Finding Kathmandu

I'm happy to be leaving Lucknow. My short stay in the city unfortunately tarnished by poor accommodation and, as it turn out, not having time to view any sights as it takes a long time to sort out my train ticket to Gorakhpur. However, I did find a decent bookshop nearby the hotel and bought three cheap books which will keep me busy for while:

• The Argumentative Indian, Amartya Sen


• The Jungle, Upton Sinclair


• Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

The train pulls out of the station and soon the city is behind us. I'm resting against the berth dividing panel, looking pensively out of the grilled window and listening to the rhythmic clatter of wheels on the track. The night sky is lit by strong moonlight defining the contours of clouds, like a sombre painting, contours of clouds defined with celestial shadows like brooding titanic boulders. A strong sense of relief.

We arrive in Gorakhpur at 3.45am. Finding a bus to Sounali takes no time and soon we're bumping along a country road on a 3 hour journey to the border town. At the border Indian cycle rickshaw drivers have formed a barricade 200 yards from the border impeding traffic from the Nepal-side. A man tests my reaction saying 'Nepal is a dirty country, why do you want to go there?'. I decide pointing out that he is standing on the street by an open gutter and a pile of rubbish and excrement would not be the best response so I smile and say 'that's your view, I've never been' and walk past.

Getting a visa stamp and exchanging currency is relatively simple and after 30 minutes I've arrived in Nepal and on a bus towards Kathmandu. The landscape is noticeably greener and reminds me of the journey through hills between Krakow and Budapest. The mountain road is spectacular, following the winding course of a river, passing suspension bridges and cables traversing the water, gaining altitude. After a 9 hour ride we arrive at Kathmandu and a short taxi ride later I'm at Hotel Elite in the Thamel District. I set off from Lucknow at 7pm and 22 hours later I'm in Kathmandu, tired but excited at arriving in a new country at the roof of the world!

Sen relaxation

I'm recovered from the journey after a good night's rest in clean, comfortable room and not bothering to get up til noon. The Thamel District in Kathmandu has evolved to meet the needs of the 'tourist /traveller market' and as such you can find Internet cafes, clothes shops, camping and trekking equipment, restaurants all along a couple of main streets. It's a welcome relief some time insulated in this traveller bubble, and I pass a couple of days spending hours in Chikusa Coffee House reading Amartya Sen's 'The Argumentative Indian ', which is a series of essays looking at Indian history, identity and politics. He offers an alternative view of the religious / spiritual characterisations of India and examines its rich traditions of scientific and rational philosophy along with a remarkably heterodox culture of different religions co-existing and interacting.

Swayambhu Temple

Across the river 2km west of Thamel, weaving up a hillside, steps come into view as I turn the corner to the east entrance of Swayambhu. It's a steep climb up to the temple, declining offers of a guide and watching monkeys with amusement as they walk in front of tourists. At the summit, the giant stupa stands with reliefs and sculptures of Buddha at four points to symbolise the elements of earth, wind, fire, and water. On top is the white dome painted with the eye symbol of enlightenment and crowned with a golden spire from which strings of prayer flags are tied.

Walking clockwise round the stupa there is a large bell-frame and mhane row (cylinders inscribed with prayers that rotate). Set back and to the right is a cemetery of headstones and shrines with votive offerings honouring long-since deceased worshippers. Around the central stupa, stone and wooden buildings have become converted into shops peddling brass-ware, handicrafts and artwork as well as soft-drinks.

Further to the west are other shrines and the world peace pond, an unremarkable circular trough with bronze figures at the centre, into which people toss rupees coins, perhaps for luck? Here families of monkeys wander about munching on leaves and tit-bits offered by visitors. They are surprisingly unbothered by human interlopers and if you sit down they walk past or very occasionally over you without a care.

Looking back at the main temple there are thousands of prayer flags strung over an impressive distance all fluttering in the light breeze, a rainbow array above the tree tops.

Mo-mos and Tongba

Across from Elite Hotel is a small restaurant off the side-street, 'the New Kavreli'. Here I try mo-mo for the first time, steamed dumplings containing veg and ginger served with a fiery sauce. Tongba is Tibetan beer. It arrives as a metal tankard filled with millet seeds and herbs and a flask of warm water. The water is poured into the tankard until saturated and using a metal straw pinched at one end to prevent sucking up seeds you drink the mildly fermenting liquid. It can be refilled 3-4 times. The taste is kind of like home-brew and takes some getting used to.

Freak Street?

Jnoche, better known as 'Freak Street', is one of those places that have acquired status in a canon of classic hangouts. However, this is due to the experiences of travellers in the 1960s and 1970s,what remains today is a pretty sanitised and commercial road with few outward signs of whatever made it 'hippie' in days gone by. A little disappointed by the spectacle, I decide to explore the area instead and get lost in some of the streets behind, finding myself wandering through a very different looking part of Kathmandu with few tourists and old crumbling buildings. I re-emerge at the main Durbar and Hanuman Square which is crowded with visitors and local teenagers congregating on the building steps.

Conversations and Cocktails

It's my final evening in Kathmandu, tomorrow I head for Pokhara. Rather than head back to the hotel I decide to try and find a fruit juice bar I'd seen nearby. Unfortunately, they've run out of all citrus fruits apart from lime, which isn't very appealing. As I'm leaving a voice calls to me. A man sits on a stool outside by a table. He's fairly plump, messily dressed with a stubbly face and warm smile. He introduces himself as being from Lebanon and invites me to sit down. We talk for about an hour. He tells me about his home in the south near the Litani river and we discuss the current political situation. He is firmly convinced of 'Syria's meddling causing violence', but reserves biggest criticism for George Bush and Tony Blair. He says they have blinkers and cannot see they are ruining the region, as he puts it "Iraq there are many deaths and now Iran is more powerful. Why? Why do this when this (invade) when this is what happens? No sense!" Hard to disagree.

After a good hour on Middle East politics, I say goodbye and head back towards the hotel, but on the way decide to stop of at a restaurant bar. They offer a free cocktail with each meal so I order enchiladas with Mojito, Nepali hecho México. The barman takes an interest in 'The Motorcycle Diaries', which Aubrey gave to me once she'd done with it, possibly because of the revolutionary symbols on the cover. I offer him the book and in return he insists on pouring me a tall glass of the 'house cocktail' that leaves me feeling just a little tipsy and feeling like another beer. A few extra drinks, nicely toasted, I'm chatting away merrily with all the other barflies, including a Nepali man who claims to have just returned from the West Indies after leaving his wife and pursuing a woman only for it to all fall apart, and Marek a Czech traveller with a passion for India. Much later in the evening I say goodbye, leaving healthy tip, and stumble back to the hotel. I must wake up at 6am to catch a bus to Pokhara and there's a dim sense I'll rue this in the morning but for now the bed is very, very comfortable!