Kathmandu. The reality is even more amazing than the mythical name evokes! (Kathmandu)

Member Name: GillMN

Product:	Kathmandu
Date:	17/05/09 (147 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fabulous. Life changing. Endlessly endearing.

Disadvantages: Sensory overload. Noisy sometimes.

Nepal is bordered to the North by China, and to the South, East, and West by India. Kathmandu is it's capital city.

This is my account of my magical visit here.

I flew into Kathmandu from Delhi and we traipsed ourselves out of the airport to wait at the side of the road for our coach. I was a bit tired and stood gazing into the distance at some extraordinary clouds and wondering why they were such strange shapes. Suddenly the strange shapes completed a gestalt in my head and I realised that I was staring at the Himalayas. They were so big that I hadn't been able to 'see' them at first. What an amazing sight they were! The white tops touched the sky and the range almost encircled us. Whenever I think of Kathmandu now, I remember it girdled by those mind boggling heights.

Whilst I had been staring at the mountains I had gathered a few gazers myself. I am quite 'well endowed in the chest department' and the locals had gathered to do their own version of 'mountain' gazing! The Nepalese do like to stand and stare! I gave them all an old fashioned look but they were undeterred, by the time the coach arrived my breasts had been respectfully inspected and notes compared by a large percentage of the male population. I was starting to wonder how many yaks I was worth!

Later that evening I nipped out to the Kathmandu version of the 'Spar', to buy some instant coffee! (As you do) I was accosted on the way back to the hotel by a young man trying to sell me some carved elephants. This was how the conversation went.

"Mem' I am having some very beautiful elephants. See my beautiful elephants!"
He had a point, they were indeed very beautiful elephants.
"They are lovely but too heavy for my luggage!"
"They are very cheap Mem!"
They were very cheap but still too heavy for my luggage.
We went on in this fashion as we walked towards the hotel. The elephants got cheaper and cheaper but alas, no lighter!
"You must buy them from me Mem and you have the most wonderful bosoms!"
At this stage I thought the thin air was causing me to hear things.
"Pardon?" (That was a mistake!")
"Oh yes Mem. You have the most wonderful bosoms!"
I just couldn't stop laughing. It was the very last thing I expected an elephant salesman to come out with.

This was my first introduction to the Nepalese most endearing trait of saying whatever they were thinking. The most outrageous things could be said with the greatest innocence and devoid of the wish to offend. I absolutely loved being in this city because I never knew what was going to be said next!

The city is, like most Eastern cities, a fabulous mixture of old and new. Great six lane highways ran through parts of the city. Nominally they drive on the left. Driving on the left doesn't seem to apply to bullock carts, horses, Nepali rickshaws, pedestrians, motor bikes, bicycles, tricycles or cars. Nobody, in fact, had got the hang of all going in one direction at once. Watching the traffic miss each other was an entertainment in itself!

Our hotel was quite close to Durbar square where one of the most famous temples is situated. Said to be built from a sigle tree, the Maru Satal temple is made using no metal nails or internal metal supports. It's a beautiful sight but very rarely open to visitors. Having decided to devote a morning to looking at it we were a bit disappointed, so we sat and drank chai and just watched the world go by with the temple as a stunning backdrop.

That afternoon I went exploring the jewellery shops. Kathmandu is paradise for anyone wanting to buy silver or semi precious stones and beads. I walked up some wobbly wooden steps to explore one such emporium and very elegantly went sprawling onto the verandah! I had walked up the inside of my long skirt! Brilliant!
I was hoisted to my feet by half a dozen bystanders and made to sit on a chair that had been brought out for me.
So there I was, dignity in tatters, trying to pretend nothing had happened.
The shop owner emerged bearing a tray of tea. He was so fast I thought this must be a regular occurence!
"We must inspect your bloody bleedink knee Mem!"
"No really, I'm okay, It's just a graze!"
"We must be seeing the bloody knee Mem!"
The shop owner put the glass of tea and sugar pot in my hands and knelt down in front of me. He was going to check my knee whatever I said. I couldn't stop him because my hands were full! Clever move!
"It is bleedink onto the skirts Mem!"
"Don't worry about it. I'll put a plaster on it when I get back to the hotel!"

Undeterred he solemnly and decorously rolled up my skirt to the knee and did a lot of tut tutting and sorrowfull shaking of the head. He rolled the skirt down and had a conference with the onlookers. None of which I understood so I drank my tea. I refused offers of washing the skirt. No way was I going to strip off to my knickers!
Another man knelt next to him and rolled up my skirt. More sad shaking of the head and hissing through the teeth. By this time I had resigned myself to my knees being the afternoon entertainment. At least they were ignoring my breasts!
My knees were washed, daubed with something that smelled like creosote, wrapped in muslin and then, thankfully, my skirt was rolled down again. Unbelievably whilst all this was going on, a table had been set up and a fair sized meal was produced for all of us! My husband turned up and sat down. He had been told by one ot the hotel porters where I was. (He no longer reacts much when he finds me in silly situations.) Of course, when Russ arrived he had to be shown the 'bloody bleedink' knees so we had the skirt rolling ceremony again! The meal was delicious! (I resolved to always fall over as soon as I got hungry in Kathmandu!) I don't know to this day what I was eating but whatever it was did me no harm!

That was the way I saw Kathmandu! Every thing I did or saw was accompanied by the locals doing their best to be helpful and chat and ask the most mind boggling questions. I saw very little begging although some of my fellow travellers did.

The population of Kathmandu is around 650,000. By the time I left I felt like I had spoken to half of them!

Whilst the cow is sacred in Nepal, cows are not allowed to wander in the city (unlike parts of India) because, apparently, the King got fed up with cows clogging up the works and wandering onto the roads etc, so they are confined to the outskirts. I have to say, this made walking about less fraught with difficulty. (and cleaner underfoot!)

Eating out in Kathmandu is quite an experience! The food is cheap and plentiful. Not many restaurants have an English version of a menu. Miming and pointing gets you a long way! There are many roadside vendors selling tasty snacks, often served onto large leaves which is an ecologically sound idea but a bit messy if you don't know how to do it. One kind boy took my leaf off me and sort of folded it up so my food didn't spill all over me!
My favourite eating house was up four flights of wooden stairs into a very rickety restaurant overlooking the Maru Satal temple. The owner had misunderstood when we booked for four people and thought there were fourteen of us coming so there were lots of waiters on hand. We had a traditional Nepali banquet consisting of about fifteen small courses. Some of which was bloody horrible! (I deserve a medal for keeping my face straight when eating the antique fish course!)
We were served the local drink which was a kind of rice spirit. Our host poured some into a dish at the beginning of the meal and lit it. It was still burning when we got to the last course of 'Royal yoghourt'. The yoghourt was superb and he demonstrated it's thickness by turning the full bowl upside down! It was the best and sweetest yoghourt I had ever tasted.

After the meal he introduced us to the youngest member of staff who was going the next week to take his exams to join the Gurkhas.
When I told him that my Dad had served with the Gurkhas in WW2 he was so excited. I explained that they had saved his life on a couple of occasions and his eyes filled with tears. I had my dad's little Swiss Army penknife with me so I gave it to him for luck. He really started to cry then. I often wonder what happened to him!

Kathmandu is a city infinitely rich in carvings, statues, temples, palaces, parks and monuments. It is certainly one of the most beautiful and engaging cities I have ever had the luck to have visited. There isn't anywhere to look where there isn't something interesting to see.

One afternoon we visited the Pashupatinath temple. It is situated on the banks of a river and there is a burning Gath just outside of the temple. The temple is magnificent and decorated to within an inch of it's life. The gardens surrounding the temple are occupied by what seems like a huge amount of Saddhu or holy men. These men live in great austerity and rely on alms to live. They are an uninhibited bunch and think nothing of strolling around stark naked and clothed only in mud. One Saddhu was demonstrating great devotion to his deity by hanging rocks from his penis. He seemed remarkably cheerful for someone who had about half a hundred weight of sandstone dangling from his willy! Giving up chocolate for Lent seemed a pretty easy option after seeing that!
The temple was mainly devoted to the goddess Hathi (the elephant Goddess) Milk was the usual offering and the excess was channeled by pipe from the temple into the river, turning parts of it a curious milky colour! This was in direct contrast to the rest of it which was horribly polluted.

We visited the Swayambhunath and Boudhanath stupas. They were very beautful Buddhist temples and monasteries. Rows of fantastically carved prayer wheels lined the walk up to the temples and many coloured prayer flags caught the breeze. The sound of rows of young monks chanting their lessons is one that I will never forget.
As I was standing quietly at the back of the Boudhanath Stupa an elderly monk came over to us and singled me out to bless me and ask for my blessing in return. The warmth in his eyes was unmistakable and very moving. I will never know what prompted him to do that but I am glad he did. I still have the scarf he put around my neck.
Later that day the guide came and told me that it was the first time he had ever seen that happen. I felt very special.

I could write such a lot more but this is already very long and I apologise for that. I hope I have given you a small taste of what a remarkable place Kathmandu is.

Summary: Go with an open mind and I defy you not to fall in love with the place and it's people.