Kathmandu

Nameste It’s the traditional greeting here used by everyone even though it’s Hindi. Apart from that - English is the language everyone speaks and they speak it very well We arrived at Kathmandu in a 4x4 after a beautiful 4 hour drive from the border. Nepal is manic compared to China and the difference is chalk and cheese. In the city everything’s going on everywhere and anywhere. Streets are fill of cars, bikes, people and rickshaws, all trying to cram into the same space. As we were arriving at lunch time into Thamel the main tourist area of Kathmandu, we didn’t bother booking accommodation ahead and we thought it would be easy to find somewhere to stay when we arrived. We got dropped off in Thamel, and before we even crossed the road we got asked if we wanted a room for £5 a night for a double room with bathroom. We declined as we had a few we wanted to try ourselves first. The first wanted £15 for a double room, the second was a room so dark that we went to find the street man who offered us the room first. We found him and off we went. We looked at a further two hotels and opted for one that the room was on the fourth floor, double room, bathroom and lots of windows giving us lots of light. The streets of Thamel are just mental. Full, and I mean full of stuff to buy, from handmade paper calendars and lampshades, fake but very authentic looking North Face gear, clothes, more clothes, jewellery to being offered hash every five minutes. Jody was in her element as she took in the atmosphere. The food around the streets was lovely the first night we had something to eat at The Yak Bar, lovely Nepalese food which is quite similar to Indian. We found OR2K a Middle Eastern vegetarian restaurant which served lovely food from morning until dusk, and they had a faster wifi connection than we could find anywhere else. One thing that was quite odd was at 9pm all the shops and bars were closed. Not sure why but it did mean you needed to be out by 6pm to make sure you had a good chance of getting some food. The other obvious thing to mention about Kathmandu is the regular power cuts they have. All the restaurants and shops have a huge supply of candles so they are ready when it happens. It is caused by the power allocation moving to different sectors of the city. Apparently there isn’t enough power for the whole city all the time to each sector has the power turned off at intervals throughout the day to make it go around! After 2 nights walking up 4 flights (sometimes in the dark) we decided to move lodgings as we felt a bit isolated from other travellers. Remember, other travellers are the best method for sharing information and we had no plans for Nepal so needed some hints on what to see. The guesthouse we were in didn’t offer many of the services you get from a hostel either. Bryan had found the Hi Hostel for which he is a member and so gets discounts, on the internet. However, we set off to find it on foot and we walked everywhere. A couple of hours later we started checking out other places instead and found somewhere we thought would be ok. We walked back to our guesthouse to get our bags, and guess what? Yes, the Hi Hostel was almost opposite where we had been staying! it was quite frustrating but when you see the number of signs mounted all down the streets, it’s easy to see how we missed it. We checked in and were thrilled to have a hot shower at last. Peace Hotel Room rating: 4/10 no double bed, no hot water, nice balcony Location: 10/10 - right in the centre - brilliant Staff: 8/10 - lovely Value for Money: 5/10 - £5 per night for both of us Other comments: the hotel staff were just sooo lovely we felt guilty when we left Stay again? not in this hotel Hi Hostel Room rating: 6/10 bed ok, room clean, bathroom horrendous Location: 10/10 - right in the centre - brilliant Staff: 3/10 - ok Value for Money: 4/10 - £5.50 per night for both of us Other comments: nice small restaurant on site with nice food Stay again? no. would spend more money & have a nicer room Overall area experience: 10/10 We would definitely visit Thamel, Kathmandu again