Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal. As we drove from the border to the largest city in Nepal (1,000,000 people) the sights were breathtaking. There were so many green mountains which had edges of rice fields with tiny villiages. It was kilometer after kilometer of gorgeous mountains side.
The city is busy and crazy. However it is alot quieter, cleaner, more relaxed than India. It is a welcome change. All of a sudden we wake up and don't feel stressed before we step outsife our bedroom door.
The city has hardly any main roads, so traffic can be difficult in the afternoons. It is insted made of of little alley ways so again many travel by scooter, bike or by tuk tuk.
The city is colourful. Especially with the backdrop of green mountain everywhere you turn. However the locals shops have plenty of colour with all the local artworks, clothes and the local people themselves.
The people are mixed Hindu and Buddist mainly - but live together very happily and in general very friendly and relaxed.
Some of the clothes for trekking very much reminds me of Peru with heavy colourful sweaters and shirts. They also have the Thai fisherman pants - so again I am sometimes mistaken for a local.
I wish I could speak some of the language - as it would be HEAPS cheaper otherwise for things like flights... oh well...
The city used to hold the King in the Royal Palace - but he has been sent to the Jungle (kicked out of power). The locals laugh that it is a BIG palace in the Jungle so no real change of comfort for him!
There are many temples in the city and around. Although we have yet to see them since not only have we been plagued with continued Delhi Belly, but I got a cold too - since it rained heavy on me on our first night here.... errr... not so fun... but our hotel is great so lucky for that at least!
Food is a combination of Chinese/Tibetian and Indian food. YUM - but again the Dehli Belly is holding us from really eating everything and anything. There are a few bakeries and things, but they are often a few days old and not really worth the price.
Resturants are okay price - from about 1 Eur a meal per person. You can get much cheaper if you look for the locals place. Which we do when we are not sick. Then you pay about 40 EUR cents each for a complete meal.
They drink Chai tea here too, and ginger lemon tea is also popular. Briel like the chai even more here than in India. It is spicer here he thinks.
Nightlife there is -- we know from the club that we can hear every night, but this is rare. Mostly the real local places close at 8 or 9pm and the streets are quiet and deserted. Only a few places are open for dinner.
Lots of nice artwork here too. Briel and I are crazy for the statues and the paintings. Plus they have cool musical instrument - it is a bowl which you move a wooden stick around the edges and it makes great humming sounds. Everything is so nice - but lucky for us in a way that sending a box is very expensive so we are not really buying anything. We couldn't help to buy a painting and music bowl. There was some exquiste work, which was too expensive for us - so ofcourse we looked around for the prints rather than the orginals.... hehe
BTW - SOME (only some) will still lie to you and tell you they are originals.. or that the matieral is silk (but not).. or it is NEW but it is second hand.. So be careful. However it is less often.
Ciao for now...
