thewills'wanderings

What an amazing few days we have had here in Kathmandu. Chaotic is probably the first word that comes to mind along with vibrant, filthy, stinky and fascinating.

Flying into Kathmandu from Bangkok on Nepal Airlines was certainly different from the plane travel we’ve done recently. It was an older plane,(which I tried not to think about) with none of the in flight entertainment that we’ve been spoilt with lately. The great thing about the flight though was that it was really empty so we could move around, change seats and lie down for a sleep.

As we flew into Kathmandu our eyes were wide with amazement as the plane got ready to land. The old dusty roads and derelict buildings were a stark contrast to Bangkok which very soon began to look very developed and civilised in comparison.
We entered the airport building which was quite deserted and proceeded to the visa desk. It was all quite intimidating especially as we’d accidentally packed our passport photos in the checked luggage and we needed them for our application. There was lots of loud talking between officials and then they told us that for a 30 day visa it would cost $40US each but because we’re in Nepal for 35 days we would need a 90 day visa and that would cost $100US! We decided to go for the 30 day visa and try to get an extension which is cheaper. It’s so hard to get the right information before you arrive. There seems to be lots of corruption and any way they can get more money out of you they will certainly try.

Anyway, we got through and headed to the baggage claim area only to be greeted by 4 official looking guys who were picking up all our gear and pushing it away for us. Us being very naive thought they were being nice and were all smiles until we realised they were all after our money and they were arguing between themselves over who’ll get the tip. We handed them a few US dollars for pushing our trolleys about 200 metres and learnt our first lesson about travelling in Nepal.

We were picked up by 2 guys from the guesthouse in a rickety old minivan and proceeded to drive the 7km to our guesthouse in Thamel, the touristy part of town. What a ride that was! It was about 7pm at night and dark, even darker because the power goes off in parts of town from about 3pm to 9pm. Apparently, Kathmandu doesn’t have enough power for the whole city so it’s shared out at different times of the day. Quite a good idea really, maybe Auckland could try that? The hotels have back up generators but only minimal lighting. As we drove through the pot-holed dusty streets, crowded with people cooking on fires, children squatting down in the filth, the odd cow and goat and cars and motorbikes darting in and out of everything, we were blown away. Even though we knew it would be like that, actually seeing it is a different thing. Michaella was sitting next to me and I could see the amazement on her face. She was just staring , wide-eyed and saying “Wow,wow this is so interesting!” Charlotte was just chatting away as usual, pointing things out in a very matter of fact way. Maddie was in the back saying “I’m so tired I just want to go to sleep” and I couldn’t actually see Ashleigh but she was definitely blown away.

So we arrived at the Tibet Guesthouse which is really nice and moved into our two rooms opposite each other , one with 4 beds that looks like a boarding school dorm and our double room opposite. We spent the next day getting familiar with dodging motorbikes , cars and rickshaws as we scoured the shops that surround our guesthouse. It’s a very bizarre place, so many dirt poor people mingled with backpackers and aged western hippies who looked like they came here in the 70’s, said yes to all the offers of cannibas that you get all the time, and never left. You can buy just about anything and if you’re prepared to haggle, things are pretty cheap but all knock-offs of the real stuff. Every second shop sells climbing and trekking gear and we’ve spent quite a bit time looking at that stuff and deciding what we need for our trek. The shop owners are all getting to know us now and it’s hard to get past them in the street. We’re realising that we are quite recognisable with four girls. I guess we don’t quite look like the regular backpackers that are everywhere.

Charlotte has easily moved from greeting everyone that walks past with Sawadee-ka, the Thai greeting to Namaste(the Nepali greeting). Poor Charlotte has had a horrible ear infection which has made her quite miserable. Luckily we had the contact of a NZ pharmacist who arranged our accommodation and he told us how to go about getting antibiotics. It was actually very easy, you can buy anything you like over the counter for next to nothing. The eardrops which cost about $12 in NZ cost 50c and the amoxycilin cost about $1. It was good having a pharmacist to point us in the right direction though. Charlotte is now looking a lot brighter which is a relief before we head out of Kathmandu. We’re going to buy up on lots of medical supplies before we leave just in case.

Yesterday Lyndsay, Glenda,Tim,Nick and Mark and Diana arrived which was so exciting! It was so nice to meet up here and get ready for the next stage of the trip. They were all exhausted after a long flight with on overnight transit in Singapore airport but we all went out and ate together which was fun. Most of us ate Tibetan fried momo(spicy bread dumplings) which were great. Michaella is a legend with the hot food!

Today we set off on a mission to find the immigration department so we could extend our visa. Tim thought that we could easily walk (hehe!). We took a few turns away from the area we’re staying and we were in a very different kind of area without people trying to sell us something, just people going about their lives, selling veges, walking kids to school, driving their 3 children to school on one motorbike etc. (who needs a people mover?) It was very interesting but we failed in our mission to find the immigration department. We were standing studying our map when we heard an Aussie voice say, “Are you lost?” He’s lived here for 10 years and told us there was no way we could walk there so we went back to our guesthouse and got a taxi!

We managed to sort out the visas quite easily but we had to go back a few hours later to get our passports. It didn’t feel quite right leaving our passports but you’ve just got to play the game and Tim has gone back now, by himself to get them.

The day after tomorrow we’re all getting picked up in jeeps and taken to the headquarters of the share and care mission. We don’t actually know too much detail about what we’ll be doing but we’ll be 3 hours from Kathmandu in a remote village helping out in some way. From there we’ll be heading to the Langtang Valley to start our trek and we’ll be there until May 22nd. Obviously we won’t have internet so the blog will be even quieter than usual!

We’re now really looking forward to getting out of Kathmandu. The air is so bad, that even after a day here I felt my breathing was affected. The sad thing is to see all these people who live constantly in the dirt, breathing this air. They don’t have a comfortable guesthouse to retreat to. Very sobering.

Anyway, I must go and bring in my few bits of washing that are dangling from our window on coat hangers. I’ve just noticed that a t-shirt has dropped down below onto another roof. Bummer, it was mine too! I don’t think I’m game enough to try to retrieve it.