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Wednesday
12th August
Got down to some serious thinking about
trekking, and decided to climb
the ridge surrounding Kathmandu to see what was on the other side.
Found out we needed permits, so after getting the necessary photos we
walked all the way to the immigration office, only to find that it was
closed.
Thursday
13th August
Did our usual bumming around. I ended up
with a bad attack of the runs,
so we again failed to make the immigration office. Chewed on some opium
to try and dry things up a bit, but with little success. That evening I
went down with a fever. Jerry got me some pills from a chemist (of
which there are several, all selling a wide variety of European and
American drugs) and, fever wise, I was ok by morning.
Friday
14th August
Malc and I both still had the runs, so we
spent the day in the
café, venturing out to wander round the town. Read "Seven
Years in Tibet", the story of a German interred in India at the
beginning of the war who escaped into Tibet and eventually befriended
the Dalai Lama. A very good book, which made me long to go to Tibet.
Saturday
15th August
Took a bus to Patan, a town about 3m from
Kathmandu. We regretted not
taking cameras, as the temples there were far better preserved than
those in Kathmandu, and the town in general was less spoilt.
Back in Kathmandu I got chatted up by a rather gorgeous Nepalese girl
who sat down beside me in the café, but I lost interest when
she started bumming food etc., even (or even more so) when she made it
clear she was prepared to trade! The Nepalese are a very natural people
in this respect, and think nothing of extra-marital affairs, provided
no-one except the parties involved know. They also seem to be fairly
free of hang-ups about modesty. In general they seem an extraordinarily
happy race, and their smiles are so frequent and spontaneous that it is
very difficult to feel sad here.
Sunday
16th August
Made a few sorties round the town, and
chatted in the evening to the
English guys we'd met at Benares station. It's amazing how many
European goods one can buy in Kathmandu – it's getting very
touristy. The two main souvenirs we bought were Ghurkha kukris and
Tibetan calendars. The Ghurkhas have a tradition concerning the former.
Once they have drawn their kukri they never put it back without drawing
blood, so their thumbs are covered in little scars where they have
nicked them having drawn the knife for peaceful purposes.
The Tibetan calendars are also quite
interesting. I bought mine in the
Monkey Temple, and on the way down met a Tibetan monk who could speak
Nepalese and two Nepalese who could speak English. I found out that the
"calendar" was used to flatten a dough of flour and water before
offering it to the gods, and the symbols on it are the deities, which
become embossed on the dough. Mine was probably made in the Tibetan
refugee camp outside Kathmandu.
Monday
17th August
Spent our last day walking round taking the
odd photograph and having a
last look at favourite spots. In the evening Malc, who was tired, went
to bed while I went to a party. This was a regular event at the bakery,
near the monkey temple, every full moon. Plenty of hashish and LSD on
offer. They also had the most incredible sitar player, who kept us
entertained for about 5 hours. Lots of food too, for 5 rupees, which I
didn't have, so I climbed in the back. Left the party about 4:00 a.m..
Tuesday
18th August
Got back to the hotel about 5:00 a.m., woke
Malc, and just made the
airport bus at 5:30. Took off at 7:00 a.m., and got our first glimpse
of what the Himalayas had to offer in the way of snow-capped peaks.
Landed in Delhi about 9:30 and took a scooter rickshaw straight to the
dentist Sondhi's, getting held up for about 15 mins on the way when a
train stopped astride a level crossing. Picked up some money I'd left
with them, and then went in and picked up the sitar. This had come out
really well, just as I imagined it. Took it along to the bus station
and bought 3 deluxe tickets to Chandigarh (one for the sitar, which I
wanted inside). The coach was air-conditioned and felt like a plane,
which accounted for the 17 rupee price.
Arrived at Chandigarh about 9.00 in the
evening, and took a taxi
straight to the Sondhis' where the others were. They'd got in that
morning from Kashmir, bringing Andy Ransom with them. Andy was an old
school and college friend, on a sister expedition to ours, who'd left
his party to look at Kashmir. So we swapped stories over dinner. They
had quite a lot to tell, not least about how expensive the food had
been up in Kashmir. They'd been living mostly on bread and jam for the
week. This was due to their visit coinciding with the annual pilgrimage
to a holy cave in the mountains, said to house the lingam of Lord
Shiva. Apparently the weather had been so bad that several pilgrims had
died of exposure. Things weren't helped by the shopkeepers starting to
charge 150 rupees to hire a tent for the night, and 3 rupees (12x usual
price) for a cup of tea, these prices being to people half dead of
exposure.
Went to bed early, needing the kip. Mike
lost the toss as to who should
go down to Delhi to get a new Pakistan road permit (we'd lost the
original one), so we put him on the night train first.
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