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Published: July 22nd 2009
Kathmandu
Street sceneIt's now 6.20 pm and I'm in another internet cafe, this time in Pokhara. I'm feeling a lot better than yesterday evening - more relaxed and more time now I'm at my final destination so I hope I will write something a bit longer and more interesting than yesterday's.
Yesterday was a long day (well 2 days really since it started midday Saturday) and I was a bit jaded by the end of it and also conscious that I would have to be up very early the next day. This evening I'm feling much more relaxed.
Everything about the travel went according to plan. I got a bus into Birmingham, then a National Express coach to Heathrow, then flew Air India to new Delhi, then finally Indian Airways (slightly different airline apparently to Air India) to Kathmandu. Finally, today I took a bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara.
Air India were fine - they have flat screns on all seats and a camera in the nose of the aircraft so you can watch the take-off live! There were a few english language films to choose from - old clasics like Ben Hur and Bridge Over The River Kwai, but
I went for Mammia Mia (which I never actually expected to ever see, but it pased a couple of hours). I managed to slep a bit on the plane but also did quite a few sudokus and got stuck into my book. There was a bit of confusion at New Delhi as two different flights to Kathmandu were both leaving at around the same time but we eventually managed to find it and it left more or les on time. Two meals on the 8-hour Heathrow to Delhi leg and another meal on the Delhi to Kathmandu leg.
After changing some cash at Kathmandu airport, a guy from my hotel was there to met me as planned. He was also picking up another volunteer who'd just arrived from Hong Kong - he was volunteering with Project Abroad whereas I am with P.O.D. so we had a bit of a chat about that as my eldest daughter is also currently volunteering in Africa with Project Abroad. It took about 20 minutes to get to the hotel Excelsior in the Thamel district of Kathmandu so had an immediate introduction to Nepalese driving. Basically you drive anywehere and anytime you want! If
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Hotel Exelsior, Kathmandu (1 pound sterling = 123 Nepali Rupes) there is a pothole in the road, or somebody is in the way, you simply press the horn and then drive on the other side of the road - simples. We pased hundreds of little shops, often selling just one type of product and loads selling exactly the same as many others. There were lots of kids on their way home from school in incredibly smart uniforms with ties etc, quite a contrast to the rest of the population. The general impression is of complete lack of organisation yet things sem to work. We got to the hotel about 4.30 but I deciced to go out almost immediately because I would have no time the next day and in case I eneded up with very little time on my way home. I bought a stret map and then walked into the centre of the city at Durba Square. Touts pestering for custom are very persistent in Kathmandu - particularly cycle rickshaw drivers and "tourist guides" in and around Durba Square - they all tell you how important it is to have someone who knows the history etc as well as they do and how you can't possibly get to understand
Bus Journey
Scene from Kathmandu to Pokhara road things without them. One guy claimed to be so knowledgeable that he knew the capital city of every county in the world and challenged me to test him so I said "Ghana" and he said "Havana"!
As well as all the tiny "proper" shops, fruit and vegetable sellers were everwhere, all selling pretty much the same stuff which happens to be in season at the moment - mainly bananas and tomatoes - I never knew before that they grow bananas in Nepal. Eventually I went for a meal in a tiny backstreet food shop (I can't really justify it with the name restaurant). I thought I managed to order the standard Nepali fare of dal blat (lentils and rice) but I got a kind of nodle, chicken and cabbage soup, which was nice enough anyway. I had just finished eating when the place went pitch black - this type of power cut is called "load shedding" apparently and is quite common! Finally I go back to the hotel for a shower and was in bed by 11pm after requesting a wake-up call at 5:45am.
Monday
I woke up anyway at about 5am so the wake up call
Hotel Castle
My hotel in Pokhara with local mountain in background wasn't needed. I didn't need to be at the bus station until 6:30 but I got up and dressed anyway and walked to the bus station with a "boy" (he was probably about 40-ish) from the hotel helping to carry my bags. The bus was there already, in fact it seemed as though most of the city was already up well before 6:00am - I even saw some kids on their way to school. The bus eventually left on time at 7:00am and arrived on schedule in Pokhara at 2:0pm. There were two half hour stops on the way for food and loos. This was the part of my journey I had ben most apprehensive about after reading the part in the Lonely Planet Nepal guidebook about the high number of bus accidents. In the event, our driver seemed quite safe though there were lots of others on the road who definitely weren't. The number of other vehicles that overtook us on blind bends and blind summits was crazy.
Anyway, we got safely to Pokhara and Kelly from P.O.D. was there to meet me. She took me to the hotel (Hotel Castle in Lakeside) and introduced me to the
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This one is for my brother! owner Bindhu and her daughter Julia. After chating for a while she left me for a couple of hours to get unpacked and have a cool shower and then came back again at around 4pm to take me on a walking tour of the Lakeside area which was pretty good. The other local P.O.D. rep is Phil who will be meting me tomorrow morning to take me to view a few posible school placements.
Mike x
P.S. Loads of photos on Facebook in case I can't manage to upload any to here again
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dorothy
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Nice photos!
Nice photos dad! Nice to have a mention too lol. Thr Nepalese drivers sound like the Ghanaian drivers, apart from Ghanaian buses never leave or arrive on time!x