Kathmandu - The City

Namaste y'all. In case you don't know what that means: "I bless the divine inside you". A lot of accolades in one word. I can't think of an equivalent. Neither can I about Thamel, the entertainment and tourism hub of Kathmandu (KTH). To my convenience (and constant headaches every time I step out of the door as I avoid getting run over by honking motorbikes), I have been staying at the Kathmandu Peace Guesthouse, which is in the Thamel area, for the past week or so. Thamel the most 3-D place I've ever been to. Choc-a-bloc with tours & travels agencies, souvenir shops, restaurants and bars that have live music. After a few days I noticed that the live acts go from bar to bar in rotation and do the same Bob Marley and Red Hot Chillie Pepper tunes. The place is frequented by the trendy Nepali youth but there is nothing charming about the place. Its a let-your-hair-down, western style kind of place, definitely unforgettable but I dont regret leaving the place ( at least Thamel, the guesthouse environment was really nice though). I'm in Pokhara now.

Actually my stay in KTH has been longer than expected for a number of reasons. In fact, things don't get done on time for a number of reasons round here and where they do occur on time, well, its simply just an anomaly. One volunteer who was supposed to start training with me didn't make it, so the arrangements had to be tweaked. Also, there was a festival going on all week when I arrived, the Dasain, which slowed things down. Schools closed and nobody working for 5 days! My kind of place! You could say it's like Christmas as everybody has family get togethers which tend to be out in the country, so Thamel was relatively quiet. I saw people walking around with big phat red patches on their foreheads called tikas (yep, like the chicken...though I never thought of humans dipped in the stuff whenever I've tucked into one) and straw bits on their heads. I'm probably not the best guy to ask about the religious and cultural significance of this festivity as I am still grappling with the numerous recognised deities here. Anyhow you can have a look at: http://www.info-nepal.com/society/festivals/dashain.html or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasain.

Speaking of religion, I never knew that Buddhism and Hinduism blends so well in general. In fact here the two faiths morph together so many times when you visit the temples. I started my training last Friday, which entailed Nepali language and culture classes, as well as sightseeing, which lasted until Tuesday this week. The first sightseeing was at Swayambunath, a primarily Buddhist site on the nearest hill overlooking the city. See http://www.sacred-destinations.com/nepal/kathmandu-swayabunath-stupa.htm. It is otherwise known as the "Monkey temple" after the colony of monkeys that have lived there for thousands of years and seem to terrorise anybody that brings food. I saw some kids getting pounced on as we walked up the long steps to the temple. They snatched a pack of crisps and a juice packet. It's no use resisting as they are a persistent troop. They are the biggest monkeys I've ever seen and I've no idea why they are not baboons! The main features are a super-chilled looking buddhist stupa with sedate peaceful eyes and a gleaming gold plated top, Hindu shrines and a Budhist monastery. I got some pics of the place incl. a live Buddhist prayer by monks in session (will share pics soon). Apart from those pesky monkeys, typical features are flags with 5 colours of the Buddhist elements (Earth, Wind, Fire....not the band....Water, Ether...s'thing like this, I probably got s'thing wrong). I could go on...

Another place we went to was Pashupatinath. See:http://www.sacred-destinations.com/nepal/kathmandu-pashupatinath.htm. It is a full-on Hindu site, probably one of the most important in the country as it is a major cremation site, with a royal cremation spot ( which was probably pretty busy around the time of the royal massacre a few years back if you remember). I witnessed 2 cremations on the go. The ashes end up in the Bagmati river. This river meets the Ganges in India before emptying in the Bay of Bengal. One cool thing about the place is the caves where Sadhus (holy hermit men in the Hindu religion) stay and pray. The reality was thus: a young "hippy" sadhu in one cave smoking something kinda hazy, with the rest of the orange robed chaps hanging around the hindu shrines posing for pictures with tourists for tips. My guide told me that there are not that many real Sadhus left. It seems that most religions have issues with phonies. Some quirky things about the place: on some steps one can try walking eyes closed with one arm outstretched trying to get it in some holy hole. If it goes in you get good luck ( I cant remember exactly what luck it is...probably the usual most wished for thing in this part of the world, the ideal bride or bridegroom). Also a religious mural painted by an Italian!

My favourite spot in Boudanath. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/nepal/kathmandu-boudhanath-bodnath-stupa.htm. Also on the eastside (....like Pashupatinath), u need to know where to turn in order to find it despite it being one of the largest Buddhist stupas in the world. A lot buildings circle the place, including a monastery and lots of shops selling stuff from Tibetan paintings to statues of Buddhas in his many contemplative posey poses ( not enough fat Buddhas I thought...maybe when obesity becomes a problem here there will be more). The stupas has so many places to sit and reflect on life or just watch the monks circle the place clockwise until you get dizzy. Its probably the only spot in the city where you cannot spit onto the ground. In Kathmandu phlegm clearing and spitting on the street is a common occurrence. I don't blame them as the pollution here is terrible: dust, exhaust fumes and smog in the summer. Not to mention contamination of the rivers with sewage and uncleared rubbish. It didn't really want to go into this here but I just remembered the journey back to the hostel on this particular day. A demonstration was taking place in protest of a hike in fuel prices so we made a detour along one the city rivers (we were on a motorbike) and I've never experienced such funk in the air. More funky smells than the Nairobi river after the Globe cinema roundabout (some of you know what I mean). Nepal is a poor country with shaky politics but a promising future. Tourism is very developed here (more than India I think) and there is a lot of agricultural produce. The politics is forcing a lot of young people to look for opportunities abroad which is disappointing as it won't help the gaps in education, and the less educated tend to be easily exploited. It starts with the caste system, which is slowly becoming outlawed but I will leave that issue for another day.

Let me finish off. Another sightsee spot was Patan. This is the place to go to if you want to see an ancient Newari town. The Newars are the original inhabitants of Kathmandu Valley. I shall let u know how I'm getting on with my command of the Nepali language. Its not that hard but one has to be careful with pronunciations, like with Chinese (Chris Tucker in Rush Hour style....but Nepali is written in a Sanskrit style, so its not close to the Chinese language) as people might get the wrong end of the stick. I start my volunteer work tmrw.

Speak to you soon!
K.