Kathmandu my new home

English below! Bocs mindenkitöl, de most csak összefoglaló lesz magyarul, mivel az olvasóközönség összetetéle idöközben megváltozott. De ajánlom a google translatort, ha a teljes szövegre éheznétek. :) Szóval Nepálba mégse mehetek el blogírás nélkül, és egyelöre még az internet is megoldott. Már 3napja vagyok itt, egyelöre még hasmenés nélkül (!!!). Kathmandu külsö részén lakom, ami kicsit nyugisabb és kevésbé gettós mint ahol szoktam lenni ilyen helyeken... Idö közben megnéztem a helyi föteret (a belvárosét is meg annak a résznek is, ahol lakom). Mint látható a közlekedési lámpa és az áramellátás elég egyszerüen megoldott. A majom és a Buddhák a Majom templomnál voltak, ahol rengeteg majom szabadon garázdálkodik, mert szenteknek vannak nyilvánítva. Holnap elvileg valaki felvesz és elvisz az elsö kórházhoz, ami még itt van a környéken kb 40 percre, Anandaban névre hallgat és elvileg oda is költözök most egy ideig..

Yes. Nepal. A long term dream coming true. A bit difficult to know where to start as last time I wrote in this blog was more than 2 years ago, and in Hungarian. But I am trying to suit it to the audience’s needs which has become more international (or we will see who reads this at all :). 

Ok, so let’s start it from the beginning which was trying to find out how to pack a bag for 2 months when you need everything from everyday clothes to trekking gears and you still need to be able to bear that bag throughout whole Nepal. (Not to mention my survival kit with solar cells, a lot of antibiotics and sutures just in case..) The result:

Big bag weighed “only” 20 kilos so I could have packed 5 kg more.. Whatever, there will be 5 kg souvenirs on the way back. :) . So the whole journey took about 26 hours from door to door. Örebro - Arlanda - Dubai - Kathmandu. Here you can see the Himalaya mountain range from the flight (don’t ask me which mountain is which).

I have been at some airports in my life but I can almost say that Kathmandu was the most chaotic (or I just forgot how was it in India...). I think it was just poor luck I found my luggage just thrown between thousands of others on the ground. Had to go through at least 4 security control where the key of success was to push yourself forward to the front, through other people, otherwise you spend there the whole day. No corona distancing really and no system at all... coming out of the airport as usual I was immediately attacked of taxi drivers who wanted to know all about me and offered “the best price”. At the end I managed to bargain a price which was still twice as much as recommended by google but I just got tired. Surprisingly we reached the goal despite that I almost sit at the drivers seat as I forgot that here they drive on the other side of the road. Now I am at a guest house called Norwegian House (it can only be the best with this name) which Amanda (the swedish doctor who works in Nepal) recommended. It is nice and comfortable, especially if I compare to the places I slept before, for example in (almost the getto of) Delhi. It has a nice cafe attached and a garden and mostly warm shower.

An interesting thing is the time difference which is 4 hours and 45 minutes more compared to Stockholm/Budapest. Don’t know how they figured out this... 

In the evening I had my first nepali meal which is called momo (you can find it in India as well). Dumplings filled with pork (in this case). I managed to choose a restaurant where I was the only guest ( you couldn’t see it from the outside). Thanks to that 3 people from the staff was watching me closely from 2 meters how I eat. I almost felt like in a tasting show. And as the food was so damn spicey I had it difficult to not to cry during the whole time. 

The day after I headed to Patan Durbar Square which is in my area, not exactly downtown Kathmandu, a bit outside. A lot of construction on the way, the square itself as well (maybe bc of the earth quake some years ago?) 

As usual crossing the road is almost equal with a suicide attempt (regardless if there is a zebra). Maybe this traffic “lamp” decribes why. Also an other statement, in Kathmandu electricity cuts are common. Wonder why...

So far I was thinking Kathmandu is not that dirty and chaotic as Delhi but it turned it is only because I have been living in the outskirts. Today I took a taxi to the city and first I visited the Monkey temple. As the name would suggests it is a temple with a lot of monkeys around (as they are thought to be sacred) and huge Buddha statues and a stupa with the Buddhas eye. I also walked to Kathmandus Durbar Square which is similar to the one above just less construction. Then I walked to Thamel which is downtown and basically a huge market where you can buy anything but mostly mountaineering gears and food. Of course you share the streets with motorcyclist from which you have to jump to the side continously. Finally I took a taxi back to Patan (where I live).

Tomorrow someone should come and pick me up from Anandaban Hospital which will be the first place I start, it is about 40 mins from Kathmandu.

So here I will write my updates probably 1-2 times a week so you are welcome back :) Next posts won’t be that long probably.. I know the pictures are not the best but the good ones are on the real camera...