Seesea Travel Blog

     

Travel Location: Kathmandu,Nepal

Day 16 -

Arrived in Kathmandu again after a horrendous, hangover fuelled and bumpy all the way 5 hour ride from the border. I arrived around 4pm and did not move from my bed until the next morning.

Day 17 – Bhaktapur and Patan – 23.11.09

After writing off the day earlier on booze related grounds then I thought that I would try and do something productive with this day and visit the nearby towns of Bhaktapur and Patan.

I walked to the bus stop and was starting to really miss the tranquility of Tibet – I had forgotten that Kathmandu was a traffic infested, noisy horn beeping and polluted place. Due to the pollution, loads of people wear face masks.

Kathmandu would therefore be a good place to be a bank robber. You could wear your mask and go into a bank and the cashier would be fully expecting you to make a withdrawal from your own account rather than everybody else’s. However, I doubt whether banks in Nepal would be worth robbing.

Bhaktapur was only 14 km away from Kathmandu but due to the traffic, it was an hour on a packed bus ie people stood up with people hanging out the door..

Bhaktapur was nice enough – it was quaint and old looking than Kathmandu and certainly alot less crowded. It had its nice streets and temples.

It would have been quite forgettable but for the fact that I stumbled on a goat sacrifice at a temple. The goat in question was lying on the floor headless with a pool of blood next to the place where his head once was. There was then a trail of blood leading to the altar. There was quite a few people at the shrine and it was all a little disturbing.

After another bus journey, I was in Patan – and just as I had become a little bored of monasteries in Tibet, I had become a little bored of seeing Temples and Shrines in Nepal. As such, the place was rather impressive but really did not leave a lasting mark on me. Maybe Patan could do with some animal sacrifices to make it more interesting.

I then caught a crowded bus back to Kathmandu – it was so crowded that I was stood up with my arse in a woman’s face. Personally, I thought that the woman may have been enjoying this but as soon as someone got off the bus, she was quick to say to me, “Sit, Sit”.

Back in Kathmandu, Tim and Del had arrived. Del was not feeling so good as he had been knocked off the road into a ditch by a Bus on the way from the border to Kathmandu. He suspected deliberate foul play from the bus driver.

I took them to the place where Ash and his band were playing – it was great to see Ash and the band, and Tim and Del again. Ash even dedicated a song to me on the stage (though I didn’t know what the song was). Its the thought that counts.

Day 18 – Boudhnath and Pashupatinath

There were some other interesting places near Kathmandu such as Boudhnath and Pashupatinath.

The bus to Boudhnath involved going to Kathmandu bus station which was a crazy, busy and confusing place. Eventually, we were pointed in the direction of the correct bus which was all pimped up in colourful decorations on the front.

In Kathmandu, when walking or travelling around, you see lots of signs advertising English courses which tell people they will be able to study at various nice places abroad like USA, Cyprus or England. Tim and Del said that they had previously seen a sign promising people the opportunity to go study in Bradford. I pity the poor Nepal buggers who sign up for that course.

As for Boudhnath, it was a little Tibetan haven where there was this massive stupor. It was all very impressive but not as impressive as the midget monk who worked inside the place. Tim got a quality photo with him – I really, really wish that I had done.

Alot of the place was reminiscent of Tibet except that this place had shops selling pictures of the Dalai lama and had Free Tibet stickers.

It was then a longish walk to Pashipatur – we knew that we had arrived at the place when we were confronted with lots of rubbish souvenir stalls. We had to pay an extortionate price to get in – it did not seem much at first as all we could see was some gardens and the front of a temple which as Johnny foreigners we were not allowed in.

Some kids were playing cricket and Tim almost started a fight between two kids when he asked for their ball as both the kids each wanted the one to face the mean delivery. Cricket is obviously not a gentlemen’s (or gentleboy’s) game in Nepal.

We then went to the back of the Temple where there was a river bank which was an unusual and moving place. At the same time, you could see one family watching the dying embers of loved one that had been cremated; one family bringing a body covered with flowers over to the banks of the river and also the body of a child on a pyre that was just about to be lit.

And on the other side of the river banks, holymen seeking money for photos, kids doing tricks for money, tourists taking pictures of the cremations and monkeys trying to pinch food.

Back at Kathmandu, I decided that it was time that I headed for Pokhara and so bought a ticket for a bus in the morning.

I went out for some beers with Tim and Del, and saw Ash and the band again for one last time. This time, Ash had some more new people on stage – a bongo and flute player. Obviously, Ash will let anyone play with his group and must be something of a muscial whore.