Today's introduction to Nepal was much nicer and a hell of a lot less scary than last night. I woke early due to jet lag and uncertainty of when Pippa would be picking me up. It was freezing cold, but my light had stopped flashing. I soon found out that this was because there was no power, and the power would go off intermittently for a total of 6 hours a day.
I braced the cold outside, running to the bathroom to have a cold shower. No hot water until 12pm. It was horrible. Like all other showers i had come across, it was just added on to the very small toilet cubicle. The toilet was positioned so that you jammed your knees right up against the wall, so it is actually easier to sit down sideways.
I had a quick wander around the streets, afraid I'd miss being picked up. Nothing was open at 8am, and they didn't start opening until 10 or 11am. By this time Pippa still hadn't shown, so I was stuck with no money and no idea what was meant to be going on. I decided to go for a long walk to check out the neighbourhood. Kathmandu is very dirty, there is piles of rubbish just dumped on the streets. A lot of army people were still in the streets, massive machine guns at hand. Thankfully i found what is probably the one atm in the valley.
Heading back to the guest house was a lot harder than leaving it, as now all the shops were open and the landmarks I had remembered were all gone. Needless to say it took a long time to get back, especially as i didnt know the name of my hostel. All the shops sold trekking gear, crafts or handmade clothing. Not a great deal of diversity.
Having not eaten for fear of getting diarrhea, I found myself pretty damn hungry. I went to a small restaurant, sitting down with a french guy. Chicken chowmein and a banana lassi cost about 2 aussie dollars all up, so i began to take a liking to nepal. The french guy had been here for a month and was in the same hostel as me. Got the rundown on what to do, where a few good restaurants were etc.
Back at the guesthouse, still no sign of Pippa. I settled into the restaurant next door, reading a book and drinking 10c sprites. What a difficult time. When i went back to the guesthouse again, about 4pm, Amadablam Adventures had called. I called Ravi and discovered that we were to have lunch tomorrow, where i would meet all the staff and talk about my plans in Nepal. Glad to have a deadline of sorts, I headed out to another restaurant for Buff Kothay. I had no idea what it was as i ordered it, but it sounded good. Turned out to be water buffalo (they dont eat the sacred cow in Nepal) wrapped in pastry. I met another aussie traveller, who was staying in Kathmandu for a week before going on an 18 day Annapurna trek. I told her she was nuts.
Still no diarrhea!!!
