I can't believe we are in Kathmandu!!
We flew out of Bangkok on Friday night - the flight was 20 minutes delayed,
but that is far better than the 4 day delay our friend Mike had heard of
trying to get to Nepal from Thailand. I was, as usual, a big baby on the
plane - and the Nepali stewardesses didn't really have any patience for it.
It wasn't helped by reading the local Kathmanddu paper they handed out that
was full of advertisements expressing condolensces for a man who died in a
plane crash between Kattmandu and Pokhara just 5 days before. Descending
was a bit unnerving - it seemed like the pilot would point the plane down
and accelerate for 30 second spurts, with small pauses for leveling off in
between. But in the end, we made it in one piece, as always.
This place is just amazing! The city is made up of skinny little streets
and alleys (all without names!) crammed full of shops, hotels, and
residences. The streets are packed with pedestrians, cars, bicycle
rickshaws, and tuk tuks (motorcycle rickshaws). Eric has been brushed by a
passing tuk tuk or bicycle on more than one occasion. Memories of China are
returning, with lots of honking, lots of pollution, and the constant "hello
- hello - taxi..." or "hello - hello - carpet..." as we pass by. One big
difference here, though, is that it really only takes one polite "no thank
you" (ok, sometimes two) to get people to leave you alone.
I must say I was surprised at how much shopping is available here. There
are tourist shops everywhere, hawking carpets, sweaters, bedspreads,
jewelry, wood carvings, drawings, embroidered t-shirts, trekking gear,
buddhas and more. Everyone is trying to lure you into his and her shop, and
so it makes for quite a chatter as you walk up and down the street. It was
annoying at first, but as grown to be just background noise.
I feel like we really are on a different planet now - ancient buildings that
people live in, cows roaming the streets, piles of garbage in the gutters
and on the side of the road... You can really imagine that things in some
places haven't changed for hundreds of years. We visited a few stupas and
tried to visit a temple, but it was closed to non-Hindu people. We went to
one stupa on a hill that is occupied with hundreds of wild monkeys. They
were everywhere - kind of like pigeons - but despite the tour book warnings,
they left us alone. As we climbed the steps we were treated to music from a
group of men walking by: drum, flute, cymbals, trumpet, and clarinet. I
felt like I was in an Indian bazaar (or what I would imagine an Indian
bazaar would sound like).
On the second day we were here there was a festival for women - we saw
dozens of women walking to the temple with offerings, all wearing bright red
saris, with dots of red paste on their foreheads and in their hair part. It
is amazing to see such strong rituals and spiritual belief such a part of
everyday life.
We are itching to get going on our trek of the Annapurna Circuit - a ~3-4
week "walk" in the Himilayas that will take us to 17,000 feet. But for some
reason we can't seem to get out of Kathmandu! We first had to wait for
Monday for the Indian embassy to open so we could apply for our visa (takes
7 days so we wanted to get it started now). Because we thought they were
going to take our passports, we had to spend the morning changing our money
- so by the time we got to the embassy at noon, it was closed. So we went
again this morning and got the process started - and it turns out we didn't
need to leave our passports. Then we find out that tomorrow there is a bus
strike, and we won't be able to leave until Thursday! Luckily there is lots
to see and do here - as well as let our digestive systems get used to the
new food (knock on wood - we aren't sick yet).
We can already see in the 4 days we have been here the increase in traffic
through the city. October is the real start to the "peak" season, but every
day seems to find more foreign people on the street, and an energy in the
air as people spread their excitement for the treks they are about to embark
on. We met one man who is here for his 16th time - he gave us lots of hints
on where to go, and told us we will be seeing some of the most beautiful
spots on earth. We just can't wait!
So with this message I think we will be non-communicato for the next three
weeks - wish us the best, and hopefully we will talk to you next with the
successful completion of our trek!
going strong,
Sue and Eric
No comments:
Post a Comment