Trevor's Travels

I have commented on several occasions about the large number of temples in the streets of Kathmandu. There are also a large number of smaller monuments like this one, quite often not associated with any temple. I do not know of their significance and can find no reference to them in the guide books I had with me.

It is things like this that made me think that employing a local guide for a day would have been beneficial in understanding what I was seeing.

On previous occasions I have written about the vast number of temples and other religious buildings in Kathmandu. Seeing them is unavoidable. At almost every turn – there is another one. Some are in quite open squares where many people congregate to talk, sit around in the sunshine or carry on a trade such as selling food.

Others, like the temple shown in the photo above, are crowded in by the surrounding high-rise buildings. A five or six storey building in Kathmandu IS a high rise building; few are higher than that.

During my stay in Kathmandu in January 2006 I did a great deal of walking. I found that this was the most effective way of getting a feel for the city, its people and its culture. On several occasions on this blog I have written about the vast array of shopping opportunities in the city. (click here)

Wherever you go in the city you will find street stalls selling all kinds of food. Many use a simple bicycle for transport of their wares, often converted to a stall in some way by using a piece of wood or a box to help store the items for sale.

As shown in the photo, bananas are a common item for sale. Bananas in Nepal are often far superior in taste to those we can buy here in South Australia, but not as nice as those I tasted in Thailand. Mandarins in Nepal seem to be excellent in quality also.

The above photo shows a typical street scene in parts of Kathmandu, Nepal. Narrow laneways lined with such a variety of stores as to be somewhat overwhelming to the first time visitor. One shop is selling grain, such as rice in bags, the next is selling pashminas, the next a variety of vegetables and then you get a bookshop and a motor bike repair shop next to each other.

In front of one shop there is someone sitting on the path selling fruit, perhaps just bananas. Passing by you see a 3 or 4 wheeled bicycle converted into a mobile street stall selling popcorn. Across the street is an up-market restaurant alongside an internet cafe.

Actually, as I look at the photo above more closely, it is not really typical of many of the lanes of Kathmandu; there is an almost total absence of people! The streets are usually a frenetic bustling of humanity. I must have caught a brief lull in the traffic.

Kathmandu is not the cleanest city in the world. That is one fact that hits you immediately upon leaving the airport. In fact, even as you are landing and as the plane taxis to the terminal. Crashed helicopters and broken down planes line the runway and nearby hangars.

In central Kathmandu one is faced with a great variety of building styles. Some are ancient, many hundreds of years old and quite magnificent. Others are broken down wrecks that deserve to be bull dozed. Some are modern, spacious and beautiful.

One of the older buildings in Thamel caught my eye for another reason. The telephone and electricity supplies in Kathmandu are obviously struggling to keep up with the demands of a city trying to emerge into the modern world. In the photo above you can see that the cabling for electricity and telephone supplies can be a little chaotic at times. (Click on the image to enlarge – you will then see what I mean.)

Despite the chaos, life does go on. Phone calls can be made reasonably easily. Electricity is supplied where it is needed – most of the time. Internet connections, though slow and erratic, can be used.

It just demonstrates the pains of an ancient city struggling to emerge into the modern world.