It will be so nice, holiday.... fresh air, mountains, rest. That's what I am looking for and Kathmandu is not any of that! The air is dirty, fumes, dust, smog, many people wear face masks. The city is noisy, horns, cars, trucks, horns, motorcycles, taxis, rickshaws, bikes, loud. And because the air is so nasty, you can not see any mountains. But I am here and I am excited.
My first hotel is Hotel Sugat, located in Durbar Square, which is the oldest square in Kathmandu. Durbar Square is the original home of the royal family, however they have since moved into a new palace. The temples and buildings are beautifully decorated with intricate wood carvings. The Living Goddess, Kumari Devi, resides in one of the temples with her family. The story goes that when they are looking for a goddess, they take prepubescent girls from a specific caste, age 2 on up, and put them into a room. Men dressed with buffalo heads and masks surprise them by screaming and dancing and moving all around. Whoever is not frightened is clearly a goddess as a true goddess would not be afraid. We saw pictures of Kumari Devi however we did not see the Living Goddess.
My hotel, recommended by Emilio, is probably as old as the royal palace. Raju, with the hotel, gives me a room facing the square. It is really noisy as a Hindu festival is in full swing on the square - lots of people and loud, really loud music. I head out to explore the square and find Thamel. I had heard from many volunteers that Thamel is the tourist hot spot with great food, music and shopping. I find it and while dining, a huge storm picks up and all the lights go out. The waiters bring lighted candles to all the tables and it is really cozy. A table of 12 begins singing happy birthday just having fun. I pay in the dark and learn this is the only restaurant that will take big Indian rupees bills. As I exit, it is raining buckets and thundering and lightning. I find my way back in the dark, along with many other people. Back in my square, there are a few buildings with lights, and I enter a very nice book store and browse. A man next to me begins speaking, a fellow traveler named Gavin from Singapore. As we are talking, a big fat rat waddles into the store and just walks right in. Ewww!! Gavin invites me for a drink to the bar next door, which is lit with candles, and he shares his travel experiences in Nepal. We have tea and I get some good advice. I return to my hotel, hit my head on the entrance, and head up to my room. The festival is still in full swing and Raju tells me it will be the last day. Not much sleep.
Early Monday I am awakened at 6am by the Hindu music in the square. This must be the last day! Today my friend John is arriving from the states to travel with me for a week. As I head to the airport, I really notice that the poverty is nothing like Kolkata. People are not living on the sidewalks, and they are not begging as openly. John arrives safely bringing all sorts of goodies from the states - thank you Sister and John! After he is settled, we head out to explore and find the Swoyambhunath Temple, a Buddhist temple, also called The Monkey Temple. It is beautiful, and is also quite a hike up to reach it. There are monkeys all over. Buddhist prayer flags are flying all around the temple. I have learned the Tibetan word for prayer flag is "Lung Ta", meaning "Wind Horse." When wind blows (expressing the quality and nature of mind) the sacred prayer flag flaps in the breeze. The traditional five colors represent the five Buddha families and five elements. Blue-space, white-water, red-fire, green-air and wind, yellow-earth. Prayer flags have the Ghachenchemoh mantra content scripts on them. The mantra speaks in favor for all lives in this world without exception. You see the prayer flags everywhere. And while at the top of this temple, I actually met one of my friends who was a volunteer with the MC's in Kolkata at the top of this temple! It is such a small world! We returned to Thamel for a nice Italian meal, I am loving the food here. The music is still blaring when we return to the hotel, Raju once again says this is the last night.
And the music begins again at 6am. Not much sleep - horns, dogs, you name it! Breakfast is served on a rooftop with a beautiful view of the city. Nepali tea is quite nice, with ginger and other spices. We explore Freak Street, aptly named from all the hippies visiting in the '60's and '70's, and see an elaborate parade moving through the parade led by a huge elephant all decorated and painted for the finale of the Hindu celebration. Nepali people are very friendly, want to talk, want to know where you are from, and want you to buy from them. We decide to fly to Pokhara, Nepal which is where the clean air, less noise, and mountain views really are. It is an easy 25 minute flight, however due to the monsoon season, you can not see the mountain ranges. You can see a beautiful plush deep green valley and rolling hills along a lake.
The air is clean and the noise is turned down a couple clicks. Pokhara Palace, recommended by another volunteer named Britta, was perfect. Off the beaten path, you have to walk down an alley and pass a cow or water buffalo along the way to get there. Raju and his wife run the hotel and they couldn't be lovelier. Britta also recommended Lama Cafe for some traditional Nepali food which consists of rice, dahl bat which is a lentil soup and goes on the rice, a curry vegetable, another vegetable, pickles, cole slaw, and water buffalo curd. It was really good until about four hours later when I had my first bout of traveler's illness. While eating, it started to rain and did not end for hours. This evening there were cows mooing, and dogs barking, and the melatonin did not work.
The next couple days were spent biking, hiking, boating and climbing around Lake Fewa which was beautiful. The farmers were busy preparing fields with their water buffalo and plows. Monsoon season is rice planting season. Almost all of the land is farmed, much in tiered fields. On one hike, we went through the Queen's Forest and there were monkeys all around in the wild. This is the off season, and I think only two other tourists passed us while climbing. As you walked down a path, there were monkeys just sitting there watching you. It's great. We have some fun video of them playing around and swinging from tree to tree. Although at the top of the climb, John had picked up a couple leeches on his foot and they had a pretty good meal on the way up. Yuck!!
I finally gave in and took a sleeping pill - thank you Dr. Brian and Sister - it was the best nights sleep in about 5 weeks. The food here is really good, again all kinds trying to meet the tourists needs. There was a great German bakery that had really good cinnamon rolls. On one of the days, we were returning on a bus and ran into a road block. There was to be a bahnd, or strike the following day and groups were starting early with road blocks. We had to get out and find a taxi, then get out of the taxi and walk. Eventually we found another taxi who knew the back ways through alleys and returned us safely to our hotel. The next day,the bahnd, was the quietest! No cars, no trucks, no taxis, no school, just people out in the streets. I wish we had more time to do overnite trekking in the mountains so I will just have to come back. On the return flight to Kathmandu, the clouds opened and we had a view of two mountain ranges. There were amazing!
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