What to do in Kathmandu...

Getting into Kathmandu, the bus pulled up near Thamel, the main tourist district. The first restaurant I went into turned out to be a ‘would you like a lady with your food’ kind of place. I’d been traveling for 24 hours. I was tired, sweaty and hungry. I didn’t want a lady with my food.

After getting showered and changed in a hotel, I went out to see if I could find a cheap meal. I accosted some Americans and asked if they knew anwhere. They were very concerned that I was standing in the middle of the road oblivious to traffic while they huddled on the sidewalk. They took me to a restaurant where I had the best meal in about 6 months, for 700 rupees (14 times the value of a cheap meal). But it was worth it.

Later that night, wandering through the streets of Thamel in the rain, I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. Café’s, restaurants, beautiful lighting and rickshaws, funky music coming out of bars and great food (it was a fabled food-stop for overlanders in the hippie days).

But Thamel is a time vortex – I spent two weeks here without realizing I hadn’t done anything. It also has a money reality distortion field – you don’t know how much you’re spending. On the other hand, it takes a while to figure out how to live cheaply in a new place.

The old city of Kathmandhu itself is lovely – quiet, temples everywhere, medieval, lots of little flats surrounding a central courtyard with, probably, some 10th Century stone inscription and a statue in it.

I went to Swayambhunath, a very nice temple complex surrounded by a small park. It used to be completely surrounded by farms, now the urban sprawl comes right up to it. No pics though.

I hung out at the Kaiser Mahal Library – a colonial relic with dark wood panelling, dead animals on the walls, and books about the British Empire that haven’t been updated since the 1940’s. Great stuff.

I met a tourist I’d last seen in Bundi – this is completely normal by now.

I went to Pashupatinath, the main Shiva temple in Nepal (Shiva is big here). It’s a big temple complex on the Bagmati River, where a lot of Nepali’s go to be cremated. I didn’t take photos of the temples by the river – there were a few cremations going on. The main temple is banned to non-Hindu’s – tourists used to stomp around in it in their shoes, use flash photography and generally create a fuss.

I went to Patan, Kathmandu’s old sister city that is now joined by the spreading cities. This is my recommendation for staying in Kathmandu - much quieter.

While getting a new Indian Visa I met two German Tibetologists who were going to a casino the next night. We got dressed up, enjoyed (great) free food and drink, watched a show and gambled away 1000 rupees with a bunch of drunk Indians (Nepali’s aren’t allowed in – a Maoist thing?).

Here are some pics.

Public baths in the old city, most of them still in use:



Kathmandu’s Durbar Square (every major city’s got one, I think it means Royal Square). The pagoda-style architecture was created in Nepal, exported to China then spread to South-East Asia:

My friend Narayan:

A guy meditating on some temple steps:

A closer look – his eyes are rolled up (Tantric?):

Kids fly kites all over Nepal, like in The Kite Runner. It’s a competitive sport though: the string is covered with abrasive material and the aim is to cut the other guy’s kite out of the sky:

Stone inscription, interesting bronze doors, little shrine, Shiva lingham and yoni inside. The old city is littered with monuments like these:

I was used to riding the waves of my Indian travel Karma, and it took me a while to get into the swing of things in Kathmandu.