KATHMANDU - NEPAL

It was great to get away from Thailand and see something different. You don't get better views out of a plane window than flying past Mount Everest.


Despite all the places I had seen in the world Kathmandu was still a bit of a culture shock. It had a fascinating mixture of sights sounds and smells. It also had obvious problems such as fast moving motorbikes down narrow streets, pollution and poverty I had only previously seen on that scale in Cambodia. Outside our accommodation there was a gang of barefooted kids who sat round burning rubbish (plastic) and sniffing glue.

After being in hot countries for so long the cold at night hit me hard. The power goes off for hours at a time which I had already been warned about beforehand. Sitting round a candle listening to the sound of generators was something I was going to get used to. The first day I explored the main part of Thamel and Durbar square on foot.


Day 2.....I hired a bike which was great once you got out of the city into the countryside but it was getting out the city that was a complete nightmare. Looking back you couldn't see Kathmandu because of the horrible smog. That day was a bit of an uneventful meaningless random wander. I was covered in so much dust when I got back the hostel owner thought I had been in an accident.



Day 3 I walked all the way to Patan which was a tough couple of hours. The smell of the river I had to cross was awful and so was the sight of people living in what looked like a landfill sight.

It was worth it however........


At night the accommodation had a few more people in it so I ended up going out for dinner with them at night. We arranged to go on a cycle trip the following day. I didn't want to go at first but then I was told the strikes were on so there would be no traffic on the roads anyway.


I headed out with 3 others (2 New Zealand, 1 America) through several small villages. We had a map but didn't care where we ended up for a start.



We thought Boudhanath would be worth a visit and it was.


We stopped for a meal at a nearby hotel. The food was great but the butter tea did not go down well with any of us. On the way back we seen a load of street protests watched carefully by the local riot police.

As I knew I would be flying out of Kathmandu later on I left some other places to visit until I returned. The next stop was Patan



Several months later one of the girls who I went on the bike ride with posted a clip on youtube of several of the places we went to that day as well as other things. I get on there at 4:57.......