Exploring Kathmandu

We consider taking a trip to an outlying area for a look at one of the best-preserved temple areas, but decide against it because it will take at least an hour out and back, plus we want to see Kathmandu’s Darbur Square. And with our tour meeting tonight, we need to be back by 5. Turned out to be a good decision. As we were making our way down to the square, we noticed two things: one, there was little traffic.

Could this be Saturday morning light? Then we saw that the local people were dressed up in beautiful, colorful clothing with sashes and badges. We quickly learned that it was a festival day in Kathmandu, marking the beginning of winter and honoring the farming communities. The people came from all parts of the city, representing their schools and community organizations and playing musical instruments as they marched toward the temple. We stood at the major intersection in town and took it all in. A young man approached us and explained to us what was happening. As the parade started to dwindle, we followed the crowd down to the square. The young man stayed with us, showing us several offerings with beautiful flowers and sand drawings on the ground. We kept walking and he kept talking – and of course, we realized that he was becoming our tour guide and would most certainly expect a fee. Hoyt asked him what his business was today – was he here to find a job as a tour guide for the day? He said no, don’t think of him as a tour guide but just a guide and that he was doing it to help people learn. He added, if you want to buy me some food that would be OK. So, we stop at a small market and he picks out a few things, and says that we can give him 1,350 rupees for some milk and bread. That’s $16 or so US – pretty steep! Hoyt offers him 700 rupees – and he was not happy. He said it was “beggar’s price” and gave the money back to us. We pushed it back into his hand and he asked “ are you happy with this?” We said yes, and then he took off without a word. Fortunately, Hoyt’s map and compass were enough to get us on the right track and we had little problem finding our way to the square. We were tiring of the uninvited tour, in any case. The festival culminated at the square and the participants were walking around at a fever pitch – throwing flowers and rice, and banging drums in a very spirited manner. More self-employed guides tried to get us to hire them but we declined. We enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon of people-watching and also found a bakery with some very yummy sweets which served as our lunch. Late afternoon we made our way back to the Kemel, just in time to meet our tour group and our guide for the Nepali portion of our trip. The group seems very nice and we had a great dinner together, back to the Kemel House where we enjoyed our first night’s meal. Our guide, however, seems detached from the group. His opening statement to the group was something to the effect,” I’m not going to be doing much for you,” since we would have local guides every day. He described tomorrow’s itinerary very briefly and tol us to be ready at 9:00 am tomorrow to meet our local guide, said good night and did not join us for dinner. We hope he becomes more involved with us to impart his knowledge, not just collect our money and get us from point a to point b. We miss Gede! Wonder if he would come to Nepal?? Time will tell – too soon to rush to judgment just yet. Great day all around.