Saturday - a day off! With the free time I headed out to Patan, a suburb of Kathmandu. Gathering up enough nerve to use the public buses was hard, but I was determined to save paying 2 dollars for a taxi. It became even harder when I reached the bus station as it was just a widened street with dozens of mini-buses lined up. No signs, nothing. After many hesitations I jumped in an empty bus, repeatedly saying Patan to the driver. He kept nodding his head, but it wasnt very reassuring. After another 24 people jumped in/on the bus, we drove off. People were crammed everywhere but me being the greedy westerner I was, I somehow managed to have a free lap and a window. After a long time driving I panicked a little and got off when i recognized the name. I had gotten off in the middle of a meat market and it stunk something foul. Through an alley i could see a man killing a buffalo, with caracasses around him. Thankfully I was pretty close to Patan's Durbar Square.
The place was pretty cool - temples, statues and all that. I had a lassi overlooking the square and checked out the museum. I can only take in so much culture a day, so my browse through the museum was quick. Leaving the square, I went to some Tibetan carpet factories at the refugee camp which were a lot more interesting.
Before I returned to Kathmandu I went to my first overseas zoo! It is quite different from going to Australian zoos for a number of reasons. Firstly it is pretty pov. By this i mean the RSPCA would go nuts. There were some small cages for some big animals, and everything was dirty. Apparently this was better than last year, so I'd hate to have seen it then. Secondly, I was the only foreigner and got a lot of weird stares from, well, everyone. Apparently not many foreigners take the time to go to the zoo. All the kids would look at me like I was an exhibit. Next, all the animals are different. They had some local ones, like a giant 60cm squirrel but they also had some odd (to me) exhibits like budgies and white rats like youd buy from a pet store. The funniest moment was when I saw noone crowding around a monkey cage but dozens of people looking at Cockatoos. Felt a pang of homesickness. The Cockatoos seemed pretty well off with a bigger cage than the vultures. Lastly it was bloody hard to find but cheap to get into compared to aussie zoos. No signs or anything, but only 2.50 entry! was 40c for locals. I tried to pass off as one but not being able to speak the language made it pretty damn difficult.
After the zoo I had a pistachio milkshake and headed back for a relaxing Everest beer and Momos in Thamel.
