Kathmandu (6 - 11 January 2008)
I was quite sad to get onto the bus to Kathmandu - Pokhara was a week of luxury with all the western creature comforts one can think of and the Annapurna trek was an adventure never to forget. But it was time to move onto Nepal’s capital. It took us seven hours by bus, winding through the never-ending mountain passes.
As we drove into Kathmandu, I was quite taken aback with the pollution, filth and poverty. The sky in Pokhara and in the Annapurna range was so blue, that it was heard to imagine that this was the capital of the very same Nepal.
The bus dropped us in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in Kathmandu. Naturally, there were a dozen taxi and rickshaw drivers waiting on our arrival. If only they had the travellers’ best interest at heart, but no - they had only one thing and one thing alone in mind: to take us to the hotel of their choice (so that they could claim a commission) at an expensive price. Déjà vu? So, after a negotiation session, we closed a deal with a taxi driver to take us to Hotel Horizon in Thamel for Rs60. Another guy, who had been bugging us all along to go to his hotel, jumped into the front seat of the taxi. He insisted that we have a look at his hotel first before going to our hotel. We said that we will go to Hotel Horizon first and if we are not satisfied, we will then go to his hotel.
Three guesses on where the taxi took us? I was so upset with the guy, I refused to get our of the car to look at the room. Eon, politically correct and ever the gentleman went into the hotel and had a look at the room. Surprise, surprise - it was a dump with beds as hard as rocks. So we declined the friendly offer and asked the taxi driver to take us to Hotel Horizon, as originally instructed. But oh no, he took this detour and insisted on being paid extra. It does sound fair on the one hand, but on the other hand, we did not ask him to go to this hotel. We negotiated a price for Hotel Horizon. Then I realised that we ended up paying for the hotel sneaky-guy’s lift to his hotel and now we had to pay extra?! My blood was boiling - I got into a heated argument with the sneaky-guy, insisting that he pay the extra money that the taxi driver is insisting on. The hotel manager must have heard the commotion and he came outside. I think he could see that this Western Girl was about to erupt and he took out his wallet and paid the taxi driver. In hind sight, I feel a bit ashamed of my behaviour, fighting and making such a scene over a mere R2,00!! But it was a matter of principle and I believe that sneaky-guy had learnt his lesson 
Kathmandu is a bit like India on Prozac, chaotic but laid-back. We spent five days in Kathmandu. Day one was a day for settling in, handing in our trekking laundry for a machine wash (no hand wash would ever get them clean), and just finding our bearings in the overcrowded, very touristy Thamel. This is the tourist area in Kathmandu, the streets are buzzing with rickshaws, souvenir shops, and guys trying to sell tiger balm to anything that breaths. We found a restaurant, Helena’s, which serves the most divine chicken stroganoff!
On day two, we took a time-out to get to know our way around Thamel and for catching up on some website posts.
The Kathmandu-Lonely Planet walking tour was up next. We spent the whole third day trying to find the temples, stupas and other Nepali/Hindu monuments. It felt as if we were starring in ‘Treasure Hunt’ with Scott-Scott. I would read out loud from the Lonely Planet, then we would scurry about trying to locate the building, shrine or whatever was on the hunt. The treasure hunt finally led us to Durbar Square, a stunning collection of ancient Buddhist and Hindu temples and architecture. An interesting site amongst a string of dentist shops was a lump of wood with thousands of coins nailed into it. The coins are offerings to the toothache god; which is represented in a tiny image in the ugly lump of wood. The most impressive part for me was the Kumari Bahal (House of the Living Goddess). This is the home to the Kumari, the girl who is selected to be the town’s living goddess until she reaches puberty and then reverts to being a normal mortal.
On day four, we ventured out to the Monkey Temple in Swayabhunath. This spectacular Buddhist stupa is set on top of a hill, overlooking Kathmandu. The monkeys also added to the effect - one little bugger was so intrigued by Eon’s camera that he came right up to the lens to see his own reflection in it. This made a great picture!
Our last day in Nepal was spent doing some gift and souvenir shopping and going through the ever-painful process of visiting the post office. We had to send all the hiking gear and shopping items to South Africa. The post-office trip is an adventure on its own (in every country we’ve attempted this), consisting of locating the post office, filling out a series of documents, guestimating the value of the items, praying that the package would eventually reach South Africa and then paying for the whole toot. How are we supposed to know how much we should pay - they could quote us any price, we would not have a clue!
The international airport in Kathmandu is something to appreciate. The security procedure consists of (1) a man checking ones ticket before entering the building (2) a scanner for ALL luggage as one arrives at the airport (3) paying departure tax at the bank counter (4) the check-in counter that weighs the luggage and issues the boarding pass (5) a guy that checks the boarding pass before letting you enter the departure hall (6) a counter for handing in your departure card and stamping your passport (7) a manual body and luggage security check (8) a guy checking your boarding pass before you exit the airport onto the runway (9) another guy only 10 meters ahead doing the same thing as in number 8 and then folding your boarding pass in half, (10) a manual hand luggage check and body frisking as you get onto the plane. The beauty of job-creation!
What to do, Kathmandu?!
Click on image to view Kathmandu gallery: