The staff at the Ambassador Hotel seemed to be much friendlier. Having my own room and bathroom was very nice even if there was no bathtub as in the Shanker.
The temptation to stay in my room (#202 I think) and watch music videos from India on channel V was great. I had some slight diarrhea, but other than that I was feeling much better today. The sun was out, and things looked much brighter in every sense of the word. I went over what my group will tour and ventured out with my Lonely Planet book to do a walking tour or two. It was lonely, but I was trying to make the best of it.
I walked over to the Global Communications office ignoring sellers of various wares on the way. I sat down to send Sara an email message. They had two PCs for editing email messages. An American girl sat at one of them. It cost 60 NRs (about $1.15) per kilobyte, and the girl on my right pointed out that 1 kilobyte was about 12 lines (which made sense -- 12 times 80 characters is 960). They gave me a printout of my message when I was done. My message was 4K, so it cost 240 NRs. I know the American girl was in medicine because her message ended up printed out on the back of mine. She wrote that one of her friends was hospitalized probably due to some kind of parasite. This was not encouraging news. As I would often do there, I paid with large bills to get coveted small change.
I explored the Thamel district. It's basically a huge outdoor mall consisting mostly of shops, restaurants, hotels and travel agents. At first it was difficult not to get lost -- even using the maps in the Lonely Planet book. Street signs were virtually nonexistent, and the streets tended to look pretty much the same -- narrow and crowded. They were filled with people, animals, cars, bicycles and rickshaws, and they were lined with shops. You had to be very careful when crossing them. I had to ignore lots of sellers, and I was pretty good at it. Tiger balm, hats and knifes are among the items sold, but you can also get whatever you need for trekking trips. I was also asked if I wanted to change money a few times. Also, a couple of times someone offered me pot. Marijuana happens to be legal in Nepal. I'm not much of a souvenir buyer, and for now I was just checking on what was available and asking prices.
Although the morning was quite cool, temperatures rose quite a bit during the day. Shorts weren't very common, and by the afternoon I would sometimes wear a T-shirt and a long-sleeved shirt around my waist.
I noticed that Nepali women seem to be wear more western clothes than their Indian counterparts. There were lots of school kids around. The air was very polluted. I tried to breathe through my nose at all times. Kathmandu is in a valley that traps the air.
I ate lunch at a recommended restaurant called Helena's -- very hot thin pizza and a couple of Pepsis ... not bad. It cost me 129 NRs. Eating alone wasn't great, but I had my guide book to occupy me.
I did one of the walking tours spelled out in the guide book taking pictures as I went. At first I was missing some sites because many of them were smaller than I expected, yet they could have been 1000 or 1500 years old. At one point I found myself in the busiest intersection of Kathmandu where 6 roads meet. It must have seemed strange to all the people as I took pictures of an everyday sight for them. I saw quite a few uniformed schoolgirls in the streets.
Most of the other tourists seemed to be German. The younger westerners here seemed to look like hippies.
I also took in the commercial Durbar Marg where airlines and VISA have offices. There seemed to be plenty of uniformed guards and police around probably because I was very close to the Royal Palace. Afterwards, I rested in my room for a while and washed a pair of socks. I learned that the wool sweaters in the hotel cost about $12 to $16. I was hoping to do better on the streets.
At about 6:00 PM as the sun was about to set beyond the valley walls I returned to the Global Communications office to send Sara another email message. I wanted to fill her in on how my day had gone. The 3K email message cost me 180 NRs. On my way back to my room in the light of dusk I could see and hear huge, loud birds flying between the treetops. When I looked closer, I noticed that some of the birds were actually the largest bats I have ever seen. They were larger than crows. I could tell they were bats because I could see them land of tree banches and hang upside-down.
I stopped at my favorite shopkeeper's shop and bought two bottles of water and a Sprite for 49 NRs. He smiled at me when I came up. I ate dinner at the hotel. Due to a misunderstanding, the spaghetti I ordered had meat in it. Oh, well. Dinner cost 145 NRs. I ended up turning in early since I wanted to get an early start the next day with a visit to Swayambhunath Stupa, a Buddhist temple way on top of a hill overlooking Kathmandu. I planned to visit on foot and take in more walking tours as well.
One of the times I left the hotel to go to Thamel today I was asked by an American (I think) girl for some help with directions. It was funny that I was actually able to help her out.
It was lonely, but I was getting by. Having my own room was nice. It provided a refuge from the crowded, dusty streets. I had spaghetti for dinner and ended up falling asleep with the TV on -- my TV had a sleep timer. Ah, just like home. Well, actually, nothing here was just like home.
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My bed was pretty big, but it was also rather hard since Nepalese beds have no springs, just a mattress on a wooden platform. That was fine with me since I can pretty much sleep anywhere. My room looked out over a street, but at night it was very quiet. I woke up in the middle of the night, and it took me a moment to identify the sound I was hearing as the ticking of the clock on the wall. I dreamt I was going to fly a helicopter. I started out later this morning than I had planned.
I ordered a farmer's breakfast of scrambled eggs, tea, orange juice (hopefully canned) and toast before setting out for Swayambhunath. I decided to send Sara another email message on the way, but when I got to the Global Communications office, I found it closed. Saturday in Nepal is like Sunday in the Western world. I continued on to the stupa. I had some trouble finding my way through the winding streets. I knew which way to go, but sometimes I couldn't find a street that seemed to be able to take me there. I was still a little nervous about walking scarcely populated streets by myself.
It took me a while, but I eventually found my way. I crossed a small river that was little more than a stream on a very thin wooden bridge. The water looked pretty polluted. There were people bathing in the filthy water. On the other side there was a whole field of wool drying in the sun. I had never seen anything like it.
I could see the stupa up the hill, but I still had some trouble finding my way to it. I rested on the way and bought a cola from a woman in a small cafe. At the base of the steps, there were all kinds of annoying people trying to sell various trinkets. I remember lots of bracelets that I thought were actually being sold at a good price. At 4000-4500 feet it was quite an effort to get to the top. There are some 300 steps, and I had to take a break before I reached the top. I was hoping all the walking was helping me prepare for the trek.
I walked clockwise around the stupa taking in the views of the Kathmandu Valley. It was pretty hazy, so Kathmandu wasn't very clear. However, I was able to see the Royal Palace among other sites. The stupa is like a huge upside-down white bowl with four statues of the Buddha facing each compass direction. If you know your Buddha statues, you can tell which direction the one you're in front of is facing. On top of the inverted bowl is a cube. Each side of the cube has a face with eyes looking out over the valley. The noses look like question marks, but they are the Nepali symbol for the number one. Above the cube are ascending rings that decrease in size which represent the levels to enlightenment. At the top is an umbrella-like structure that represents nirvana. Prayer flags are strung from the base of the structure to the umbrella. It's huge and very impressive. There were, however, a large number of irreverent pigeons sitting on the inverted bowl.
There were a lot of monkeys around here as well. Many small flames were lit on the ground. I'm sure a lot of the religious aspects of the place escaped me. In the end it was pretty commercial up there. Various prayer wheels were being sold, but I had read that the prices here would be very expensive. One guy tried to be my guide, and after trying to be nice, I just walked away from him. There was a long line of Hindu women trying to get into a temple that I at first thought was dedicated to a fertility goddess. It turns out it was really a smallpox goddess temple -- go figure.
There were more small flames (candles?) in a Buddhist temple with a large prayer wheel in the wall. Getting down was a lot easier than the climb up. Getting back wasn't obvious, but I made it. I decided to stop in at Global Communications just in case they might be open and to get their hours. Fortunately, when I got there around 12:30 PM, they were open, and I was able to write Sara another message. Their hours were just abbreviated today.
I bought an off-white hat for the sun on my way back to the hotel. The street vendor initially asked for more than $5. I got it for 100 NRs (less than $2). I wish I had better luck with sweater prices. It didn't look like the rickshaw drivers were going to make any money off of me soon.
I spent the rest of my afternoon resting in my room -- okay, I watched TV as I rested. I ended up watching Fantasy Island -- so humiliating. I had tomato soup, fries and a cola at the hotel. It was funny watching the hotel staff gathered around the restaurant television set watching what I think was a soap opera. Before sunset, I walked over to Global Communications to send Sara another email message. With so many shops closed and the way Kathmandu gets dark after sunset, it looked like I'd have to leave Durbar Square with its temples for tomorrow.
I hadn't had much luck meeting people, so my Saturday night was pretty low-key. The next day I would have to change back to the Shanker hotel in the morning, and I was looking forward to meeting the rest of the people on my trek at the pre-trek briefing in the afternoon. I was feeling well -- I hoped so ... I was taking about 11 pills a day. :-)
My Saturday night was spent sorting through my belongings and repacking in my hotel room. I seemed to be missing some $40 worth of Nepali currency which bothered me. It wouldn't be until June 19, 1996 that I would find the two missing 1000 rupee notes in a buttoned pocket of one of my short-sleeved blue shirts. I had chicken kiev for dinner, but like all my meals, I didn't finish it. The hotel staff must think I hated their food. I watched TV -- lots of old reruns (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Baywatch, LA Law). I also watched BBC news, so I was able to get the major headlines. |
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