Nepal 2015 - Being a tourist in Kathmandu

< 6-7 Oct - Pokhara to Kathmandu

Back in Kathmandu, we had a couple of last days in Nepal to do some sightseeing.
8th: Kathmandu Durbar Square and Boudhanath Stupa

Early in the morning we joined Bharat for a dawn stroll through the streets.  Just before dawn, 5:30am or so, is the best time to see Kathmandu, with the streets relatively quiet and the locals heading to work, buying breakfast from street vendors, and starting their day.

8 Oct - Kathmandu Durbar Square

We ended up back at Kathmandu Durbar Square, where we'd been in the first days of our Nepal trip. It featured a lot on television after the earthquake.  There is much damage here, but people get on with their day around the rubble.

Buildings are shored up, signs with before and after photos show you what buildings used to be there, and there are the first signs of a slow but steady restoration.  It will take years, but it will get done.

Kasthamandap - 12th Century public building

Gaddi Durbar

We spent quite some time here, enjoying the early morning light and the ever increasing bustle of commuters and traders as we sipped our compulsory chai.

Kumari Ghar - the home of the Living Goddess

Market sellers had started early, and the usual bewildering variety of goods, for locals and for tourists, were on display.

Marigolds for sale

Cathy was drawn to a shop selling fabrics and other odds and ends.  She was after a sari!  After much haggling between her and the seller and then the seller's mother, she came away with one.  But there was a catch... it was only part finished.  The assumption was, you finished it at home so that it fit you perfectly.  Because it went without saying that every Nepali woman would consider that a trivial thing to do.

The sari considering and haggling in full swing

But, after Cathy took her new sari to a tailor around the corner from our hotel - they did a wonderful job on it.  Marvellous!

Spectacular!

After another breakfast at our favourite cafe, we loaded ourselves into a van  and headed to our next destination.

8 Oct - Boudhanath Stupa

Boudhanath Stupa is one of the largest, if not the largest monument of its type in the world, and it's been there since around 500 AD.  So it's ancient, and it's impressive.  It is not too far away from where we stayed in Kathmandu.

It didn't fare well in the earthquake - its huge, golden spire cracked and tilted.  So its spire has been disassembled and rebuilding has begun.  Luckily there is little actual damage to the important bits - just a lot of disassembly and fixing and replacement.  Boudhanath seems to have its own sources of money, independent of government assistance, which means they can get on with the repair work much more quickly than other sites.

The stupa is surrounded by shops and buildings with a wide walkway around it.  It was a hot day when we visited and the square is full of stores and food sellers.  At the height of tourism, this place must be heaving!  There was plenty to look at to keep us interested. As you can see, Toby and I walked around the temple itself many times.  We may have been in the fast tour group.  No mucking about for us.  You can even see where we have ducked into a shop or two.  That little blue dot to the left was where we all went off to a rooftop cafe and drank fanta (Toby) and Chai (everyone else).

There were loads of workers on the domed roof, taking down bricks.  So many bricks!

They even had a display set up for tourists like us to look at the earthquake damage and their intentions on fixing it all back up again.  They uncovered a few things bricked up over the years gone by.  Opportunistic archaeology. 

I may have made my first purchase here of some trousers.  Not that I have ever worn them.  Hahahah.  I just failed to get that shopping gene.

That evening a bunch of us went to a Purple Haze, a local nightclub.  It was very entertaining!  Mike went here last year, and he said it was the same band as last time too.  I'm not sure if they play every night, or if it was a remarkable coincidence, but they were pretty good with their mix of prog rock, hard rock, hair rock and any other rock you could name.  We seemed to be the only women in the whole place - last year Mike hadn't noticed this but there were less foreigners this year so it stood out far more.

We staked out a corner with a low, turkish style table.  There was lots of beer and cocktails flowing and lots of dancing; I stayed cradling my fanta and watching the frivolity.  By the time we finished, our group was somewhat loud and somewhat unsteady on their feet.

9th: Bhaktapur Durbar Square

We decided to drive out to Bhaktapur in a minivan to visit a really old historic centre up the Kathmandu Valley.  The day was hot, and we sought out shady spots to enjoy the views of temples and monuments.

Our guide was a funny chap - very officious but full of information.  The recent earthquake had dealt a harsh blow to this part of the valley and some monuments had been ruined.  But a fair bit survived.

Bhaktapur Durbar Square

As we wandered around, the lack of tourists meant we were very interesting to local merchants.  Even Toby came under some selling pressure from people - he handled it very well, with respect for their livelihoods that showed his maturity.  David bought something and then had a procession of sellers competing for his attention for the rest of our walk.

At one point, Toby was just ahead of me and Philippa just behind when a dead rat was flung out of a shop we were passing into the gutter.  It flew through the air, only centimetres from our heads, followed by excited talking from the shop owners.   Not sure if they found the comedy gold in the moment they nearly hit tourists with a dead rat, or were just happy to see the dead rat well and truly departed from this world.

A few steps on, and a sleeping dog took exception to Toby, baring its teeth and growling fiercely.  Given we'd never seen any dogs behave badly, it was a little disconcerting.  I bravely put myself between Toby and the worried dog.  Well, that's how I remember it.  It could be that I was merely hurrying Toby past it and it just looked brave to onlookers.

Most of us stopped to buy some samosas from a street seller before hopping in the van for the drive back to Kathmandu.

Queue of buses and taxis waiting for fuel. 5 lanes wide and blocks long.

Our last night was a sumptuous feast with dancing maidens.  As you get as a tourist.  But it was well done and worth a look.

Finding our way around Kathmandu was proving tricky at this stage with fuel being a scarce commodity.  There was talk of issues getting to the airport.  And of the planes themselves having fuel concerns.  Jeepers!

10th: Flying out

Fortunately Expansion had the right contacts to get us a fueled-up van to the airport.  It was quite late to arrive, though, as it took quite a while to get the fuel it needed.  But we got to the airport in good time, and after a relatively painless departure process we were bussing across the tarmac and boarding our plane.

Goodbye, Kathmandu.

Mike picked the correct seats so we got great views of the Himalayas again, and I was able to get more shots of Everest with the long lens.

One last view of Everest

The fuel shortage did mean a detour though.  We didn't refuel in Kathmandu; instead the plane had enough fuel to get from Kuala Lumpur, to Kathmandu, and then back as far as Dakhar, Bangladesh.  We sat on the tarmac for about an hour, away from the terminal, while fuel trucks came and went and gave us enough fuel to finish our trip.

Can I say I've been to Bangladesh?

There's not much to say about the rest of our trip - except the Bangladesh detour made our transfer in KL a bit hasty - and a bit too hasty for our bags.  But sometimes two wrongs make a right.  It meant that without luggage in Auckland we could get an early flight to Wellington.  I'd trade bags later with in my bed earlier any day!