Kathmandu


Kathmandu – starting point of all great Himalayan expeditions. Started feeling like a mountaineer the moment I landed. Less so after spending an hour queueing at immigration (the officers have to very carefully scrutinise many, many little pieces of paper, write stuff down, tap on computers and then go crazy with the official stamping all over everything. Interspersed with pointless chit-chat “where you from?”, “first time Nepal?”).

Time zone change going to Nepal from India – a whopping 15 minutes! Some little country is stamping his foot and demanding his own time time zone methinks.

Kathmandu is a smaller, slightly less crowded and slightly less chaotic version of Delhi. I doubt there's anything you can't buy here.


One old square has all the historic palaces/temples (so you can keep your tourists in one spot and extract money).
The royal palaces date from 16th century to 19th century. Very pretty and with the world's most boring, labyrinthine and inescapable museum. The further through it you went, the faster you moved, with growing claustrophobic panic that maybe there was no end and you were sentenced to look at family photos from the seventies of the former King for all eternity, NOOOOO!!!!!!!


"Yes please sir, carpet?"


There's the touristy bit full of bars, restaurants, souvenir shops and trekking shops and agents offering anything your heart could desire. I'm afraid we gave into the temptation of an Irish pub on our very first night. No Guinness but an excellent Nepali version of a bad pub band. Atmospheric restaurants in the courtyards among the beautiful old buildings. Karl found a cat (how unusual) in one of these restaurants and I think it made them both very happy.

I also found inspiration for a film - Emma, there's got to be a screenplay in this right? Kathmandu courtyard restaurant, low candlelight, two solo diners sitting a small tables directly facing each other (so almost but not quite sitting together). She's around 30, got all the trekker gear, reading her guidebook, eating dal bhat, drinking tea. He's mid-fifties, has an array of maps and books on the table he's not reading, thoroughly enjoying a steak and a nice glass of red.....and then........I'll leave it to you, Emma.




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