After a slightly choppy flight from Dubai we landed in Kathmandu Nepal and were immediately introduced to the sublime chaos that is Nepal. The baggage carousel was broken when we arrived and throngs on people waiting multiple hours to get their bags were crowed in the baggage hall. We crowded in amongst some other none Locals, even a 70 year old German man who Sarah befriended by helping him sort out his Visa who was on his 38th visit to Nepal so had plenty of info for us! The baggage crew started to throw bags out of the hold and the surge begin with people climbing onto of the belts until the Police were brought in to quell the impatient locals (this wasn't even our flights but gave insight into what to expect!). The announcement went out about our bags and me & an English guy were up on the belts trying to get around the crowds while Sarah minded our German friends hand luggage! Escaping the Airport and getting a taxi we arrived at our Hostel and realised just how cold Nepal gets at night, BALTIC! But we ventured out with some of the fellow Hostel patrons for some noodles and a couple of beers!
We arouse after abit of a lie on and went to the "Monkey Temple" (it has a proper name but have no internet in the back of this taxi to search how to spell it!), getting a spot of lunch at the bottom of the hill first, this is where my love affair with MO MOs began! (They are like steamed / friend stuffed dumplings) Also from this point on is the start of our involuntary vegetarianism! We climbed the hill to the temple and can indeed appreciate why the nickname is the Monkey Temple, with a troop of about 5000 monkeys these guys are not shy and would rip the MO MO straight from your hand if your not looking! Can safely say we were both enamored by the Buddhist Temple and our love for travel was reinvigorated! Spending our day exploring the temple and Sarah keeping a wary eye on the monkeys!
A thing to mention about Kathmandu, the streets are hectic and the pollution is crazy, but what makes the place treacherous is the distinct lack of footpaths and traffic lights and the fact 80% of vehicles on the road are motorbikes, on more than one occasion we were stranded in the middle of the road for over a minute trying to dodge traffic!
*Also got to experience life as a 108 year old as the year in Nepal is 2079, explains the aches and pains!*
The next day we walked to Durbar Square, on our walk we unexpectedly realised we were in the nicer part of town! the square full of old monuments and Hindu temples. The square also contains the residence of the Kumari, the living God. A child who is selected from birth she remains in this house as a god until she hits puberty, bit of an old and twisted tradition. We went to the largest Hindu Temple in Kathmandu and this place is huge, unknown to us we acquired a guide to show us through the temple, I will commend him on his approach as we were about half way through the temple before we realised he was going to charge us! The temple has both sides of death and life side by side, on one side of the river is the plinths on which they cremate the dead within 24hrs of their departure (and a big slab on the river where they wash the body clean) and on the other side statues to which couples perform a ritual to have a child. The temple is also home to holy men who have devoted their life to Hinduism and are considered enlightened and end the cycle of rebirth........I consider them scammers who tried to get 60 euro for a picture with them...........enlightened with no worldly ties my arse!
We did a bit of shopping on the streets to get some warmer clothes for our upcoming trek (you could literally get your clothes for Everest here for like 100 quid!) and I continued my affair with MO MOs! We got some rest before our 8 hour bus journey to Pokhara!