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Today was to be our last day in Kathmandu so we thought we would hit the streets and see where we ended up. We planned on going to the Royal Palace where in 2001 the Prince went on a rampage and shot about 13 members of the Royal family and staff (yes we are a little morbid) but unfortunately it was closed. On our way we met an Indian guy called Rajeet who moved to Nepal with his family and he told us that there was a Buddhist festival on today that only occurs once a year so we went with him to check it out.
We jumped in a mini van which looks pretty similar to a Phuket tuk tuk but they cram about 16 people in it. It was less than comfortable but we got a great opportunity to travel like the locals. We went well out of the tourist area and predictably the pollution and rubbish increased dramatically. The mini bus had to stop for petrol which involved everybody getting out because quote: "sometimes the vans blow up when they get petrol". Greeeeaaaaat!
The temple is one of the biggest in Nepal and its quite an impressive white and gold circular monastry. There is also a building where the Tibetan monks live. They are refugees living in Nepal. We were lucky enough to see them leaving their house to attend the festival. There would have been about 50 of them in their bright orange robes. They looked fantastic. We then went to an art shop where Nepalese artists paint the 'mandella' a symbol of good luck designed by the Dalai Lama. They are the most talented painters I've ever seen. The detail in the paintings and the colours were amazing. They even use 24ct gold.
We then went to Rajeet's house to visit his family. It was quite literally the slums. They all lived in what was barely a tent. It is hard to comprehend the levels of poverty in Nepal. Its very sad and really makes us appreciate how lucky we are.
Rajeet's Mum made us a tea which they call 'chai'in Hindi. We were a little skeptical about drinking the water but it was boiled and it is rude in Indian culture not to accept tea so we drank it and surprisingly didn't get sick. Rajeet had been very generous to us so we helped him negotiate to buy a shoe repair kit he needed for work after his box was stolen.
Later in the evening we had dinner at an Italian restaurant that served up wood fired pizza good enough to give Pizza Bels a run for their money. This was a true find in Kathmandu and much needed after the mountain food we'd eaten the last week. They even had Baskin Robbins ice-cream! I know not very traditional Nepalese but we'd been craving something that tasted remotely like home for two weeks.
We have a long bus ride to Pokhara tomorrow where we hope to relax for a few days before we leave for south east asia.
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