NEMY, KATHMANDU, NEPAL

MAY,  2011

KATHMANDU, NEPAL

We have now gone full circle in Nepal and I write:

Top six list of visiting Kathmandu.

6) Pray Wheels and Pray Flags

5) Patan Temple

 4) Having found our way after being hopelessly lost in the maze of alleys and back streets. Why waste money on street signs when you have four locals showing you your four options.

3) Being here in May. The busiest month of the year for Himalayan expeditions and summit attempts. Papers filled with triumphs and sadly tragedies.

2) The Hotel Kantipur Temple. Another little oasis in the heart of the city. All roads leading to and from this little heaven seem like they have just recently been or should be mortar shelled. The Inn is a beautifully walled old temple that immediately gains your respect of what possible history this place may have had. We used our inside temple voices even in the garden as we took breaks reading, writing and of course, sipping Lemon Sodas.

and

1) Meeting someone on our return home and being asked, perhaps, “Paul, we didn’t see you at the Kilman Road resident bi-annual umbrella inspection get-together”. I can pause for a second and then answer, “OH, I know why. BE-CAUSE-I-WAS-IN-KATH-MAN-DU!

Bottom 9 list of visiting Kathmandu.

9) Getting hopelessly lost. Sticking your finger in your mouth and then holding it up to the wind seems to puzzle the locals.

8) The squalor.

7) The dirt, garbage, open sewage, and all the stuff that comes with it when it’s 32C.

6) One thing that makes me feel safe is there must be a lot of doctors in this town. Every other person walks around with a surgical mask on.

5) This town has a SERIUOS water supply problem. I bet half don’t have running water.

4) The electricity is cut regularly. Many places have back-up generators but don’t get caught in a back alley @ 10pm. or watching the last five minutes of “Kathmandu- Who done it”

3) We have been here collectively for a little over three days. For two and half days there had been civil strike. No public transportation, some shops open, some closed. It only interfered slightly with our plans but there was always a feel of uncertainty.

2) I have always been mildly interested in the local politics of places we visit. Here I gave up. There seems to be a high level of politic strife here. Every ten blocks a corner is swarmed with dozens of heavily riot clad militia that make no attempt to hide their firepower. I sometimes stick my camera maybe where it shouldn’t be (that will be in my report from Thailand) but no pics of these boys. Don’t want my camera thrown in the air and used as skeet.

and

            1) The city lives up to being the capital of one of the POOREST countries in the world.