Well, we are still in Kathmandu. What can we say about this city? It's very different from what both of us expected. Much different. Different than India also, specially in some special, delicate points...
Despite of the fact that Nepal is a much poorer country than India, one actually doesn't feel this poverty when wandering around the streets of Kathmandu. The city is much cleaner and much well organized than all the Indian cities we saw (except maybe Gangtok, but Gangtok wasn't the "real" India), there are plenty of wonderful stores everywhere, selling everything you can desire (well, everything I can desire), from colorful clothes to tapestry and decoration, everything hand made and actually a bit pricey if you compared to India (but mainly of better quality also). In some points, this reminds me of Rome, specially because here you see a lot of temples, old buildings, beautiful historic spots everywhere, everything so nice and breathtaking. On the other hand, polution is a serious problem, so that a lot of people wear masks while walking on the streets. There is no pedestrian zone (specialy in Thamel, the main tourist zone) and one has to be really careful for not to die... there are no beggers around here (or actually just a few), but streets are really loud and taxis are everywhere, always asking you if you need a ride, or sometimes even following you for some metres (car taxis as well as bike rickshaws).
Nights in Kathmandu are dead (everything closes around 10pm) and there are no street lights, electricity fails and restaurants are very good but very expensive (we paid more than 1000 rupees yesterday for 2 pizzas & water/ice tea), and even for crossing the famous Durban Square (city center) you have to pay 300 rupees/person! But I think it would be very nice to spend more time here, since despite of all this, Kathmandu is a very pleasant city.
In our first evening, we met a Brazilian couple and we got along very well together. Yesterday we went together to the impressive buddhist monkey temple, one of the best things to do around here... it was a wonderful afternoon and we wanted to extend time together by joining them to a safari in the Chitwan National Park , but... we forgot we needed a stamp in our pass from the Indian embassy in order to go back there after Nepal! This was so frustrating!!! We were already packing and already had plans to take the bus to Chitwan in the morning when we realized that! So stupid!!! :(
So now we are stuck in Kathmandu, while our friends already left for Chitwan this morning and might be bathing with elefants by now. Plus: getting the fucking stamp from the Indian Embassy showed to be a much more difficult task than we ever imagined. We stayed in the Embassy (full of loud Spaniards trying to pass in front of everyone!!! Grrr... always the Spanish people!) the whole morning and had to pay a fee from 1400 rupees, differently from what the Embassy in Brussels told us (since we already have a multiple entry visa and we already had to pay more than 100 Euro/each for that). They told us to leave our passports there and come back at 5:30pm pick them up, so we are waiting now, and hoping they will not come up with another secret extra fee afterwards...
But anyway, here we had to learn an important lesson in the first place: when authorities say you have to pay, you just do it and never complain! :( Like when, crossing the Nepalese border, policemen told us to pay a fee of 100 rupee and never gave us a recipe. What else can you do? Shut your mouth and move. And when you say you have no money, they just make a rispid movement with their hands and say "so go!". And that's it.
Despite of the fact that Nepal is a much poorer country than India, one actually doesn't feel this poverty when wandering around the streets of Kathmandu. The city is much cleaner and much well organized than all the Indian cities we saw (except maybe Gangtok, but Gangtok wasn't the "real" India), there are plenty of wonderful stores everywhere, selling everything you can desire (well, everything I can desire), from colorful clothes to tapestry and decoration, everything hand made and actually a bit pricey if you compared to India (but mainly of better quality also). In some points, this reminds me of Rome, specially because here you see a lot of temples, old buildings, beautiful historic spots everywhere, everything so nice and breathtaking. On the other hand, polution is a serious problem, so that a lot of people wear masks while walking on the streets. There is no pedestrian zone (specialy in Thamel, the main tourist zone) and one has to be really careful for not to die... there are no beggers around here (or actually just a few), but streets are really loud and taxis are everywhere, always asking you if you need a ride, or sometimes even following you for some metres (car taxis as well as bike rickshaws).
Nights in Kathmandu are dead (everything closes around 10pm) and there are no street lights, electricity fails and restaurants are very good but very expensive (we paid more than 1000 rupees yesterday for 2 pizzas & water/ice tea), and even for crossing the famous Durban Square (city center) you have to pay 300 rupees/person! But I think it would be very nice to spend more time here, since despite of all this, Kathmandu is a very pleasant city.
In our first evening, we met a Brazilian couple and we got along very well together. Yesterday we went together to the impressive buddhist monkey temple, one of the best things to do around here... it was a wonderful afternoon and we wanted to extend time together by joining them to a safari in the Chitwan National Park , but... we forgot we needed a stamp in our pass from the Indian embassy in order to go back there after Nepal! This was so frustrating!!! We were already packing and already had plans to take the bus to Chitwan in the morning when we realized that! So stupid!!! :(
So now we are stuck in Kathmandu, while our friends already left for Chitwan this morning and might be bathing with elefants by now. Plus: getting the fucking stamp from the Indian Embassy showed to be a much more difficult task than we ever imagined. We stayed in the Embassy (full of loud Spaniards trying to pass in front of everyone!!! Grrr... always the Spanish people!) the whole morning and had to pay a fee from 1400 rupees, differently from what the Embassy in Brussels told us (since we already have a multiple entry visa and we already had to pay more than 100 Euro/each for that). They told us to leave our passports there and come back at 5:30pm pick them up, so we are waiting now, and hoping they will not come up with another secret extra fee afterwards...
But anyway, here we had to learn an important lesson in the first place: when authorities say you have to pay, you just do it and never complain! :( Like when, crossing the Nepalese border, policemen told us to pay a fee of 100 rupee and never gave us a recipe. What else can you do? Shut your mouth and move. And when you say you have no money, they just make a rispid movement with their hands and say "so go!". And that's it.
Ho my god! Si les espagnols vous suivent jusque ici pour vous embêter....
RépondreSupprimerBon heureusement que vous êtes tombés dans une ville agréable, le temps passera peut être un peu plus vite! Mais pour ce qui est de toutes ces "taxes" imposées par les autorités.... c'est pas un peu abusé non? But business is business! Et comme vous ne faites pas trop indiens, ils vous auront vite repérés comme touristes et comme pour eux touristes = pigeons à plumer, ben c'est vite fait!
Gardez quand même de l'argent jusqu'à la fin de votre voyage! J'ai l'impression que vous dépensez des milliers de roupies à chaque nouvel update du blog!
Tenez nous au courant!
PS : Dommage pour les éléphants! ça aurait vraiment dû être une chouette expérience!
pas grave, on est alle aux elephants avec un jour de retard et ils etaient encore la ;) bisous, Will!o
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