Well Madam and I (the TS) went
off for a wee week to Nepal. Well It is
about an hour from Dhaka and if you are that close then why not. The plan was to do some sightseeing, chillax
and mainly get a change of scene. I had
been 3 months in Dhaka and even though the place has a certain charm with or
without hartals etc – I had lost my sense of humour. Of course Madam had already had respite when
I was posted A.I.D.
Anyhow – the adventure began by
taking the local national air carrier – supposedly for intrepid people
only. Allegedly they are never on time,
never fly etc etc etc. Well I can honestly
say we left on time and arrived back on time, and the service was'ne that
bad. I think the effect of a newly
appointed UK CEO who had learnt his time at BA, may have had an influence. Who knows.
Mind you as part of the in-flight catering, I am still at a loss what
the dessert was – there and back! Any
suggestions please let me know.
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| Annapurna Hills |
Now the plan was to stay a few days
in Kathmandu with a Diplomatic Chum (DC) of Madam’s then head off to Pokhara at
the foot of the Annapurna hills beside Lake Phewa. The DC lived in Patan, south of Kathmandu,
which in fact was a blessing, as we did venture into the centre Ktm, to find
out it was a bit like Dhaka in some ways.
Add the additional complexity of an interim government initiative of
widening every road in the place irrespective whether there is a building there
or not and then forget to complete the process.
It beats small and large holes dotted about the roads in Dhaka, which are now being stuffed with branches, so when they fill up with water, they give a slight indication of where you may disappear. In Nepal - they just bulldozed the road completely.
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| Kathmandu |
So on the first few hours of
arriving in country DC and Madam were swapping the minutiae of various work
things – so much for a holiday. There
was a surreal moment during the week when I was sitting between them whilst
they were swapping emails and discussing what their replies would be back to
HQ. We were supposed to be watching a DVD, which I then duly chose. I can honestly it say it
wasn't brilliant, but hey that that will teach them!
So what did we see I hear you
cry. Well there are 3 ancient cities,
Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur. Each of
them built to compete with each other and prevent power being centralised so to
speak. We were spoilt. If you have a chance to go to Nepal – forget
the Kathmandu Durbar Square. It looks
and feels impressive, but when you see Patan then Bhaktapur, then Ktm is the
poorer cousin.
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| Patan |
At the Patan museum, was the best
Nepali Thali I had the whole week – worth it.
Beer – yes please. You can walk
into a restaurant or café in Nepal and order alcohol. After extensive research the whole week, my
opinion is that coming first is Gorkha, followed by Everest, then Kathmandu and
finally Nepal Ice. Well one did have to
research properly to ensure whether different locations and environmental conditions
affected the beer or not.
In terms of public transport –
there isn’t any really. There are the
usual small buses held together by who knows what, but the main mode of
transport is either motorbikes or taxis.
Now I use the word lightly when I say taxi. Yes they do transport from A to B and charge
you for the pleasure (again that’s too strong a word – pleasure), but you get
there. One taxi we encountered was
actually missing a dashboard, most of the interior fittings and probably leaked
more fuel than it actually consumed. In
addition it was started with a screwdriver stuck in the ignition, and I hadn’t
even mentioned the bodywork (or lack of it) – Madam was no chuffed. I did feel slight sorry for them with the
state of the roads, where a 4x4 would be more appropriate rather than something
resembling an 1980’s small Ford Fiesta in good condition never mind any other
state. |
| Lake Phewa |
Pokhara was an all together a
different experience. The heart of
adventure land, was this chilled out town with fabby food nestled on the edge
of Lake Phewa. I can see Madam and I coming
back here, even if it is to do some trekking.
During out time in Pokhara it was
the Hindu festival of Holi. Everybody
throws paint at each other and it is essentially a festival and celebration of
colour to mark the start of spring. It
was amusing walking down the street to see dogs covered in pink spots, or cows
(yes cows and bulls) ambling down the road with some warlike markings in fluorescent
paint. It was the first time I have ever
seen the full length of main road looking like a surreal smudged rainbow.
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| Baggage Claim |
The domestic airport to get too
Pokhara or Everest was a ramshackle of buildings. When coming back from Pkh the bus that picked
us up from the airplane had a trailer attached to it for the luggage. It then took us to a side gate of the
airfield where there was a low table by which they piled up the luggage for you
to collect – who says there is no customer service. The one thing that struck me about the
airport, was that it must be a massive buzz in the place when all the parties
come to do trekking and climb Everest at the height of the season Oct-Jan. I think it would be something worth experiencing.
Our flight to Everest was
cancelled due to cloud. Next time. The end of the week saw yours truly attending
an informal dinner with Madam and the DC who had some VIP’s in town. The only consolation was sitting on a terrace
looking at the hills as the sun set.
What was talked about – who knows.
I was sitting beside a guy who came out of semi-retirement to help the
UN in Nepal and who had been in Dhaka just after the liberation war in the
early 70’s – interesting stuff and small world!
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| Foxy & Snowy |
So memories from Nepal – well
having to put a jumper on in the evening – you do miss that readers. Staying with a really nice and hospitable DC
who has two mad dogs (Snowy and Foxy) and seeing / hearing about the reality and specialness of
an ancient land. Roll on next time.
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| Lake Phewa at Sunset |