What a day! Flying into Kathmandu was amazing. As we descended we began seeing the beautiful terraced hills and valleys. Graceful curves swirling around each hill in perfect symmetry.
Since it was only a one hour flight, our plane was quite small, so we landed further away from the airport and road a shuttle to the terminal. The first thing we noticed was air! Cool, breezy, semi unpolluted air! Hey, it's a step up from Dhaka.
Did I mention we are traveling with friends? We've sort of adopted the two single guys in our building. The fourth floor is Dana, and George, an FSO from Public Affairs is on five. He's a great guy with an adorable Bangladeshi girlfriend name Keya. George and Keya and Derek and I have all come together.
Upon leaving the airport, we found our driver waiting with signs bearing our names and the name of our hotel. With our luggage tucked in back of the van, we piled in and prepared to head for adventure! What we didn't realize was that the real adventure lay in trying to escape the parking lot!
You know those annoying little plastic games with the little squares you slide around trying to arrange them into a picture? I hate those games! That's what the parking lot was like. This car would inch forward a few feet and that one would slide in behind, and so on for a good fifteen minutes.
But I didn't really care because I had the window open and was already snapping pictures. We were surrounded by mountains. It was hazy, but I knew they were there.
We drove through the streets passing an insane looking amusement park with a deadly look Ferris wheel. It looked like something Tim Burton would design.
Like Dhaka, Kathmandu is alive with activity, thought the population is a lot let dense.
After months of living within less than a two mile radius (no really. We can't go outside of the diplomatic zone), it was amazing to see anything new and different.
We arrived at our hotel to find that while it was as beautiful as the pictures we had seen online, it had been badly wounded in last years earthquake. The front is covered in tarps and major repairs are going on. They have rearranged so that the front desk is around the side. Still, it's a beautiful and fascinating looking hotel and the room is great.
We got settled in and then...(drum role please)...we went out
walking! You simply cannot understand the significance of
that until you are not allowed to do it. It was liberating. We
found a beautiful pool across the hotel grounds and vowed to
go back later. For now, there was walking to be done.
Heading out onto the rocky and uneven street it was hard to tell whether the condition of the roads was due to the earthquake or just part of being in South Central Asia. There were definitely similarities to Dhaka, but we walked...and we wandered...and it was wonderful.
We strolled through shops filled with cashmere and pashmina's and yak wool. There were beautifully carved statues of Ganesh and other Hindu Gods, amazing jewelry, and shops filled with hiking gear for those intrepid travelers crazy enough to attempt a trek up Mt. Everest. A guy tried to sell us pearls and we just laughed. Dude, we're from Bangladesh, pearls we've got.
Eventually, we found an open air rooftop cafe and stopped for dinner. The sun was setting somewhere between the buildings across the street and the mountain range behind them in the distance.
We sat for ages enjoying the soft, cool air and just being outside. George tried the Masala Coke. I'm not sure who it was that originally decided that Coke would be good with Masala seasoning sprinkled in it, but based on Georges reaction, they were wrong.
Heading out onto the rocky and uneven street it was hard to tell whether the condition of the roads was due to the earthquake or just part of being in South Central Asia. There were definitely similarities to Dhaka, but we walked...and we wandered...and it was wonderful.
We strolled through shops filled with cashmere and pashmina's and yak wool. There were beautifully carved statues of Ganesh and other Hindu Gods, amazing jewelry, and shops filled with hiking gear for those intrepid travelers crazy enough to attempt a trek up Mt. Everest. A guy tried to sell us pearls and we just laughed. Dude, we're from Bangladesh, pearls we've got.
Eventually, we found an open air rooftop cafe and stopped for dinner. The sun was setting somewhere between the buildings across the street and the mountain range behind them in the distance.
We sat for ages enjoying the soft, cool air and just being outside. George tried the Masala Coke. I'm not sure who it was that originally decided that Coke would be good with Masala seasoning sprinkled in it, but based on Georges reaction, they were wrong.
The sun went down, music came on and I felt more relaxed than
I have in months. We swapped tales of our travels, and joked
and chatted for ages until deciding it was time to wander a
bit more.
Back out on the Main Street we headed back the direction we had come. The sidewalks were ragged, tall and narrow. In short, quite deadly for someone as uncoordinated as myself.
As we headed past the turn for our hotel, I noticed a dark shape splayed along the tall sidewalk gutter on the other side of the road. Keya thought it might be a dog, but it became clear that it was a person.
The immediate concern was if the person was alive or...otherwise.
We stood for a moment, uncertain what to do. Several people walked past, barely giving the heap a glance. I was shocked. Derek headed across the street and we followed. It was a man, slumped half on the sidewalk, half in the street. He was breathing but not moving. A flip flop covered one foot but the other shoe lay in the street next to him.
Upon closer examination, it was clear he was not dead, but rather, dead drunk. Still, the level of disregard for his well being was shocking. As we looked him over trying to decide what to do, several other people started to gather. Keya called the police and asked that they come get him.
Back out on the Main Street we headed back the direction we had come. The sidewalks were ragged, tall and narrow. In short, quite deadly for someone as uncoordinated as myself.
As we headed past the turn for our hotel, I noticed a dark shape splayed along the tall sidewalk gutter on the other side of the road. Keya thought it might be a dog, but it became clear that it was a person.
The immediate concern was if the person was alive or...otherwise.
We stood for a moment, uncertain what to do. Several people walked past, barely giving the heap a glance. I was shocked. Derek headed across the street and we followed. It was a man, slumped half on the sidewalk, half in the street. He was breathing but not moving. A flip flop covered one foot but the other shoe lay in the street next to him.
Upon closer examination, it was clear he was not dead, but rather, dead drunk. Still, the level of disregard for his well being was shocking. As we looked him over trying to decide what to do, several other people started to gather. Keya called the police and asked that they come get him.
A few young men finally dragged him out of the street, where
cars whizzed past menacingly close to his prostrate legs,
dumping him on the far side of the sidewalk out of harms way.
We decided our part in this drama had played out and continued on. Life outside the diplomatic zone was proving quite interesting.
George decided we should check out a movie theater he found online. According to Nepal Google Maps the theater was a mere half mile away.
I suspect Nepal Google Maps also says Dhaka is a mere half mile away. Still, we were walking and out of our political prison and that was good. We walked on. We even found the U.S. Embassy. We saw many buildings that still bore the scars of the earthquake.
We decided our part in this drama had played out and continued on. Life outside the diplomatic zone was proving quite interesting.
George decided we should check out a movie theater he found online. According to Nepal Google Maps the theater was a mere half mile away.
I suspect Nepal Google Maps also says Dhaka is a mere half mile away. Still, we were walking and out of our political prison and that was good. We walked on. We even found the U.S. Embassy. We saw many buildings that still bore the scars of the earthquake.
Finally, we found the theater. Sort of. It looked more like a
good place to get mugged than a cinema. I am pretty sure it
doesn't have dream lounger seating. Or possibly...seats. It
turns out that theaters are only open during the day in
Kathmandu. George and Keya befriended the bookstore owner
next to it and got all the info and left having been
convinced to buy two books.
By this time, we had hit about six miles on my Apple Watch. This might not seem like a lot to some people, but for someone who has spent the last six months getting barely 3,000 steps a day, my 54 year old body was starting to protest.
I pled old age and suggested we get a taxi and the young whipper snappers conceded. Moments later a van of sorts pulled up along side us. We were shocked to see that it was packed with at least fifteen people crammed into every cranny. Shaking our heads and waving them away, we laughed at the absurdity of suggesting that four more people could fit in the already overburdened van.
The smiling group continued on their way, but we were nearly apoplectic when a couple of blocks later we saw them pull over to admit at least eight more people! They just kept piling in and disappearing. I suspect that it was Tardis in disguise.
By this time, we had hit about six miles on my Apple Watch. This might not seem like a lot to some people, but for someone who has spent the last six months getting barely 3,000 steps a day, my 54 year old body was starting to protest.
I pled old age and suggested we get a taxi and the young whipper snappers conceded. Moments later a van of sorts pulled up along side us. We were shocked to see that it was packed with at least fifteen people crammed into every cranny. Shaking our heads and waving them away, we laughed at the absurdity of suggesting that four more people could fit in the already overburdened van.
The smiling group continued on their way, but we were nearly apoplectic when a couple of blocks later we saw them pull over to admit at least eight more people! They just kept piling in and disappearing. I suspect that it was Tardis in disguise.
It was really dark and getting late and I was definitely
starting to wear out. My decorative sandals were not made for
hiking.
A block or so later, Keya hailed a taxi. The driver pulled to the curb, but there was a low-ish metal railing along the sidewalk that appeared to go on basically, forever.
I glared at the railing for a moment, but desperate to get back to the hotel, I hiked up my Salwar Kameez and climbed over it in a smashingly undignified manner. The others followed, but with slightly more panache.
Looking at the tiny taxi, it became clear that it was desperately unqualified to carry the four of us. Especially Derek, who is 6' 4" tall and may or may not have, on occasion, been mistaken for Bigfoot.
Derek offered to continue walking home, but I was convinced there was safety in numbers and begged him to come with us. Keya slid into the back seat first. Then George. Then me. I didn't think it was possible to suck in your thighs the way you would suck in your stomach, but I managed it and the door closed. Mostly.
A block or so later, Keya hailed a taxi. The driver pulled to the curb, but there was a low-ish metal railing along the sidewalk that appeared to go on basically, forever.
I glared at the railing for a moment, but desperate to get back to the hotel, I hiked up my Salwar Kameez and climbed over it in a smashingly undignified manner. The others followed, but with slightly more panache.
Looking at the tiny taxi, it became clear that it was desperately unqualified to carry the four of us. Especially Derek, who is 6' 4" tall and may or may not have, on occasion, been mistaken for Bigfoot.
Derek offered to continue walking home, but I was convinced there was safety in numbers and begged him to come with us. Keya slid into the back seat first. Then George. Then me. I didn't think it was possible to suck in your thighs the way you would suck in your stomach, but I managed it and the door closed. Mostly.
It was Derek's turn to get in. I think I heard the car
whimper. He put a tentative foot onto the floor board but
immediately realized this angle was not going to work.
Instead he sat down sideways in the seat. I heard the shocks
cry out in panic.
He ducked his head down low in order to clear the door jam, but once inside he couldn't sit completely upright. He looked like Fred Flintstone with his head desperately trying to poke through the roof of the car. I suggested he might try pushing the seat back. I don't actually need leg room. The driver reached over and flipped a lever and the seat slid back a few inches. It was just enough for Derek to drag his legs into the car and slam the door before they could escape.
The car groaned. For a moment we wondered if it could still move. We laughed hysterically as it dragged forward, resigning itself to it's unreasonable burden. Note to everyone: Nepalese taxi's aren't really designed for westerners.
He ducked his head down low in order to clear the door jam, but once inside he couldn't sit completely upright. He looked like Fred Flintstone with his head desperately trying to poke through the roof of the car. I suggested he might try pushing the seat back. I don't actually need leg room. The driver reached over and flipped a lever and the seat slid back a few inches. It was just enough for Derek to drag his legs into the car and slam the door before they could escape.
The car groaned. For a moment we wondered if it could still move. We laughed hysterically as it dragged forward, resigning itself to it's unreasonable burden. Note to everyone: Nepalese taxi's aren't really designed for westerners.
The trip back seemed much shorter in the beleaguered little
taxi. The driver dropped us off across the street from out
hotel. As we descended from the back, I'm fairly certain I
heard the car give a sigh of relief. I suspect it will need
new shocks.
We walked the short distance back to the hotel, spent but happy for having spent the evening wandering the city of Kathmandu. We even managed to save a drunk guy!
Tomorrow is Monkey Temple day along with all sorts of other adventures!
We walked the short distance back to the hotel, spent but happy for having spent the evening wandering the city of Kathmandu. We even managed to save a drunk guy!
Tomorrow is Monkey Temple day along with all sorts of other adventures!
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