Sightseeing / Shopping Trip

Hello there!

I have only one week left and I must say I am very, very, VERY excited. I really need to go home. I feel so tired and exhausted, physically and mentally. Everything hurts, my back from the hard chairs and bed, my joints from the squeezing in the micro busses, my legs feel empty and sluggish because I am walking so much without getting any vitamins or minerals in my diet. My blood pressure is suffering from the frequent climate changes (35° and sunny / 15° and windy/rainy). And now that the departure is so near, my stomach is also upset, which always happens when I am nervous…

However, after a great Saturday with the children (we played outside, watched a movie, took pictures, etc.) I decided to use the Sunday to do some “last minute” sightseeing. I wanted to see the last two parts of the World Heritage Sites in Kathmandu, and I was also planning to return to Thamel (the crowded tourist spot) for a last time.

I started at 8.45 h from the Kinderhouse and walked 20 minutes to the bus station. The bus took me to Legenkhel and then to the City Mall. Here is a map of my route with the specific highlights !

1) The Kathmandu Mall is basically the only big mall in Kathmandu. I got there around 10.50 AM and most of the small shops were still closed. I walked around a little bit in the narrow, five levels, building. I must say I was disappointed. Everyone is so excited about the Mall, however all it is, is an accumulation of small clothing stores and banks. So I stepped outside again and found myself in the middle of a movie set. Nothing to special actually, you can frequently see film crews in front of super markets or rural houses to shoot yet another one of those billions of Bollywood movies 

2)I walked through a small shopping street which reminded me of a German Christmas market. I looked at a lot of the stuff, but most of it was kids' clothing

3) Finally, I reached Kathmandu Durbar Square. I have already been to Patan and Bhaktapur Durbar Square. All three of them are nice places with a variety of different temples. The architecture is pretty cool and I love to just sit there and watch the children playing. All tourists are supposed to pay an entry fee for walking through the streets; however, now that I know Nepal a little bit I just took one of the side roads to enter the Square. I visited the living goddess of Kathmandu Durbar Square. The living goddess is a small girl, selected by some committee. She is declared a goddess and from that day on she has to live in a small temple. She is never to go outside unless there are some kinds of religious processions. Whenever there are some tourists stopping by, she has to come to the window. She doesn’t smile, wave, or say anything. She just stands there. I was not allowed to take pictures in Kathmandu, but I have a picture of the small girl in Patan Durbar Square. Once the girls have their first menstruation, they are sent away. A horrible tradition because the girls are illiterate, unable to cope with the challenges of daily life, and other people are frequently avoiding them due to their background.  

 

4) After Kathmandu Durbar Square, I intended to walk to Swayambhu, a Buddhist Stupa on top of a hill outside the city. I followed my map, but soon realized that the map cannot be right. As you can see I took quite a detour. Finally I used the compass on my cell phone to get back on track. It was around 35° hot and I felt very tired when I got to the foot of the hill. Nevertheless, I took one stair after the other and it was worth it. The Stupa is also called Monkey Temple, and here is why!!! 

The temple is very pretty. I enjoyed the view of Kathmandu, a huge city! There were also not too many tourists as the visiting season is clearly over by now.

5) Leaving the monkeys behind I jumped down stair by stair to reach the bottom. I walked straight east to get to Thamel. Or so I thought J  once again I made a little detour. But this time it was not too bad because I actually ended up in front of the palace. I paid 500 Rupees (nationals pay 50 Rupees) to go visit the palace museum. It is strictly prohibited to take pictures inside the palace so I cannot show you any. However there wasn’t much to show anyway. The palace is furnished pretty modern. The rooms are kind of small. The walls are full of paintings of the royal family and you can see some pictures of the king with the British Queen or German Presidents. The garden however was very beautiful. Unfortunately large parts of it and also of an accompanying building are closed off. The king, the queen, the royal prince, and other relatives of the royal family have been shot dead in a massacre in 2001 in that very garden and building. So since then they have not been touched. 

6) After the palace it was time for Thamel. I kind of dreaded to go there, but I needed some stuff which I was only able to get in Thamel. However this time it was not too bad. My few Nepali words were enough to get rid of the annoying beggars, trekking guides or flying merchants. I had my MP3 player so I did not hear the honking too much, and there were not as many tourists as in February. I took my time to go from shop to shop, I haggled for the best prices and it was almost fun ; )

7)Then eventually, at 5.45PM I walked back. I walked all the way past the palace and the clock tower to get to city hall. I met my Nepali friend there. He is leaving for a business meeting tomorrow, so it was the last weekend together. He invited me to dinner with his family. We went to a special Nepalese restaurant. The ambience was nice at first, but then a group of drunken Japanese business men came and started singing loudly and staring at me. My friend had told me that I need to be there exactly at 6.30PM so I was. However they did not start their program until 7.30PM. And then they showed some dances and explained some stuff about the Nepali culture. It would have been very nice, had I not been so tired, exhausted, and hungry from walking around 9 hours in the sun. But, I patiently sat through all 6 dances, and waited until 8.30 PM for my food. Then my friend took me back on his motorcycle as there are no busses driving at night. 

All in all it was a very nice day. Today I am still feeling tired and exhausted but I am glad I did what I did. It would have been nicer had my Nepali friend joined me for the sightseeing as he had originally promised. But like I mentioned before, he is very busy. And I am not sure he would have been okay with walking 18km :) 

Here is a monkey temple video! I sat there amazed for over 20 minutes and just watched. you'll see why :) 

  

Okay, this is it for now. I could tell you another crazy story about the Nepalese Mail Service, but I won't because it would completely wreck my nerves again...  At the end of this week I will post my final thoughts about my 4 months Nepal trip. I still have to go to Makwanpur on Wednesday, but besides that I am pretty much done here. 

Take care for now,
See you soon (maybe) : )
Annika