Kathmandu

My impressions of Kathmandu are an empirical proof that "satisfaction = reality - expectations".

My initial expectation was that Kathmandu would be an Asian version of Kampala - dusty, chaotic, noisy and with no particular urban charm. The first month seemed to confirm that expectation, when the only thing I saw of the city were indeed the dusty, chaotic, noisy streets crammed with traffic, decorated by low-hanging lumps of cables, some positioned low enough to decapitate a careless pedestrian.

So when, during my first day off after more than a month of being in Nepal, I actually ventured to the centre of Kathmandu, with my brother as a guide, it was a very pleasant surprise. I hadn't expected to find actual standing history. And I found some amazing places.

Obviously, the Kathmandu Durbar square, with the royal palaces and temples. 

Kathmandu Durbar square

 Though partly damaged during the earthquake, what was left was still impressive enough.

And where nothing was left, at least we could see what had been there

Two months after the earthquake...

... and 8 months after the earthquake. Not sure if that scaffolding is supposed to make matters better or worse.

Swayambhunath, the monkey temple (I still very much dislike monkeys).

But the thing with Kathmandu, it's not just the royal square and the palaces. It's all those small streets in the centre, bursting with life, with temples scattered in unexpected places, all of which makes some parts of the capital feel like a small town from a movie.

 

It's impossible to show the real feel of Kathmandu through photos. "Overwhelming" would be a more suitable word, and this (10-second) video might illustrate that point.

Not all is glory, of course. Our last month in Kathmandu was January, and my goodness was it cold. House insulation and heating seem to be alien concepts in Nepal; and even if during a sunny day the temperature might climb to some 17°C, entering our house-office, a 4-storey castle laid with marble, was like entering a fridge. Literally - the butter stayed in a perfectly solid state simply on a kitchen shelf. The actual fridge was of course useless, with only 4-5 hours of power supply per day - heavy load shedding happens in Nepal every winter, as the country relies on hydropower and the water levels are low then.

Don't be fooled - this is inside temperature

While good for keeping the groceries, the "fresh" environment wasn't so fine for people sitting still a good part of the day. Yes, we did get heaters - and yes, they were electrical, so not particularly helpful with the limited power supply.

Jolly times in the frozen office

To make things better, the unofficial border blockade continued, with kilometres of queues for sparsely rationed fuel, and we were dreading the moment we'd run out of cooking gas.

The cooking gas queue

The fuel queue

Our salvation was the terrace and sunny days.

The very last exploration we undertook within Kathmandu was to the Pashupatinath temple, a Hindu temple complex at the Bagmati river. In addition to being one of the most important temples in the country, it also serves for open air cremations which here are very much public. A thoroughly fascinating place.

Kathmandu is really one of the most charming capitals I've been to, certainly in the non-European world. It has spirituality, history, culture, and a good degree of chaos with a good degree of manageability. Even so, when now faced the possibility of staying there for 2-3 years more, we eventually decided not to (and that's a teaser of a new chapter to come)...