Kathmandu makes Vietnam and Cambodia and even parts of Bolivia look developed! The narrow streets are filthy, chaotic and congested with pedestrians, traffic and shops which spill onto the road. The city almost looks like one big building site with piles of rubble and rubbish and filthy, worn out dwellings that make you feel you have been transported back to medieval times. It is quite a sight to behold and both fascinating and daunting all at once. We checked into our guesthouse which was pretty dark and dingy and our room was as basic as they come. We had a door that would not close properly and our sheets and pillows (although they smelled ok) were full of stains. There was no heating, our lights didn't work, we had only one old towel between us and no loo roll to top it all off! It was not a great start!We left our bags and headed out to explore.
The streets are lined with shops selling handicrafts, books and fake North Face trekking goods (amusingly called 'North Fake' by the locals), restaurants, cafes and tourist agencies. We found it all a bit claustrophobic at first, a bit like being in a labyrinth. Thankfully there are only too many tuk tuks willing to relieve you of some money and take you back to your hotel and for once we were actually glad to have this service on hand! We immediately noticed an exceptionally higher ratio of men to women around the city. They really stared at us as we walked past and it felt a bit creepy at first. Within our first half an hour of walking around the city we were pestered and followed by a strange man who left us feeling frazzled and Bi was ready to leave Kathmandu, suffering quite a bit from culture shock. We didn't venture too far around the city for the rest of the day as we felt a little weary. It also didn't help that there were not a lot of other tourists around.We had pizza for dinner and by 7:30pm we were back in our hostel having had quite enough for the day. It was absolutely freezing and we were both not too happy as our hostel did not feel very secure. We decided to bear it for one night rather than lug our bags and valuables around in the dark trying to find somewhere else.
Not long after we returned, our room and the buildings around us were plunged into darkness. We learned that due to water shortages, electricity is restricted to certain times of the day (a total of 8 hours in a 24 hour period in fact). We had a candle near our bed which we lit but it was all enough for one day so we decided to climb into bed fully clothed and sleep it all off. We slept in our sleeping bag liners and woolly hats in order to avoid direct contact with the stained sheets.. yuk!We were up super early on Wednesday morning and found a room in the Kathmandu Guesthouse around the corner. It is set back off the main street, behind gates with security and has a pleasant garden to relax in. It is worlds away from our previous hostel and has a much better feel to it. Checking out of our dingy hostel was no easy feat as the owner was annoyed and made it very difficult for us to leave, becoming increasingly confrontational. In the end we decided it wasn't worth risking anything so we paid him for the 3 nights we had booked, even though we were not obliged to. We walked 1 minute around the corner to our new hotel and it was an immediate relief to be somewhere decent and it has totally changed our experience in Kathmandu. We dumped our bags and headed out for our second attempt at walking around Kathmandu.
Our first port of call was the Indian Embassy where we stopped in for an hour to submit our passpor
ts for an Indian Visa. From the embassy we walked to Durbar Square, the central square of the old town and a UNESCO world heritage site. Whilst very impressive we were both still on high guard, still trying to get used to our surroundings. The square is actually made up of 3 loosely connecting squares, all with large towering pagodas and decrepit stone temples which we wandered around, soaking up the frenetic atmosphere. 
We walked back via the crumbling old town where we saw lots of street vendors selling fruit and hot sweets from their stalls. We returned to our guesthouse and sat on the lawn in the sun and relaxed in what felt like a small haven amidst the chaos of the city!By Thursday morning we had acclimatised to our surroundings and were
starting to really enjoy Kathmandu and soak up the atmosphere for what it was. We decided to venture out to some of the sights further afield and started the day by hiring a rickshaw from outside our guesthouse to take us up to the Buddhist temple of Swayambunath, perched on a 350m high hill some 3 km west of the city centre. 
After a good bit of bartering, our rickshaw rider pedalled us along a very dusty, bumpy road which crossed a filthy, large river before heading uphill towards the temple. The rickshaw rider was unable to pedal us uphill so Ash had to jump off and help push; this highly amused the local onlookers! 
On arrival we climbed the steep stone stairway to the temple and watched the monkeys swinging in the trees around us. Swayambunath is known locally as the Monkey Temple and it is easy to see why... there were hundreds of them everywhere! 
The temple was quite impressive with an enormous white domed stupa in the middle surrounded by the traditional Buddhist prayer wheels. Prayer flags hung from the stupa across the hill. From our elevated position we also had good views across the city, albeit a little hazy from the pollution.We returned (this time downhill and no pushing) back to our guesthouse for some lunch and then haggled the hire of a taxi for the afternoon to take us out to some of the sights to the east of the city. Whatever price they give you just have to halve it and start from there!! We drove to the Nepal's most important Hindu temple, P
ashupatinath and upon arrival were bombarded by many persistent, would-be guides who we eventually managed to discourage. Pashupatinath is situated on the banks of the Bagmati river, a holy Nepali river equivalent to the Ganges in India and the site has a number of temples and terraces running down to the waterside. Like the Ganges, we learned that the temple is a very popular place to be cremated. As we walked to the riverfront through the stone temple we saw may stone platforms (called Ghats) lining the bank which are used for open cremations. Wood pyres were smouldering away on some of them and as we walked a van parked next to us and a body was brought out on a stretcher. The body had been mostly wrapped in cloth and adorned with flowers... we walked to a respectful distance and watched as the family brought the body to the water and washed the feet before saying prayers, waving incence over the body and then taking the body to the pyre. It was very interesting and not in the least bit grisly (as it might sound), but we did leave before the body was burned, we both decided it was something we didn't really have to see. After the cremation, the family push the ashes into the river. We could see children in the river panning for any jewellery which may have fallen from the cremated bodies.From Pashupatinath we walked 20 mintues through quiet, open streets and past small paddy fields to Kathmandu's most famous landmark,
the Bodnath temple and home to Nepal's considerable population of Tibetan exiles. The walk provided a fascinating glimpse into Nepalese daily life. The huge stupa of Bodnath is very impressive and is surrounded by small, well maintained shopfronts that give the area almost a village feel. We followed the Tibetans walking clockwise around the stupa and had a drink on a rooftop balcony overlooking the area. It is the most peaceful place we have found so far and we enjoyed soaking up the much needed tranquility. 
We returned to our guesthouse and relaxed for the evening, now having a much better feel and understanding for Nepal and the local people. We are actually starting to really like it here with one exception, the constant spitting in the street... real throaty spitting that is disgusting and is driving us absolutely mad! We asked one of the locals why they do it and he said it's just a habitual thing.
On Friday we negotiated with a taxi to take us to the medieval town of Bhaktapur, some 40 minutes east of the city in the Kathmandu valley. We both got a little nervous as we drove past miles of bumper-to-bumper buses coming into the city full of protesters waving flags. 
Nepal has frequent rallies and strikes but fortunately it was the last we saw of them. We arrived at Bhaktapur and after shaking off more would-be guides, we walked around the quiet, peaceful city. It was such an interesting place. The old city centre is off limits to most traffic (bliss!) and a UNESCO world heritage site. We walked through the picturesque medieval town square dotted with stone temples and walked down to 
Taumadhi Tole square where we admired the tallest temple in the valley, the Nyatapola temple. We spent several hours wandering the quiet, pretty backstreets, stopping in at a local paper merchants to see paper being handmade from raw lokta wood. We left with a beautiful handmade pack of playing cards and some paper for Bi's mum to use in her cardmaking. At some point a local 14 year old boy decided to follow us and he seemed to enjoy practising his English as he had been learning at school but we later found that he wanted us to buy him books! 
We walked to the next square, Tachupal Tole to see more temples and old stone buildings before returning to Taumadhi Tole where we enjoyed a drink in a cafe at the top of a pagoda overlooking the square. We returned to Kathmandu via a different, quieter road and relaxed for the afternoon. A slightly dodgy breakfast yesterday had left us both struggling with our stomachs a bit (despite taking all precautions!) and Bi had to hit the antibiotics within just 3 days of being here, so we rested up for the rest of the day.Tomorrow we will join our 15 day organised trek into the Himalayas and up to Everest Base Camp, so this will be our last post for 2 weeks.
