Kathmandu

4th - 8th October

Boudhanath Stupa

Kathmandu is mental. Cars and bikes jostle for any road space they can get, horns beep continuously. Dust hangs heavy in the air, coating everything, nothing is spared a fine layer of yellow dust. Sometimes it is so thick you can't help but choke or your eyes stream. Kathmandu is also filthy, sewage lines the streets, rubbish is piled up in corners or intertwined with buildings or grass banks. Incense fills the air and streets swarm with people. And its hot.

But after 41 hours with just an hours sleep it is actually a god send. It injects a much needed energy boost into me and suprsingly i'm ready and manage to take it all in. You can't help but be enamoured with it, even like it.

In truth, it was the last 45 minutes of the flight that woke me up. I was lucky enough to be presented with crystal clear views of the Annapurna mountain range. Mountains towered above the cloud line, not just glimpses of peaks and summits, but it looked like there was full mountains resting on the carpet of cloud lapping at their feet. I don't really know how to describe how big they were. Just that they were monumental.

Aside from the assault on the senses, the most noticeable thing about Kathmandu is how friendly everyone is. I can't state enough how warm, open and welcoming everyone has been. Walking the streets of Kathmandu you can see how sociable the Nepalese people are amongst themselves. Every hole available amongst the towering buildings has one person talking to another or to a group. Little food joints the size of a bedroom sit two or three people eating and conversing and this social attitude extends to talking with tourists.

My first day was spent walking around Thamel. Thamel is the tourist hub for backpackers and people preparing for their treks. Restaurants, bars, souvenir shops, shops selling trekking gear, and an emerging facade of modern coffee shops make up the majority of Thamel. Amongst the throngs of tourists milling around are touts, hustlers, and people trying to sell you anything and everything. You can imagine how annoying this can get, but for the first day I found it highly entertaining because they are the friendliest hustlers around. Of course they're trying to make a buck, but they speak very good English and it is easy to banter with them, and with that an actually opening up of a decent conversation. On one occasion a jewellery shop owner invited me into the shop, sat down we ended up talking for 20 minutes. Of course the entire pretence of the conversation was inevitably trying to sell me a necklace but some people just like to talk too. Turns out he studied in Nottingham (supposedly anyway) and talked about his time there. They're trying to sell you something but they're nice about it! It can be annoying, I was stopped about 10 times in the space of 10 minutes with people trying to sell me hash, but I'm learning to ignore the calls and approaches.

The next day I saw a little bit more of the real Kathmandu. I walked to Swayambhunath Stupa - Also known as the monkey temple, a towering stupa sat upon a hill dense with trees and monkeys. The walk isn't far, roughly 20-30 minutes from my hostel, but it is enough to start seeing a Kathmandu that isn't catering for your needs and you start to see real people going about their daily lives. There are workshops everywhere, some have a clear puporse, be it metal work or sewing shops, but there are some that just contains decade old electrical parts or a collection of the most random assortment of items. People are everywhere, cars and bikes are everywhere, its a free for all but it somehow intoxicating too. There is no sense of order, and weirdly it somehow works. Despite being really clumsy it is surprisingly easy to cross one side of the road to the other. It just happens.

Swayambhunath Stupa sits upon a hill and can be seen from a great distance. The walk up to the Stupa is surprisingly hard, 365 stairs climbing steeply upwards but you are greeted with probably the best view of the stupa that sits on top of the hill. According to mythology, the Kathmandu valley was once filled with an enormous lake, out of which grew a lotus. The valley came to be known as Swayambu meaning "Self-Created." The name comes from an eternal self-existent flame over which a stupa was later built. The Lotus was transformed into a hill and the flower became the stupa. The various shrines are filled with fine details, and sadly some of the temples have been severely damaged in the 2015 earthquake. The site also hosts some great panoramic views of the city, but is ambience is slightly tarnished by loads of people wanting to be your 'tour guide' or people trying to sell you souvenirs. It can be a constant battle to say no.

Like the Monkey Temple, Dubar Square has been extensively damaged by the 2015 earthquake. Dubar Square is a part of the old city of Kathmandu housing the royal palaces, and various squares, courtyards and temples. The whole site is now a museum and construction area in efforts to restore the damage. The architecture is fantastic, sadly there is extensive damage to many buildings, some entirely destroyed including Kasthamandap, a temple in which Kathmandu got its name. With the earthquake and still recent Royal Palace massacre, you really get a sense that Nepal's recent history has been coloured with tragedy. All the key religious and cultural sites were damaged, and many people question the meaning of the devastation caused, it is not hard to question and wonder what effect it has had on the Nepalese psyche. It is surprising and heartening to still seeing the Nepalese people so accommodating and open despite everything that has happened in the last 17 years.

Yesterday was perhaps the most up and down day. The first time the noise, dirt and busy nature of Kathmandu started to get to to me a little bit. Little things like finding a bin to put rubbish in was frustrating (There are no bins its turns out). Turns out nothing happens to show for taxes here too as one restaurant owner said to me. People say 3 nights is probably enough here and they are probably right. The day started well, I visited Boudhanath, a large stupa surrounded by practicing Tibetan monasteries in a courtyard. The stupa is huge, and offers something unique in that you can walk on the plinth that surrounds the Stupa. It is also, thankfully, a place where touts weren't an issue, it was really nice to be able to take in the stupa and the wonderful courtyard and monasteries. The courtyard adds a busy atmosphere. The monasteries are fantastic, the decorations on the temples sublime, but they are fantastic mainly because there are praticising monks in them. In one monastery I stood watching monks chant for a good 10 minutes, then unexepecdly one of them handed me an orange as a offering to me, it really caught me off guard but pleased me immensely. In another a monk talked to me about the monastery , but also his personal life, saying that he lived in Hereford and although he doesn't like the cold he wishes Kathmandu could be as clean as England. The openness of Nepalese and Tibetan people never fails to amaze me (so far!) Boudanath Stupa is by far the most enjoyable attraction I have visited so far in Nepal.

Unfortunately the afternoon wasn't too great. I probably made the mistake of walking from Boudanath to Pashupatinath, a sacred Hindu temple where cremations take place. The walk was a bit longer than expected, and although there were other tourists using the same road between the two I felt a little exposed for the first time. Which effected my mood visiting the temple. I think I was being tailed, in the end I think they realised I cottoned on, and left in a different direction.

As for the temple it was infuriating and I didn't enjoy it. The actual site is really interesting. Watching a cremation was humbling, and a bit of a culture shock. It was utterly bizarre that a full funeral was played out to a live audience of a few hundred people. A very personal event for all to see, but I couldn't help but be fascinated by the ritual from the laying of the body to the eventual lighting of the prye. It is oddly something I would recommend people see. But amongst the temples and ghats, again are touts, sellers and want to be tour guides but pickpockets and beggars were more rife here. You could all the different ways that it was being played out, it was quite upsetting that amongst a highly valued place in Hindi religion, and at a time of mourning, people were willing to exploit that situation. I understand that people are far poorer here than back at home, but these people were petty thieves rather than destitute. Young kids are sent to help them, mothers with babies going to all the tourists to make an easy buck. The worse was seeing actual people in need of help being exploited. Just above the river is a line of poor men who have no fingers or legs, clearly ill, their bodies frail and withered and deformed, but you can tell they have been set up in a way to get peoples money. I don't know wether that is true or not, but the way they are all presented, with the same buckets. I been reading a book called the Snow Leopard and the book references this in its early chapters, saying that these men have their bones and bodies broken on purpose to earn someone else money. I wondered whether this was the case here too. I don't know whether I was being cynical or not. I was surprised this was allowed to happen. It is a an area with gates, that are clearly opened and closed. I can't imagine praticising Hindus are happy the area is allowed to be missued as it is.

Mistake number # 2. I walked to my hostel and it was longer than I expected. The fears of being exposed had disappeared, but I was too stubborn to get a Taxi in fear of missing a photograph opportunity. Next time get a taxi. I think the adrenaline of being in new place for the first time had waned off and tiredness had crept in.

The evening made up for it though, Thamel is actually quite pleasant to walk around in the evening, a majority of touts had gone and its a bit quieter. I ended up watching the Spurs game in an Irish bar and got talking to a few other travellers all in to football, which made for a nice couple of beers. 3pm kick offs are ideally timed at 7.45 here so it is a nice way to spend an evening and you don't really miss out on anything.

The hostel I am in is fantastic, the hospitality of the owners is amazing. When I got back they were having a couple of drinks with a few of the other backpackers and I joined them. Their daughter, who is 4 or 5 was trying to teach us the English alphabet which was hilarious. Think she is going to make a fine, but bossy teacher.

On Monday I am off to Bhaktapur for a couple of days and then hopefully Nargarkot

Thanks Joel