K-K-K-K-K-K-Katmandu! I think it’s really where I’m goin’ to…
Mar 13 – 16
I’ll never forget how my heart raced as our plane approached Nepal and I thought I was about to get my first glimpse of the Himalayas. When we had planned our trip, Nepal had been the place that Claude had been most excited about visiting as he had dreamed about trekking in the Himalayas for as long as he could remember (just like Bob Seger). His excitement was contagious and I was soon anticipating our mountain adventure as much as he was. At first, we had put a big question mark over Nepal as the political situation there worsened and violence broke out in the capital. Luckily, the situation improved dramatically in the spring of 2006 and we were able to keep Nepal on our itinerary when the King conceded to the Maoist rebels and restored democracy to the country. Unfortunately, Mother Nature wasn’t on our side as we flew into Katmandu as clouds blanketed the mountains and prevented us from seeing anything more than the foothills surrounding the city. I was surprised by our first view of the city as the plane approached the runway.
Shrouded in a grey blanket of smog, it had the look of a city that had been ravaged by war and left to recover without any outside assistance. This is true, to some degree, as while the country has been racked by civil war for over two decades, the people have been left to fend for themselves and some of the most basic services, like medical care, garbage removal and education have suffered while corruption abounds.
As we walked off the plane in a light drizzle, it was a relief to feel the cool spring air on our faces after four months of extreme heat and humidity in Australia and Southeast Asia. Alexa took a deep breath and exclaimed that it smelled like home. Katmandu Airport was like a small municipal airport where the employees seemed to have no uniform except their name tag. After a long and frustrating wait, getting shunted from line to line to get our visas, we finally emerged from the airport an hour after we landed. For some reason, everyone had to get their luggage scanned by security in order to leave the terminal. Nepal was one leg of our trip that we had prearranged through an agent and I was so happy to see our driver waiting for us in the rain outside the airport.
As we bounced through the chaotic traffic on Katmandu’s uneven streets, we knew we were somewhere unlike anywhere else we had been. We saw cows wandering in the streets and eating garbage (which was everywhere), decrepit buildings in various states of disrepair and people everywhere living in unbelievable conditions. When we finally reached Thamel, the tourist district, I breathed a sigh of relief as we entered a slighter saner and cleaner version of Katmandu. Our driver dropped us at our hotel, The Marshyangdi, and we settled into our room which was one of the nicest we’d had on our trip. However, within an hour, the power went out and only a few lights worked as the hotel’s generator kicked in (at least they had one). The front desk informed me that this was a daily occurrence from 5PM to 8PM as the power company implemented scheduled blackouts to deal with supply and demand issues.
We spent our first few days in Katmandu meeting with our contact, Bishnu, at Nature Trails Trekking to finalize the details of our Annapurna trek, exploring the streets of Thamel and shopping for gear for our trek. We loved the quaint crowded streets of Thamel with its plethora of shops selling everything from knock-off trekking gear to Nepali handicrafts and got some great deals on gear including jackets, boots and a daypack for our trek. The only thing we had trouble finding was kids’ trekking clothing. Apparently, not that many people trek with their kids and there isn’t much of a market for kids’ gear in Nepal. We did manage to find some North Face Gore-tex jackets for the kids for about $15 CDN, but had to head out of the tourist district to find some children’s clothing stores. As we wandered Katmandu’s crowded streets, we experienced the “real” Katmandu which was very different from Thamel. Bicycles, rickshaws, taxis, buses and cars in various states of disrepair all jostled each other on the crowded streets while belching clouds of blue smoke (no emissions control here). The sidewalks were equally crowded with Nepali people of all ages who were very curious to see a white family of four wandering around outside Thamel – it was interesting and a little unsettling to be in the minority in such unfamiliar territory. While we were on our shopping expedition, we stopped for lunch and I decided to try the Nepali Set Lunch of Dal Baht. The waiter warned me that it wasn’t a lot of food and that I should order something more substantial if I was really hungry. When it arrived, however, I couldn’t believe what I got for about $2CDN – it was delicious but I couldn’t even finish it.
Finally, we were ready to start our trek and very excited about finally seeing the Himalayas up close. The night before we left, we met our guide, Hari, who made us feel very comfortable about our upcoming adventure. Claude was like a kid in on Christmas Eve as he packed and repacked his backpack for the trek he had been dreaming of for his whole life. The next morning couldn’t come soon enough.
Tags: Himalayas, Katmandu, Nepal, Thamel, Travel
tambour
Hi Tamara, Claude & family –
We have enjoyed visiting the Blog periodically to read about your exploits! It’s too bad you’re not enjoying every minute of this odyssey! 🙂
We hope everyone is well. A ‘little bird’ at Eastminster said that you will be back in Canada soon. But it sounds like you may not be ready to settle down to the humdrum of Canadian life, will you!
Hope there are lots of pictures to share!
Cheers!
Bruce & Carolyn