Lost in Kathmandu
Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
Local Time: Tuesday, Oct 18, 2005 - 6:55pm
The first half of the day was a slow start. Writing in my journal, and filling in the last few days while sitting on the patio looking out over fields of green grass behind the hotel, which yes is in the middle of Kathmandu. Not sure how all that green open space got there, but it is nice.
Around me I can see people emerging onto the roof tops of their buildings, starting their days.
Andre, the student from Germany, is leaving today. He has to be back in Delhi on Monday, so he is eager to visit Pokhara before he goes back.
At about 9:30 Seth and I went to the Pumpernickle Cafe for breakfast. Patrick shows up as we finish and we rent bikes from a place Patrick heard about from a French fellow he had breakfast with.
I give my plane ticket as security for the bikes. I guess, if we lose the bikes, I'll just have to stay here. Hotels are $3/day, so I could be here for a while. I could certainly think of a lot of things to do here. Armed with a laptop, I could program whatever wild idea I could come up with. With living costs here, I could spend a long time on it.
Armed with bicycles, we launch ourselves into the chaotic traffic of Kathmandu. Horns are a required safety feature. Nepali people are more restrained with their use of the horn. In Delhi they honk nearly constantly. Here they honk specifically to warn you they are behind and want to pass.
We ride off randomly but within a half hour we end up back at Durbar Square where we were yesterday. I mailed off a couple of post cards, we drink a few chai teas in the square. Then, we are off again. I haven't spent this much time on a bicycle in many years. We are up into the hills, then off that way. In search of the Monkey Temple, it must be around somewhere. We ask one person, take that road, straight all the way there. Sometime later we ask another person. Oh, take that road, straight all the way there.
We end up in a much busier area of Nepal, with at least 2 lanes of traffic in each direction, but it is hard to tell. There are no lines on the road, at all, and the concept of a lane is so fluid here. When motorcyle passes between a car and a five ton truck and a bicycle rides on the far left, is that 2, 3 or 4 lanes? Anything goes, just don't get hit.
On the way back, after dropping off the bikes, we stopped at a little (very little) restaurant, little more than a food stand on the side of the road, and had momos, basically a dough wrapped around some stuffing (pork in this case) and steam cooked. They are fabulous. Tibetan food I'm told.
We did find the monkey temple. There are lots of monkeys up there.
Local Time: Tuesday, Oct 18, 2005 - 6:55pm
The first half of the day was a slow start. Writing in my journal, and filling in the last few days while sitting on the patio looking out over fields of green grass behind the hotel, which yes is in the middle of Kathmandu. Not sure how all that green open space got there, but it is nice.
Around me I can see people emerging onto the roof tops of their buildings, starting their days.
Andre, the student from Germany, is leaving today. He has to be back in Delhi on Monday, so he is eager to visit Pokhara before he goes back.
At about 9:30 Seth and I went to the Pumpernickle Cafe for breakfast. Patrick shows up as we finish and we rent bikes from a place Patrick heard about from a French fellow he had breakfast with.
I give my plane ticket as security for the bikes. I guess, if we lose the bikes, I'll just have to stay here. Hotels are $3/day, so I could be here for a while. I could certainly think of a lot of things to do here. Armed with a laptop, I could program whatever wild idea I could come up with. With living costs here, I could spend a long time on it.
Armed with bicycles, we launch ourselves into the chaotic traffic of Kathmandu. Horns are a required safety feature. Nepali people are more restrained with their use of the horn. In Delhi they honk nearly constantly. Here they honk specifically to warn you they are behind and want to pass.
We ride off randomly but within a half hour we end up back at Durbar Square where we were yesterday. I mailed off a couple of post cards, we drink a few chai teas in the square. Then, we are off again. I haven't spent this much time on a bicycle in many years. We are up into the hills, then off that way. In search of the Monkey Temple, it must be around somewhere. We ask one person, take that road, straight all the way there. Sometime later we ask another person. Oh, take that road, straight all the way there.
We end up in a much busier area of Nepal, with at least 2 lanes of traffic in each direction, but it is hard to tell. There are no lines on the road, at all, and the concept of a lane is so fluid here. When motorcyle passes between a car and a five ton truck and a bicycle rides on the far left, is that 2, 3 or 4 lanes? Anything goes, just don't get hit.
On the way back, after dropping off the bikes, we stopped at a little (very little) restaurant, little more than a food stand on the side of the road, and had momos, basically a dough wrapped around some stuffing (pork in this case) and steam cooked. They are fabulous. Tibetan food I'm told.
We did find the monkey temple. There are lots of monkeys up there.
posted by Jaye | 6:39 PM
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