Kathmandu and the Himalayan Disappearing Act

As I think we mentioned before, Nepal has been a nice change of pace. Because of the size of the country we haven't had to do a whole lot of moving around, and with just two major tourist cities in the country, a fairly painless six hour bus ride connected us from Pokhara to Kathmandu.

Our arrival in the capital city came at the same time as a dense, bronze blanket of pollution that covered the valley and blocked the view of the enormous mountains that we knew were just on the horizon. All of our efforts to get around or above the haze were in vain, so we have had to settle for postcard images of the mighty Himalaya that tower over Kathmandu. Lame. I guess it just gives us a reason to come back here some day so that we can say we've seen the highest mountain in the world (which we should have been able to see from a lookout yesterday--instead we got the view below with the sun about right where we should have been able to see Everest in the distance). Locals as well as other travelers have reminded us to be happy for the few weeks of perfect weather we had while we were in Pokhara and on our trek...so, I guess we won't complain too much. But it's hard being us, ya know?

Actually, what's been really hard is getting around the Kathmandu valley to see some of the cultural gems. Since our arrival there have been protests in the southern part of the country, and for a few weeks gasoline tankers have been backed up at the Indian border not allowed to cross. The massive shortage in fuel has created lines to the gas pumps that carry on for miles and clog the narrow roads. Not only has that made it difficult and time consuming to travel even short distances, but it's also made it more expensive for a taxi or bus ride. Like always though, we have no choice but to find ways to get around such challenges and we've been able to get see some great historical sights (minus the Himalayas looming in the background).

The traveler slum of Kathmandu is called Thamel, and like Pokhara, the streets are lined with mountain gear and souvenir shops, western bakeries and hawkers selling Tiger Balm. Not far outside this very western part of the city is another world full of massive Buddist stupas, Hindu temples and midevial looking architecture. The old cities are just that, really old, the stupas are massive, the Hindu temples full of phalic symbolism, the taxi drivers relentless and the food nice and western, with the occasional bean burrito for Shanon.

Tibetean Buddhist influence in Nepal gives it a very different feel from India, and the Buddhist sites we visited were spiritual places alive with energy from the continuous chant, "Om Mani Padmi Om", colorful prayer flags and beads, and a positive energy radiated by people all walking clockwise around the worlds largest stupa spinning prayer wheels. Although we're not ready to exchange our street clothes for Buddhist robes, it was interesting to see these Tibetean exiles perform their spiritual rituals.

The days seem to be falling off the calendar now, and tomorrow we fly to Bangkok--a little sooner than expected, but we think we might be rushing the next three months to beat the relentless SE Asia monsoon rains. Overall, Nepal has been a great experience and it marks the end of country number eight on our voyage. Look for the cold weather clothes to be gone next time there is a blog update...it's officially time to sweat.

Last but not least, one thing that really helped while in Kathmandu (and Nepal in general) was the power of numbers. Since our arrival to the country we have been on the move with a great couple from England, and not only does doing things in a pack of four greatly increase our bartering power, but they were genuinely great people to spend time with. They're off to India again for a week (suckers!), but we hope to catch up with them again some day soon in SE Asia.

Thanks for the good times Becky and Alan!