could be find here in reasonable price, they also offered different choice of ice-cream for 30/cup! I stopped there whenever I passed by. These all was for cheap traveler, but with more cash, Italian food, pizza, steak house, Thai cuisine, Japanese, Korean and of cause the Chinese, you name it! By weekend most of the restaurant in Thamel had live band music, just walked around the small street in the evening you had the stereo surrounded sound, only the music changed from house to house.
Sanitation in a packed and under developed city like this you could imagine how it would be, most of the street were reasonable clean, but more you reached the edge of town and by the river side, you would find out where all the garbage end up to. Water resource is the big problem in Kathmandu, there was no big river, although it was under the Himalayas, but it still a 100 miles away separated by couple of valleys. You could see the water level was low in the river, beside...it was so polluted that no one would use the water there. So...everyone drilling for well water, when water level got lower in the well, a motor and pump came on stage! all the traditional old water tanks in town was mostly dry up, some still survive by the help of a pump. All the guesthouse had sign warned travellers not to wash their cloths in-house.
Same like in India, electricity would breakdown during the night for about 2 hrs in Kathmandu, then the irritate noise of the generators roared, luckily I wasn't stay in the middle of Thamel where bar and restaurants congested together.

12/10/09

"excuse me, Sir... Sir" I pretended not hearing as I knew I had been caught ! While inside the Durbar Square in Patan this morning. So this plain clothes checker escorted me to the ticket booth, part with 200 rupee and got a sticker on my chest. I was a free man inside this UNESCO Heritage site, but then another ticket for the old palace if you walk in, I hate the ticket within ticket thing! The Durbar was far smaller than the one in Kathmandu, so this 200 wasn't really worth as I has actually seen all by the time I get caught, but of course I didn't knew it back then, after almost a week in Kathmandu, seem to be numbed about temple, not really excited about seeing this in Patan. Patan is one of the three kingdom in the old day in this valley, they like to call the city Lalitpur. another one is Bhaktapur, together with Kathmandu, they tried to out did the others in number, in style, in grace, in whatever way. So they built many grandiose temples and shrines, and left behind a great number of magnificent treasures for us to see. There are more than 1200 Buddhist monuments in Patan. 2 roofs, 3 roofs, 5 roofs...many different shape, and I saw they had more stone status in Patan too, especially those lively lion guarding the temple house. Patan is a best place to looking for Bronze buddha status, most of the street around the Durbar has craftsman shop for this, you could see buddha in any form and shape and size there, and all of them are beautifully made. In fact, Patan produced the finest craftsman in Nepal they said. Patan is only 5 km away from Kathmandu, only separated by the Bagmati river, a local bus ride cost only 10 rupee. in a sense it really was merged into Kathmandu, beside less crowded with tourist, I couldn't see any different from Kathmandu.

13/10/09

Pashupatinath is one of the most important Hindu temple for Nepalese and even for those from the Indian subcontinent, the temple complex was packed with stupas and monuments dedicated to Shiva, and most of the temple hall were strictly for Hindu only. Pashupatinath was built on the side of the Bagmati River, the holy river for the hindus people, rated as same as the Ganges. So you could see many believers came and bathe in the water, and there was couple of burning ghats on the river side, where funeral ceremony and cremation took place. Same like the Swayambhunath, the temple area was infested with monkey, but they are as much to themselves and wouldn't bothered you much. Crossed the footbridge and walked up to the terrace where a good view of the complex below, the life and action on both side of the river could be seen. Went over the small hill, and from the other side, a 20 mins walked would bring you to another religious site, the Bodhnath, but the local call it Bouddha, a huge stupa stood in the middle of town, surrounded by shops and restaurants, but still...you need to pay 100 rupee to be able to get in, or...you walked around to the side street and looking for any alleyway. The stupa said to be built around 14th century, and was surrounded by many gompa, here you could see many tibetan people as most of them were exiled from Tibet before 1960. In Bouddha lived a number of tibetan community and they kept the ceremony of tibetan buddhism which attracted great number of believers, including many westerners, as I could see many guesthouse here for western tourist to long stay, and of course many could stay in the monasteries here too. Both Pashupatinath and Bodhnath were no more than 6km from Kathmandu, a mini-bus ride cost 15 rupees.

and today you could really feel the building up of the Diwali, the festival for Light. people are everywhere, street market in every corner. the Asan and Indra Square are crowded like in Hong Kong. it was time for me to leave and start my trekking tour, but I would like to see the festival in a smaller town later.

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