KATHMANDU

On the last morning I woke up, drank my last chia, packed up my stuff, ate my last dal, bhat, tharkari.  Some of my students came to the house, we said goodbye one more time.  I gave Rekha Didi and the girls my towels and tshirts. I gave Sarita my slippers left the bed sheets and mosquito net to whoever wanted to use.  Macarena came and we got into the cab, with Sarita and Macarena. Shreeram took his motorcycle and followed us.  They would leave us in Narayangarth and come back with the motorcycle. We found a bus in Narayangarth, Shreeram told us he might come to Kathmandu the next day. We said goodbye. When the bus started moving, Macarena turned to me and said; “You wan to cry why don’t you? You have a wall around you built by you to protect but sometimes sadness is good.  Sometimes you should feel sad.”  I couldn’t cry. Not because it was weak, but because it may make others feel bad.

 

 

 

But yes, I had a wall;  an armor built to leave unwanted everything outside.  It would shatter one day but right now it kept protecting me. 

We reached Kathmandu at about 19:00 that evening.  We had no idea where we should get off, just told the driver we wanted to go to Thamel, and he stopped somewhere bargained with a taxi driver to take us to Thamel as cheap as possible.  Nepali people are like this. They take care of you, help you any way they can.  We went to Anapourna Guest House and settled in.  We were hungry and knowing we were here there was no way we would go to sleep hungry.  So we went out.

Kathmandu was magical, big and fast.  I didn’t have time the first time around, now I had 5 days to discover.

We found a restaurant called RoadHouse Café, tourists eating, a totally western décor and the music just blew our minds away.  We ate pizza and drank beer.  With questions in our minds, hope in our hearts and a bit of sadness sat quietly.  Walked around for a while and went back to the hotel. It will be a good day.

Early in the morning with the Lonely Planet book in our hands, cameras hanging from our necks, bandannas covering our mouths we started our discovery.

There is nothing like getting lost in a new city.

First we discovered Thamel. We went into every little street near the hotel.  Small, tight, crowded, dirty streets, car, rickshaws, motorcycles, bicycles coming out of everywhere, we fought our way out.  But just like the Nepali we didn’t care for any of them after a while and just walked slowly and carefree let others care.  Cars and rickshaws are like big animals, if you let them know you are scared they will attack you.  So we kept our confident walk and got out alive.  This is actually a fact for every country in the world.  If you let people, places, cars, animals know you are scared you will end up getting hurt, mugged or something.  But if you walk as if it is your home town no one will bother you.

Thamel is the most authentic are in Kathmandu, old buildings all turned into hotels, gift shops, restaurants. But the moment you step out of Thamel you step into a big city, with wide streets, all kind of cars, travel agencies and other companies, all kinds of brands that we are used to see.  The incense smells, cow gods, colorful flowers and buffaloes disappear into the fog.   Right across Zara I felt like waking up from a dream, I had the feeling I could take a bus and go to my home. I tried to get rid of this heavy, disturbing feeling because you don’t always want to go back home.

Because home is not always the best place to be...