Kathmandu
The 17 hour bus ride from Kakarvitta to Kathmandu was not fun. The bus stopped several times as Nepalese soldiers waved us down to ‘search’. The soldiers that came aboard the bus to inspect it did little more than sneer and poke a few rice sacks with their fingers, but the bus ticket boy did discreetly hand off a napkin containing what I assume was a bribe / baksheesh to one of the commanding officers. I guess this insured that our bus was no security risk.
I can rarely sleep on buses or airplanes so it was a very long and tiring trip for me, and having no cash on hand I couldn’t buy snacks or anything to occupy me during the many stops. The driver did play some pretty awesome Nepali/Hindi music though.
So we arrived in the Kathmandu valley, and made our way to the Thamel area which is a tourist ghetto unlike any I have ever seen. There is truth to the local joke that Nepal’s three main religions are Hinduism, Buddhism, and tourism. The Thamel are is flooded with hotels and guest houses, restaurants of almost every food imaginable (including an amazingly authentic Sichuan place, complete with loud Chinese businessmen drinking and chain smoking), shops selling souvenirs, incense, Tibetan handicrafts, the usual hippy crap, and tons and tons of (fake) trekking gear.
Nearby is Durbar Square, which is much more interesting with a bunch of sidestreets and crowded alleys that seem oblivious to Thamel. By here is “Freak Street”, which was the hangout for foreign travelers in the 60s and 70s.
Most travelers seem to dislike Kathmandu, but I think it’s pretty cool. With all the Western comforts around Thamel though, it’s very easy to blow one’s travel budget sipping cafe mochas and eating pizza.