Day 43 - Kathmandu, Nepal

Day 43 – His.

Bhutan, the so called Land of the Thunder Dragon, is a strange place that I have no desire to visit. It is a country where buying cigarettes is illegal, television was allowed only a few years ago, giant protective penises are painted on the walls of most houses and if you want to visit it you have to pay a minimum of 200 dollars per day. It is often described as Nepal for the jet set. My thought is that if they price their country so high they can keep it. In addition Bhutan is basically the neighbour of Nepal – separated by a bit of India. It is so similar in climate and culture that visiting Nepal will count and costs much less. Of course this hasn’t gone unnoticed by the backpackers of the world and Nepal abounds in them.

It said that Nepal has three religions; Buddhism, Hinduism and tourism and when you get to Kathmandu the truism of that little saying becomes obvious. We have covered a fair bit of the city by now and what keeps us going is the hope that there must be a ‘nice’ bit. I suppose I should qualify that. What constitutes nice would be a bit that wasn’t covered in grime, didn’t have hoards of traffic and wasn’t filed with people continually on the make. Need I say we didn’t find one? Every bit of the city seems like every other bit of the city and after today’s wondering around the affluent quarters – I use the term loosely – we are tired of the place.

It is true there are some interesting sights, but i for one will be glad to move on. We met the tour guide today. He’s a pleasant fellow – obviously keen as he is a few days early – and I am looking forward to beginning the Everest part of the trek (which is the reason for being here). Unfortunately our guide has warned us that we need to take a lot of money with us as over 4,000 meters nothing is cheap as he put it. So, we come up against Nepali worship of the god of tourism – the first principle of which is to squeeze the tourist dry. Yet another way it is similar to Bhutan, I feel. In Bhutan I get the idea they hit you once at the border – here they squeeze it out drop by drop.

I don’t really mind as I think we will only ever be here once – in fact I am sure of it. To my mind Nepal is remarkable in one respect – although I am glad I came to see it – I will never return. That itself is a sad indictment. My advice to anybody contemplating a trip to Kathmandu – don’t bother. Well, if you come for the experience you could try going to the local tip and sitting in the middle of the rubbish pile for a day or so while having your family surround you and demand money continuously. As for the rest of Nepal – well, time will tell.

Day 43 – Hers.

Again, I feel Rob is being a little harsh.  It is true that, from what we’ve seen, one could hardly call Kathmandu a pretty city – and that even the fabulous temples seem to be surrounded by squalor, hawkers and thieves.  We have seen two areas of the tourist district that have clearly been cleaned up, properly paved  – and that have security guards to keep out the beggars and hawkers.  These two small areas are very pleasant to walk through.  They aren’t, however, very Nepalese unless Baskin Robbins and the New Orleans cafe aren’t what I thought they were.....  I am certain our experience will improve when we have a local guide to give us suggestions as to where to go – and when we hit the trails. (The guidebook says, however, that beggar children also line the trails – so I’m not so sure we’ll be hassled much less.)

We have been reluctant to do our usual eating at local establishments.  The water and sanitary conditions are a very real worry, even for us.  Even the bakeries, some filled with delicious-looking breads are swarming with flies.  We chanced buying a loaf of bread shaped like a fish from the cleanest looking bakery we found – and only ate from the middle.  It still upset my stomach.  I look forward to the (hopefully) clean mountain air.