WE REACH NEPAL

OOPS THE ABOVE PHOTOS ARE MEANT TO BE IN THE NEXT POSTING

We got away from Bangkok on schedule, noting that the new airport is very impressive. I forgot I had a can of coke in the tankbag, & it was picked up on the xray. I also had a set of Allen keys for the bike, which I had forgotten about, & was quite concerned they would be confiscated. However, they let me keep them, but took the coke!! Evidently it is easier to hijack a plane with a can of coke than with a pointy metal tool. First thing I got on the plane was a can of beer, fully de-fused & rendered safe, no doubt.



Landing at the airport in Kathmandu was where the culture shock started. Unlike the earlier countries, where impressive efforts were being made to match the pace of the rest of the world, the airport is like Adelaide, 1956, with the lights out. We had left the developed world. I suspected from that point on, it would be rough, & I was right. In the taxi to the hotel, the first sight is rubbish strewn all over the streets, cows wandering amongst the traffic & grazing on the garbage, really old, beaten-up cars, & the usual total lack of any road rules. Great. And they reckon everyone is glad to get here after India. I can hardly wait!

mmmmmmm...................garbage!!!

The next move was to collect the bikes, which were supposed to follow within 1-2 days. We recieved an email from the freight company in Thailand, telling us that the bikes would now not be sent for another 6 days, & they had already had them for 5 days. We suspect the bastards had been aware of this all along, but waited till we were out of the country before telling us. So, we made a revision to the schedule, & will go to Pokhara by car & come back to get the bikes, then go down to Chitwan & straight into India, about 3 days early. To compound the problem, there is a fuel shortage in Nepal, & waits in long queues of over an hour are common.





Walking around the streets of Thamel, the old section of Kathmandu where the action was in the 70's, was interesting. I am convinced that not only are cows sacred here, but so are the flies. No one seems to make any attempt to kill them. But they dont bother you much, there is so much else to keep them occupied, like piles of rotting garbage, sewage running in the street, all kinds of shit, not to mention the meat adorning the chopping blocks of the butcher shops. And another thing. This is the phlegm & mucous capital of the world, so far at least. There is a continuous chorus of people hocking up their lungs, then gobbing the results onto the road or footpaths, or clearing their nostrils in either direction without the use of any other modern aid, like handkerchiefs. Some even do this from open windows, well above the street. To say you need to watch where you put your foot in this town is the understatement of the century. Then we got to the river. I have never seen anything like it (but we havent been to India yet!!). It was like any typical garbage dump (mental image required at this point) but with the addition of raw sewage, dead animals & God knows what else. We also visited the Monkey Temple, perched on a hilltop with a view over the Kathmandu Valley. It was so polluted, we could hardly see anything. But while we did see a couple of mangy looking monkeys, they were heavily outnumbered by the mangy dogs. They should consider a name change, to perhaps Dogshit Temple. At about this point, my sympathy for these people evaporated. Anyone prepared to tolerate this extent of pollution & regard it as normal, without making any effort to clean up their own mess, gets what they deserve & deserves what they get.

View? What View?

I'll just run out & grab some goat for the barbie



And Johnny, grab a bucket of sewage in case anyone wants a drink


Yes Mum.

The next day, we were to witness something even worse. At several places along the river there are cremation ghats, where bodies are burned on huge piles of wood. When the fire is burned out, they push whats left into the river. At this point there are people in the river dredging it for coins or jewelry placed on the bodies before burning, & downstream there are kids swimming in this toxic mess !! And on the way to everywhere are touts trying to sell stuff that nobody wants or needs, and beggars with their hands out, some who have lost all hope, & some who are just kids of 5 or6., learning the family business. This really is very confronting , and quite upsetting. To be able to get back to the hotel for a shower & a beer is a God given gift, but the images persist. Somehow we need to learn to shut all this stuff out or we will never get through India & Pakistan. The locals don't seem to worry about it. If its not their problem, whose problem is it, that's what I want to know.

Now just take out the rubbish.

OK Mum.

Now for the inevitable bad news. We dined at the hotel restaurant last night. I awoke this am with something best described as Delhi Belly, & we haven't even been to Delhi yet!! Perhaps I should say it was Kathmandu Colon? The only thing fast about the food here is the speed at which it gets from the north end of the body to points south, no need to explain further.