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Kathmandu, Nepal, 03-04-'09

Namaste!

Well Bali's relaxation and Burgundian lifestyle seems long gone.. Nepal has been quite different. It already started off with an adventurous flight from Bali, via Doha - Qatar, to Kathmandu. It might not say much to you, as we also were surprised, but it seemed our US-travel agency messed up his geography a bit .. we basically traveled half way back home before going back and it totaled like a 16 hours flight! (It's like flying from Amsterdam to Paris via Rome.. :0). Anyway, good for our air-miles and also we decided to use the couple of hours in between and add this Arabic, highest-growing country in the world, to our travel-list. It's a bit like Dubai-still in the making.

As soon as we landed in Nepal's capital Kathmandu, we got overwhelmed with the sensory overload of smells, noise, people and the mix of it all. We can say had more than her share of exhaust-fumes.. Kathmandu is a freakin' zoo! Besides the cows, goats, wild dogs and occasional rats in the street, especially a species called humans are everywhere and in any way imaginable. They seem to multiply like Gremlins in touch with water! (the avg. age also is like 20!).

It's very funny and interesting at first, but towards annoying after a couple of days.

The first night we stayed at what we then thought a reasonable priced, 35 euro, Kathmandu Guesthouse, though we realized fast we could stay for the same price for almost a week somewhere else!

Nepal is cheap. For us that is. The average Nepalese has lives of only $2 a day! So most of them have close to nothing and Nepal is a very much underdeveloped country.; 60% of men can read/write and only 30% of women... Also what we consider basics such as clean water, electricity and food, and of course watching NBA-basketball and having a cold beer, are no given here.. If I am lucky I get to finish sending this blog in once, as electricity-cuts happen daily and unannounced. Actually there is only electricity for about 8 hours out of 24!

Also we had to watch out what to eat as the typical 'travel-disease', which had spared us until now, caught up with us and we took turns taking care of our 'topo'.

So it definitely made us realize what we take for granted and appreciate these basics.. a hot shower to start the day is a bliss! (and watching NBA now and then as well :)).

What the Nepalese are rich in is great nature and their characters. People are very friendly, after a 'Namaste' greeting everyone smiles and hand-greets back. We even made a local friend, an amazing friendly and giving 15-year old boy, Bibek, who showed us the real side of Nepal. Besides tourguiding us through the city of Patan , its temples, and cows, Buddhist and Hindu-culture and meanings, we even met his friends and family! We stayed at his place and went through the local markets, helping Zayde negotiate to buy some real Nepalese Fantastik ™ stuff. He's remarkable knowing and (street)smart. Though he didn't get we don't have a 'caste' as well as was convinced hamburgers are made of buffalo and not cow (as ht explained you would get arrested for this holy animal.. I guess I am on the run now..).

It definitely was a highlight. The other one was a more literal one, of seeing the Mount Everest from close up! Of course we didn't hike our arses off, but did it true Lucasa and Zayduca style (aka 'Rushki and Zayruca') and took a special flight over the highest mountain-range in the world, the Himalaya (>14k peaks >8k) and got to see the highest of them all from the cock-pit.

Although Nepal is definitely a trekking-country, which is why people from all over come to here, and after listening to some stories, we also did some nice day-walks to get these great views (and escape Kathmandu..). A stunning view, though bit cloudy, was the sunrise over the Himalaya from the 3000m high village of Nagarkot.

We almost were not able to have experienced all this at all though, as when flying in we were asked for our ticket out of Nepal, which you need, and we only decided to buy this last-minute the day before! Our original plan was to see if we could enter Tibet but the news was a bit shaky so we decided to skip it and fly to Hong Kong instead. This proved to be a good choice because it was actually impossible anyway as Tibet got closed due to security for the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama fleeing his homeland.. (I think we should close Spain as well with my anniversary.. ).

Anyway later today we are flying via New Delhi - with a 5hour stopover - to our next country and adventure. Looking forward to a hot shower, a working TV for a change and a bed not as hard as a door! :)

Namaste!

Luuk & Zayde

p.s: Rick/ Corine and my favorite nephews: enjoy Jordanie!