Settling in with the madness

27/02

Had a nap this afternoon as I was far too tired to deal with all the street hawkers despite there politness.  Today was total sensory overload and a good forty winks was the best way to deal with it.

I met up with my fellow volunteer for something to eat at Hotel Uts which does some lovely momo's.  She is from South Africa and has been travelling around India for the past month or so.  She showed me around Thamel after dinner and told me where I could get a sim card for a mobile.  I will probably pick one up tomorrow.  I am a little bit outside of Thamel the main tourist area and it was good to see where everything is.  It made me feel a little more at home, that said this town will take some getting used to.

Earlier I had met with B who is looking after me while I am over here.  He was very helpful and was extremely pleased to get a hello from Frances, Tom and Tim.  I'm glad he is here to help me out.

28/02

I had breakfast in the cafe next to my hotel.  I had balck tea and honey on toast.  The toast was really thick, at first I thought they had given me four slices rather than just the two.
Today I went to get my mobile.  B had given me a hand drawn mapo for directions which was good as I found my way to New Road with out too much difficulty.  I managed to get a decent cheap phone and decided to head back towards my hotel so I could find my way to the place where I needed to get my sim.  This is when I got horribly lost for most of the day.  I say horribly but it was good to walk around the streets and get used to the bustle.  I ended up in Durbar Square for a couple of hours.  Thios is where all of Kathmandu's biggest temples can be found.  A man called Rajan ushered me into one of the temples as shortly Kumari would be appearing at the temple window.  Kumari is believed to be the incarnation of the Godess Taleju, she is six years old and it looked like she had just woken up.

Rajan is an independent guide and he showed me around the square for (after a bit of haggling) a small fee.  Once the tour was done I climbed the steep steps of Maju Dega and had a rest whilst taking in the view, I then decided to try and get back to Thamel and grab something to eat.  This time I really did get completely lost.

Whilst demonstrating my complete lack for any kind of sense of direction I found myself in a quiet square with a Stupa in the middle, whilst looking at some Buddhist art work known as Thangka one of the artist called Ajay came and talked to me about the work and bought me a cup of tea.  He was very informative and the paintings were beautiful, he was very keen for me to buy or at least reserve one.  I told him it was too early on in my trip to start buying such things and that I may well be back.  That is if I can work out where it is again, it was so quiet and a good place to get away from it all.

The main problem with navigating ones way around Kathmandu is that the streets are very crowded, they are narrow with no pavements and they have bikes and cars weaving in and out of them.  Most streets look very similar and the stores are all selling either groceries, hiking gear, clothes or general tourist souvenir's.  You also get roads that fork off in similar directions so it is easy to make a wrong turn.  If you stop for more than a second to get your bearings you will get hassled by rickshaw drivers or other locals trying to trade a little information in exchange for money or food.  It is all done very politely but can become exhausting especially if you have been lost for a few hours.   I finally made it back despite darkness falling (there is no street lighting in Kathmandu)  I dropped off my bag at the hotel and got a little money for dinner.  I ended up in a pizza place called Fire & Ice.  It was very tasty but a bit pricey for Nepal.  I will have to find somewhere more reasonable to eat regularly if I am going to make my money last.