Nepal

Okay - I'm going to just blatantly skip over everything that's happened between Jodhpur and now (including a surprisingly enjoyable trip to Calcutta and the entire trip to the US for Christmas) because I'll never catch up and just tell y'all about my weekend in Kathmandu that I returned from yesterday.

Some of my favorite trips have been spontaneous and this one definitely was last minute. Doug's mom and aunt have been in India for the last few weeks and Doug decided that their last weekend (and only trip where Doug was with them outside of Delhi - they did a group tour earlier) he'd take them to Kathmandu. So Wednesday I decided to join in. We left Friday morning, and after a predictably delayed flight arrived in time to spend the afternoon sightseeing. I of course didn't bring any charged batteries for my camera on this outing so no picts from the first day. However, I bought a new camera lens when I was home so I did have fun the next day! Doug had arranged for a guide and car for all days so we went to various hindu and buddhist temples and sites. Didn't really seem to go to any sites that didn't have religious affiliations but probably that's because people are religious so even when we were in areas for shopping or pottery making or eating, there were temples too.

I guess overall I was struck by how similar Kathmandu (and I won't say Nepal because I suspect that outside of the city it is a different story) is to cities in India. Lots of ethnic indians (and tibetans). Tenzing's mom was born there and her ex-husband lives there now.

• Kathmandu is dirty. I picture Nepal and this clean air, snowy loveliness and again maybe outside of Kathmandu that's true but there is trash everywhere and pollution and honking horns and all the stuff you want to get away from in Indian cities.
• People wear saris. I thought there would be a totally different dress code. Obviously the Tibetans had their distinctive dress and the monks stand out but lots of women (nepali and indian) were wearing saris and salwar kamises.
• Can still play my favorite game (created by Meg, I think): is the building being built or destroyed? Tons of brick buildings that looked either like they'd been hit by a wrecking ball or were under stalled construction.
• All same brands and ads - mostly using bollywood stars.
• About the same weather as Delhi - cold, I should have brought a jacket but not ridiculous.
• About the same level of service as India - due to the mountains of backpackers and other tourists I would have expected a different world of service at hotels but not so much.
  

On the different side:

• Better bars and restaurant choices (due to all the backpacking tourists) - mmm steak and cover bands
  
• Better backdrop - the Himalayan peaks in the background of the city are stunning and I can understand why people are drawn to climb them (I'm still okay, feeling no need to summit anything)
• More soldiers/police - not sure which they were, police I think but they are everywhere. Especially guarding the King's palace (we were staying nearby so walked by it a lot - one of the guards made a really disgusting kissing noise to me one time)
• Better sidewalks, not good but they exist and that alone makes them better than 90% of Delhi
• Nicer monkeys. Lots and lots of them (not surprisingly, mostly at the "Monkey Temple") but they really didn't seem to be stealing things from tourists or otherwise trying to intimidate anyone.

It was definitely too quick and I would really like to go back, spend some more time and get outside of Kathmandu but I'm glad to have gotten a quick taste:)