An Ordinary Day

I've spent the last four days in Kathmandu. I hadn't planned to spend all four days here, more like just two. However there is a festival going on, Diwali, which has made travelling a little more inconvenient for travellers so I stayed put, which is unfortunate. Kathmandu has its own special charm about it, but I can only handle it for about two consecutive days before I want to leave. I am leaving tomorrow, bright and early 6:30 to go on a ten day rafting trip on the Karnali in the area described as Nepal's wild west, which should be fun and exciting and I'll be sure to write an update when I get back. As for now here's what the last four days have been like.

My hotel is very average. It is in a crowded, dirty area, but that could describe a lot of Kathmandu. If one wakes up early enough in the morning it is possible to witness one of many small fires lit to remove the garbage from the street.

My room is clean, which is really my only requirement when choosing a hotel, well that and that the hotel is cheap. Right now my room is $5 a night. Quite a change from Europe where I'd be in a hostel with a bunch of strangers and paying a minimum of $10.

Depending on my feeling about taking a cold shower I have or have not taken a shower. I'd say I'm batting about .500 right now on the daily shower. Speaking of the bathrooms they are a bit different than the normal set up. There is a little room with the toilet, sink and shower, and a drain in the floor. So as one showers, the toilet is getting completely soaked. Not extremely noteworthy, just a comment on a different set up.

In my current room I have a small tv. Normally I'd shun this, but I've been watching some tv lately. I'll write more about the reasons later.

My days have been filled with various time killing activities. I am catching up with my journal. I had gotten a little lazy in the past two weeks. I've also been reading. There are many small bookstores, but I have a favorite. They buy back books purchased from them for 50%, which is a much better deal than what any other place is going to pay for a used book. I've been choosing mostly fiction. With all the dealings of travel life I can use easy reads. I have also picked a favorite internet cafe. I could do without the music they play, but the price is fair and the internet connection is fast by Nepali standard. Besides email and my blog I've been checking up on the Packers, reading the news, and checking out what people are writing on wisconsinwrestling.com. The part of the day I look forward to the most are my meals. I have found a favorite resturaunt for breakfast. They have great apple pancakes and they are big and thick. I have been splitting my time between types of restaraunts. I like the atmosphere and the prices of the family style restaraunt. They are small, have a few beat up tables and a counter where the worker hangs out. It's pretty simple. Normally there aren't very many people there either. Many times I might be the only one, although at my favorite breakfast spot there were three monks eating across from me. That was the most noteable "company" I've had. Local favorites for lunch and dinner are Chowmein, Buffalo Mo Mo, Sweet and Sour Chicken, and Garlic Chicken. I've also gone corporate a few times to get a hamburger or pizza when I needed a taste of home or wanted to watch a soccer game. I walk around a bit, but there isn't much new to see and shopping is tough if one's not really looking to buy, it's a pretty nasty tease to the shop owners who dearly want to be selling.

So back to the tv. The reason I've been watching tv is because Kathmandu is noisy. Cars,motorcycles and bicycle rickshaws and constantly honking. By constantly I'm not exaggerating, there is constant honking. With the honking  there is also the nuisance of making sure I don't get hit. I'm not worried, but there needs to be at least a slight committment to vigilance just in case. Then there are the vendors selling a variety of stuff. Most of the people on the street are selling things I can't imagine anyone wanting, but I guess people can't resist their trinkets. On top of the street vendors there are music shops that blast various types of music hoping to get customers in the store (at night this is replaced with bands blasting music from bars for the same reason). That's covers the usual noise of Kathmandu, but it has been exceptionally noisy, because of the festival. Nepalis love their firecrackers and so there are loud explosions throughout the day and night. A more pleasant and entertaining noise is younger kids running around to the shops lining the streets and singing hoping they will be rewarded with money. It reminds me a little of the concept behind trick or treating and it is fun to watch, but with all the other noise it adds up. And then back to the restaruants/cafes. Unless I'm in one of the local family places (another advantage of the local places here) there is always at least one group of travellers talking really loud. Now I don't think there is anything wrong with any of these noises. It's life in Kathmandu. But I am on sound overload here, so usually after going out for whatever reason I only have a limited time before I feel like retreating back to my hotel room where the noise is greatly dimmed. And that is the long and thorough explanation of why I have been watching tv recently. The one redeeming factor of having a tv is I am able to keep up a little better on what if happening in Pakistan. It's always tough to have a good sound ending to a blog entry, so I'll just add that this is a "normal" day in Kathmandu. But really there are no normal days, and a normal day can be completely different from one city to the next, and especially from one country to the next.