Day 1
Time Difference +5.45 Hours
Rupees 7,500 = £ 5.00
After a 4.00am Tuk-Tuk ride too Colombo airport we quickly
took two flights (two hours each)), Sri Lanka to Mumbai and Mumbai to Kathmandu,
with some half decent flight food, we arrived in Nepal. NAMASTE
Some earlier research told us that Kathmandu airport was a
bit of a bun-fight at the luggage carousels with sporadic fights breaking out
over luggage ownership. With this in
mind I muscled my way to the front, however only interesting thing was locals
trying to actually get inside the entrance to the carousel to get their baggage
before it arrived inside the building.
Thankfully our baggage came through without any drama (always worried when luggage is checked
through two airports) .
We were then met by the transfer arranged by the hotel we
were staying at for the next two nights, and despite dragging our luggage to
the vehicle, two locals felt they deserved a tip by lifting our luggage into
the car – jog-on we are now in traveller mode!
A quick 20 minute journey and we arrived at our hotel. Unfortunately this is where we found out what
a £6 a night room really got you! If you
were thinking about becoming a heroin addict this was the type of room you
might find yourself living in. The
pictures don’t actually do the place justice, it’s the first place we thought
our cable lock would prove really useful, the only problem was that we could
not find anywhere to secure the luggage to, so in desperation it was secured
round the toilet cistern!
Anyway after a very short while we decided to check out Thamel
the area we were staying in. Thamel appears
to be second only to Koh Ta0oRoad in Bangkok, with numerous shops where you can
get all sorts of hippy/travellers clothing, prayer wheels, Gurkha Knives and
hiking gear. Also if you want Marijuana you’ve
come to the right place!, you are offered it every twenty yards down the street
(or maybe it’s just because of my appearance).
I recon this place is a world away from when my brother and his wife
(Tony & Tracey) were here 30 years ago,
I’m not sure that they would like it now.
For the rest of the day we checked out the local bars,
Reggae Bar, Purple Haze Rock Bar where we waited through a sound check and much
longer to see a crap band (we gave them 10 minutes before leaving). We were just on our way home when we heard a
band playing Sex on Fire in another bar so we decided to check them out (Both
Shelley and I are like magpie’s to shiny things when we hear live music), the band
were really good doing cover versions (including The Doors) interspersed with
Nepalese songs. Also made a couple of
Nepalese friends, with one guy swapping us a roll-up for a beer – bargain!!
Day 2
After a not too bad sleep in Hotel heroin, we decided to
sort out the tech carnage that was created in Sri Lanka ( 1 x Iphone & 1 x
Camera blew up when being charged!!!) and took said items to a camera repair
shop and what passed for a phone repair shop, both telling us to come back
later for an update on them.
Whilst we
waited we decided to sort out a couple of trips outside on Kathmandu and went
to a couple of adventure shops to see what was on offer. Unfortunately for me the hike to see Everest
appeared to be out of the question as this would be at least a 12-14 day trek
that was very difficult, most probably good news for our folks back home as
this means we will now NOT be flying to one of the most dangerous airport in
the world – Laplau. It now looks as
though we are going to do an easier 5 day trek to Poon Hill on the Annapurna
circuit instead.
We then had a couple more of the local brew (Everest Beer)
in a nearby bar whilst trying to sort out an upgrade in accommodation for the
next two nights. Whilst sifting through
bookings.com the bar owner suggested that we try the place across the road and
suggested he could get us a discount.
After we finished our beers he got one of his bar staff to take us to
the hotel so we could check out the rooms. The room which included hot water,
space, balcony and air conditioning were heaven in comparison to Heroin Hotel so we were happy to pay 1500 Rupee’s a night,
which equates to an extra £2 per person per night, so we happily booked the
next couple of nights there.
After sorting out our living arrangements for the next two
nights our thoughts turned to food so we decided to return to the street food
we had the previous night which were Falafel Wraps with salad and spicy sauce
(a kind of Kathmandu Kebab), but at a £1 a pop you can’t argue – got to think
about the budget!
I think the hectic time we had in Sri Lanka had caught up
with us so we returned to our digs around 8.00 and decided to have an early
night instead of go to a bar to watch the Tottenham v West Ham game – which
turned out to be a very good decision on my part!!
Day 3
After a very sporadic sleep (Shelley apparently not me and
my snoring!) due to building works, dogs fighting and the flock of Pidgeon’s
that appeared to be residing opposite our room, we were very glad to be
checking out, to the owners apparent dismay – I pointed out that a larger room
and hot water was what we required.
We then checked in to what seemed like Hotel paradise and
promptly went to their garden terrace at the top of the hotel and had a couple
of coffees whilst Shelley did a bit of blogging whilst I read up on things to
do/see around town (courtesy of a lonely planet guide on the bookshelf). We decide on a walking tour of the old town
ending up in Durbar Square.
Before that we decided to check on the progress of our
gadgets (and return the key for Hotel Heroin, I’m starting to make a habit of
retaining hotel keys!). Stop one, Camera
shop, apparently my camera was “no more", "had ceased to
be", " was bereft of life, it rests in peace", and "this is
an ex-camera”, so we had to buy a replacement for £ 80 as we could not just
rely on 1 x phone camera. But the shop owner was prepared to pay us 500
Rupee’s for the now defunct camera (£3), which we decided against as we thought
we may get it repaired in Mumbai or try for an insurance claim.
Next stop, Uncle
Raj’s Phone shack, which also had the same result, apparently a blown chip on
the circuit board that was impossible to source in Katmandu. Sri Lanka has a
lot to answer for! One good thing about both was that neither charged or wanted
paying for the time they had spent trying to repair the gadgets. We will
try and get them fixed in Mumbai so for now we are just operating off my
phone, Ipad and the laptop – I’ll think we will survive!
As Shelley was
still mourning the loss of her communication device we decided to visit our
friend, Mr Everest Beer and send Daryll his happy Monday WhatsApp photo of
beers (yes, Daryll you’re getting one every Monday morning for the next 52
weeks!).
We then decided
to book our adventure, a three day safari (Elephant, Safari, Jungle walk,
Canoeing Safari, Bird Watching and Cultural Show), followed by two days
chilling in Pokara before heading off on a 5 day trek to Poon Hill in the
mountains. The initially cost we had been given was incorrect, due to the fuel
crisis here so we went away whilst they recalculated, when we returned they
told us that we had two options, one that we would have to pay an increase of
$50 per person, and option two we enquired?
Was that they would honor their first price but they would not make any
money for themselves off the booking, so would be a bit unhappy about it. We decided for the sake of good Karma we
would go for option 1 (Daz & Cathy will be horrified!!). But for all
activities including Coach Transfers, Accommodation, Food, Guide, Porter,
Mountain Passes, etc. for 10 days we thought that £250 per person was not that
bad. We start this trip at 6.30 on Wednesday 25th Nov.
We then took
ourselves to the bar across the road and had a couple of beers followed by some
street food, Mau Mau (Meat/Vegetable Dumpling in a spicy chili sauce –
delicious), before returning to our hotel for a quick sleep (Shelley) and
getting this blog up to date (Glenn).
Did not do the walking tour as planned, he-ho we can do it tomorrow instead. Will now think about heading out this evening
for some traditional Nepalese food and a couple of Everest’s!
So far Kathmandu
has been all about fixing broken items, surviving Hotel Heroin and finally
slowing down a bit…still getting over heavy colds and want to be fit for our
next safari and 5 day hike. So hopefully
more interesting pics to follow.
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