12/5: Kathmandu: Photo Essay

Note: The following photos appear smaller than on previous posts as I am using a different computer now that we're home. You can access them in a larger format by reading the post on:

www.bergersadventures3.blogspot.com

We had planned to spend our last day in the city relaxing and wandering around Kathmandu by ourselves. Months ago we had booked the Air India nonstop Kathmandu to Varanasi flight but the airline had emailed us a couple of weeks beforehand that the flight would now connect through New Delhi which was no big deal in our minds. When we received no email from Air India requesting check in for the next day’s flights, Steven went online and discovered that Air India had switched our next day’s flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi to a later departure which meant that we had only 30 minutes to get the connecting flight to Varanasi. 

He was finally able to get through to Air India via Skype where a ‘customer servcice’ agent told him that in fact we would have to overnight in Delhi as the connecting flight to Varanasi would leave the next day, i.e. on December 7^th. We were none too delighted at that point with Air India’s lack of customer service, the lack of any communication about the route and time change of flights and unwillingness to compensate us for our additional costs. I had to scramble to immediately change our hotel reservations in both Delhi and Varanasi.

All this mess took a couple of hours to straighten out but, once it was done, we just wanted to get out of the hotel and discover more of Kathmandu while we still had time to do so.

Photos of our wanderings:

Peanuts roasting over an open fire.

We stumbled on another 'marriage' ceremony on our wanderings; the first had been a couple of days beforehand in Bhaktapur.

Typical attire for a Nepali man.

This did not appear to be much of a 'Safe Zone.'

We could hear this poor boy's screams from a good distance away! I felt so sorry for him having to be washed in the chilly air and, to add insult to injury, in doubt very chilly water too.

We saw hundreds and hundreds of dogs wandering the streets of Nepal.

What an uncomfortable perch this young girl had to sell her cauliflower.

I found out later that there is only 1 day off per week for the Nepali people and that’s Saturday. Even schools and universities have classes 6 days a week. No wonder we’d seen so many people out shopping and walking about that day. The difference in the number of people on the streets was enormous. 

 The red color came from melted candles. 

 We saw a number of men selling cotton candy in Kathmandu.

 Note the poinsettia branch mixed in with the marigolds.

Seeing both men and women carrying loads like this through the streets of Kathmandu, Patan, etc was another common sight.

Photos from Kathmandu's Indian district where we saw shop after shop selling fabrics, sashes, etc for saris or sarees as the word was spelt there.

I couldn't resist stopping this time at this open air market in Durbar Square that sold shawls of every size, color and description. We had passed by it a couple of days previously on our walking tour but it beckoned to me this time!

 Shop selling traditional Nepalese men's attire.

I am sure you know by now that we are not 'gourmands' especially when we travel. We've enjoyed a few memorable meals in nice restaurants on this trip but they were few and very far between. We stumbled on this Sandwich Center our first night in Kathmandu and ate all our 'dinners' there save for one night at a 'real' restaurant. There though we could only eat outside which was uncomfortable in Kathmandu's chilly night air.

After eating so often here, we got to know the engaging young woman, above, pretty well. She told us she worked there from 11-7 after attending business classes at the university for 4 hours in the morning 6 days a week. She made the best grilled chicken sandwiches for me and tuna sandwiches for Steven. The total cost for dinner was never more than $4 for both of us!

The hotel's unheated lobby.

We always had to wear our jackets in the small, chilly and very dim kitchen and breakfast area located off the lobby. The cook, below, was a delightful fellow who made a good omelet and always put a pot of water on to boil for my tea for me when he saw me arrive for breakfast.

We were both sad to say goodbye to Kathmandu, even Steven, who earlier had expressed concerns about our stay there. I found Kathmandu to be one of the many highlights of our long trip; I loved the vibe, the 'feel' of Kathmandu; the fact it was so different from what we had seen and experienced the previous 2 plus months in Asia; being able to walk down streets with little concern for traffic; my first exposure to the ghats at Pashuapti; the incredible and very unique shopping opportunities down every street; the many monasteries we toured; and being able to safely tour a city and region that had just recently experienced a horrific natural disaster.

Posted on 12/26 from our home in Littleton, Colorado.