Well, my first full day in Nepal was eventful to say the least... or at least it felt like it! Am really going to miss being able to simply write this blog to keep the memories, when I'm without Internet and having to actually write with a pen and diary it will take forever!
Anywho...
So jet lag is definitely about. I woke at 5am to absolute silence. After falling asleep to horns and all sorts of noises it was very peaceful. It wasn't until about 6:30 that the noises began and the first ones? Hoicking - not sure how to spell it but basically men in the area getting rid of flem, ick! So this is when I got up and headed downstairs.
In the restaurant/tv area three of the Nepalese men who worked at the hotel were sat watching a Nepalese action film so I joined them. Watched the rest of the film with them and a lovely cup of tea :-) One of the guys informed me it was a government holiday today so not all places/shops would be open, handy.
I then decided to try to get to the CIWEC clinic to get my final vaccine. The easy option is to grab a rickshaw there. I decided since I was in no particular hurry I would try get there just with a map. Well, I did manage to get there. But only by using the places of interest on the map as a guide, so embassies, restaurants, shops, etc all guided me there. Don't know why they bother to use normal maps because with the crazy roads here they are impossible to follow the normal way!
Oh and once at the clinic I chatted with the nurse and we both agreed I would wait til I got back from my trek to get the last jab. There are a lot of people that get bad headaches etc after the injection. Since I fly to altitude tomorrow, not a good idea.
After leaving there I started to wander back to Thamel but got very, very lost. I will blame the pig on a roadside table, cut in half and painted bright orange, for getting me lost. Ewwww... was so ick! Am glad I've decided to stay away from meat while in Nepal!!
About an hour after wandering the streets of Kathmandu I stumbled upon a massive park (& I mean MASSIVE) with hundreds of locals playing cricket (& some playing football). I went through the park gate (sidestepping the barbed wire surrounding the entry) and went and sat under a tree and watched them. At one point I thought I had perhaps come to the end of action as some players packed up and left, but minutes later others would arrive and start playing. Sat there and ate some fruit cake (given to me by a lady on the mail run, and surprisingly the best snack to have handy!). To one side of the field there were gorgeous purple trees in the distance. The whole field was a complete contrast to the main road and craziness that was outside the park fences.
After relaxing at the park I then left to try get myself back to Thamel for some lunch. It took me an hour to stumble back in the right place. And the craziest hour where I didn't see any other tourists for some time. One wee street was full of meat on display including chicken and fish just sat in the heat. Again another reason not to eat meat here! I passed on wee girl who couldn't have been a day over 3 years old and she had full blown eye make up and all on! Quite a contrast to the surroundings.
I had lunch at the back of a book store. My lunch was vegetarian momos and OMG they were spicy. Mike made me momos as an entree the night I left NZ and gotta say they are winning over Nepal momos right now. My entree was followed by venison stragonoff made by Tash (mmmm... meat). And the dessert was Guiness and Maple Bacon cupcakes... mmmm............... Not too shabby send off eh?
Anywho, this book store was awesome (Called Pilgrims and in the centre of Thamel). While browsing in one of the wee corners of the store the power went off for about 30 seconds.. pitch black in the book shop but business as usual. Shoplifters paradise maybe?? Haha
For dinner I went to Helena's Restaurant which had thee best rooftop terrace! Although it took 8+ levels of stairs to get there... I asked the waiter where the kitchen was - at the bottom of all those stairs. He definitely earned his tip! I had 360 views up there and the sun was slowly setting so was gorgeous! It seems Kathmandu is surrounded by mountains which I didn't realise. And I was surprised by the number of solar panels on top of all the buildings that surrounded me. Although I probably shouldn't have been considering the constant power cuts (load shedding).
After a little retail therapy I went to the rooftop terrace of the hotel and sat reading. Another guest of the hotel was there playing a guitar so that was lovely. I got chatting to him and although I could've sworn he had an American accent, he was from South India and called Praym. Or as he says, a delicious prayer (Pray mmmmmmm...). He had lived in Nepal for three years so knew the place well. Although I had already had dinner I went with him to a proper authentic local restaurant. And when I say restaurant I mean a place to eat the size of a single bedroom and the naan bread is cooked next to you. The most expensive meal there was $2.50. I was so annoyed I'd already eaten, the naan bread looked and smelled amazing! I ordered a milk tea. My very first one and OMG it was delish! Although may have been the sugar in it since I don't usually have sugar in my teas.
The place was always very packed and we had a German couple join us for dinner. They were trekking too but dong a 12 day trek to the Gokyo Lakes. Just after I had ordered my second milk tea the power went off (as per usual). So we were all sat there in pitch black! The wife of the owner quickly brought candles to all the tables and business continued as usual. During the pitch blackness my second milk tea had actually arrived. I hadn't even seen them bring it so they must be used to working in the dark. When walking back to the hotel it was a different place altogether.. apart from the odd motorcycle driving past and a couple of windows lit up by battery/solar, it was pitch black. Gotta say the power cut did add to my first authentic Nepal experience.
One thing Praym did mention to me was the coming monsoon season. He said the thunder storms that I will experience will be like nothing I have ever known. Apparently, in Kathmandu it can feel like the thunderstorms are shaking the entire city. And you can go out on a gorgeous day to only find an hour later the sky becomes totally dark & a massive storm has arrived! Ooooooo... cannot wait for these storms! Although I do hope I am indoors when they occur!! Any chance??
The power was out for around 4 hours before coming back on. And this morning as I began to write this blog, the power went out again and so the computer died on me. The power came back on but the computer didn't unfortunately. Thankfully, Blogger saves what I write as I go! One of the hotel guys gave me his iPad (can you believe) to use. But now at a wee dodge internet cafe down the road.
Oh, and random little thing about my hotel. At night from about 5pm an army type man is sat at the front gates of the guest house for the whole night. While the power was out last night I was on the balcony watching him too and at about 10pm he shut the front gates and then sat by them. Quite secure then!
Ohhh maaannn... Power just gone off here as well yet again. Just for about 30 seconds... adds to the character of Kathmandu I suppose!
Oh and one wee thing I want to add that upset me yesterday. On my first day here I had seen how crazy the traffic was. They even toot like made at poor old ladies trying to cross the road! No manners (on the road anyway). But as walking I saw the traffic come to a standstill for something. On reaching the standstill point I see the cutest wee black kitten in the middle of the road. So myself and a Nepalese man shoo the wee kitten off the road and traffic commences to craziness again. Thought that was so lovely that they did stop for the kitten! So what upset me? Yesterday, I was walking not far from where that had happened and saw the wee kitten on the side of the road after having been hit by the traffic. I know it happens everywhere but was so damn little the poor wee thing, very, very sad :'-(
Oh and using nylon string and a swiss army knife I made my own clothes line in my room! Hand washed my clothes in the shower with sunlight soap and hung on my awesome line. The next Bear Grylls, so I am.
Well today I am changing hotels and tonight will be having dinner with the CEO of my trek and my trekking buddies (15 of us + CEO + Porters). Then on Monday we fly to Lukla to begin our trek.
EXCITED!!!!!!!
Anywho...
So jet lag is definitely about. I woke at 5am to absolute silence. After falling asleep to horns and all sorts of noises it was very peaceful. It wasn't until about 6:30 that the noises began and the first ones? Hoicking - not sure how to spell it but basically men in the area getting rid of flem, ick! So this is when I got up and headed downstairs.
In the restaurant/tv area three of the Nepalese men who worked at the hotel were sat watching a Nepalese action film so I joined them. Watched the rest of the film with them and a lovely cup of tea :-) One of the guys informed me it was a government holiday today so not all places/shops would be open, handy.
I then decided to try to get to the CIWEC clinic to get my final vaccine. The easy option is to grab a rickshaw there. I decided since I was in no particular hurry I would try get there just with a map. Well, I did manage to get there. But only by using the places of interest on the map as a guide, so embassies, restaurants, shops, etc all guided me there. Don't know why they bother to use normal maps because with the crazy roads here they are impossible to follow the normal way!
Oh and once at the clinic I chatted with the nurse and we both agreed I would wait til I got back from my trek to get the last jab. There are a lot of people that get bad headaches etc after the injection. Since I fly to altitude tomorrow, not a good idea.
After leaving there I started to wander back to Thamel but got very, very lost. I will blame the pig on a roadside table, cut in half and painted bright orange, for getting me lost. Ewwww... was so ick! Am glad I've decided to stay away from meat while in Nepal!!
About an hour after wandering the streets of Kathmandu I stumbled upon a massive park (& I mean MASSIVE) with hundreds of locals playing cricket (& some playing football). I went through the park gate (sidestepping the barbed wire surrounding the entry) and went and sat under a tree and watched them. At one point I thought I had perhaps come to the end of action as some players packed up and left, but minutes later others would arrive and start playing. Sat there and ate some fruit cake (given to me by a lady on the mail run, and surprisingly the best snack to have handy!). To one side of the field there were gorgeous purple trees in the distance. The whole field was a complete contrast to the main road and craziness that was outside the park fences.
After relaxing at the park I then left to try get myself back to Thamel for some lunch. It took me an hour to stumble back in the right place. And the craziest hour where I didn't see any other tourists for some time. One wee street was full of meat on display including chicken and fish just sat in the heat. Again another reason not to eat meat here! I passed on wee girl who couldn't have been a day over 3 years old and she had full blown eye make up and all on! Quite a contrast to the surroundings.
I had lunch at the back of a book store. My lunch was vegetarian momos and OMG they were spicy. Mike made me momos as an entree the night I left NZ and gotta say they are winning over Nepal momos right now. My entree was followed by venison stragonoff made by Tash (mmmm... meat). And the dessert was Guiness and Maple Bacon cupcakes... mmmm............... Not too shabby send off eh?
Anywho, this book store was awesome (Called Pilgrims and in the centre of Thamel). While browsing in one of the wee corners of the store the power went off for about 30 seconds.. pitch black in the book shop but business as usual. Shoplifters paradise maybe?? Haha
For dinner I went to Helena's Restaurant which had thee best rooftop terrace! Although it took 8+ levels of stairs to get there... I asked the waiter where the kitchen was - at the bottom of all those stairs. He definitely earned his tip! I had 360 views up there and the sun was slowly setting so was gorgeous! It seems Kathmandu is surrounded by mountains which I didn't realise. And I was surprised by the number of solar panels on top of all the buildings that surrounded me. Although I probably shouldn't have been considering the constant power cuts (load shedding).
After a little retail therapy I went to the rooftop terrace of the hotel and sat reading. Another guest of the hotel was there playing a guitar so that was lovely. I got chatting to him and although I could've sworn he had an American accent, he was from South India and called Praym. Or as he says, a delicious prayer (Pray mmmmmmm...). He had lived in Nepal for three years so knew the place well. Although I had already had dinner I went with him to a proper authentic local restaurant. And when I say restaurant I mean a place to eat the size of a single bedroom and the naan bread is cooked next to you. The most expensive meal there was $2.50. I was so annoyed I'd already eaten, the naan bread looked and smelled amazing! I ordered a milk tea. My very first one and OMG it was delish! Although may have been the sugar in it since I don't usually have sugar in my teas.
The place was always very packed and we had a German couple join us for dinner. They were trekking too but dong a 12 day trek to the Gokyo Lakes. Just after I had ordered my second milk tea the power went off (as per usual). So we were all sat there in pitch black! The wife of the owner quickly brought candles to all the tables and business continued as usual. During the pitch blackness my second milk tea had actually arrived. I hadn't even seen them bring it so they must be used to working in the dark. When walking back to the hotel it was a different place altogether.. apart from the odd motorcycle driving past and a couple of windows lit up by battery/solar, it was pitch black. Gotta say the power cut did add to my first authentic Nepal experience.
One thing Praym did mention to me was the coming monsoon season. He said the thunder storms that I will experience will be like nothing I have ever known. Apparently, in Kathmandu it can feel like the thunderstorms are shaking the entire city. And you can go out on a gorgeous day to only find an hour later the sky becomes totally dark & a massive storm has arrived! Ooooooo... cannot wait for these storms! Although I do hope I am indoors when they occur!! Any chance??
The power was out for around 4 hours before coming back on. And this morning as I began to write this blog, the power went out again and so the computer died on me. The power came back on but the computer didn't unfortunately. Thankfully, Blogger saves what I write as I go! One of the hotel guys gave me his iPad (can you believe) to use. But now at a wee dodge internet cafe down the road.
Oh, and random little thing about my hotel. At night from about 5pm an army type man is sat at the front gates of the guest house for the whole night. While the power was out last night I was on the balcony watching him too and at about 10pm he shut the front gates and then sat by them. Quite secure then!
Ohhh maaannn... Power just gone off here as well yet again. Just for about 30 seconds... adds to the character of Kathmandu I suppose!
Oh and one wee thing I want to add that upset me yesterday. On my first day here I had seen how crazy the traffic was. They even toot like made at poor old ladies trying to cross the road! No manners (on the road anyway). But as walking I saw the traffic come to a standstill for something. On reaching the standstill point I see the cutest wee black kitten in the middle of the road. So myself and a Nepalese man shoo the wee kitten off the road and traffic commences to craziness again. Thought that was so lovely that they did stop for the kitten! So what upset me? Yesterday, I was walking not far from where that had happened and saw the wee kitten on the side of the road after having been hit by the traffic. I know it happens everywhere but was so damn little the poor wee thing, very, very sad :'-(
Oh and using nylon string and a swiss army knife I made my own clothes line in my room! Hand washed my clothes in the shower with sunlight soap and hung on my awesome line. The next Bear Grylls, so I am.
Well today I am changing hotels and tonight will be having dinner with the CEO of my trek and my trekking buddies (15 of us + CEO + Porters). Then on Monday we fly to Lukla to begin our trek.
EXCITED!!!!!!!
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