Patan

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Alan Stock

Day 68

09/11/12

After a lie-in I spent some time organising my bags. I was carrying things I didn’t really use and so I had a bit of a clearout. Late morning I walked to the main bus stops in the middle of town and caught a tempo to Patan, one of the ancient cities which is now part of greater Kathmandu. Tempos are 3-wheeled little vehicles slightly bigger than a tuk-tuk which can cram about 8 people in the back. Most of them are electric and so make little noise. We had some entertainment whilst we waited to depart – a guy behind us had his car bonnet open fiddling with the radiator, and it suddenly exploded water all over him!

In Kathmandu they sell books on the street like this

The tempo filled up becoming very cramped. There’s a handy metal bar running right along the small of your back just in case you weren’t uncomfortable enough. I’ve come up with a new phrase to help deal with all of Nepal’s little gripes, stolen from Africa. There they say TIA – “This Is Africa” – usually referring to the dangers and chaos of normal life. So for this country – TIN – This is Nepal. We drove for about half an hour in bad traffic (we were only travelling a few kilometers), you couldn’t see anything really through the low and tiny windows. It was super-cheap compared to a taxi, only about 15 rupees (less than 10p!) compared to 250 rupees!

Outside Patan’s Dubar Square

I got off at the Durbar Square in Patan. After being pounced on by an entrance ticket I explored the square. It was very nice, packed with a variety of really old temples and buildings of differing styles, very similar to Bhaktapur, and peppered with tourists and locals. I was pretty hungry so made a beeline out of the square to a recommended café which has a nice little walled garden to have lunch. I caught up in the Lonely Planet about all the sights in the area and decided to walk part of their walking tour around the old backstreets in reverse, starting with the Golden Temple nearby.

Durbar Square

The temple was only small but very old and had a little courtyard lined with golden monkey statues in each corner. One wall was completely gold and set into this wall was a room with the important golden statue inside.

The other statues and carvings in the temple were very ornate and mostly golden or brass. Old people were chilling out on benches around the edge, reading papers or just watching the pigeons.

Upstairs I could hear singing, so I climbed some steps to check it out. In a long chamber was a table surrounded by benches and around twenty people singing to drumbeats.

I watched for a while and then exited to a square outside the temple filled with little stupas. I followed the guide book map for a few hours along little old streets and through loads of tiny courtyards filled with shrines and stupas and passing little old temples, eventually looping back to the Durbar Square.

Now the sun was lower it was better for photos and so I walked around the square taking in the ambiance and snapping shots.

I watched as a bizarrely-dressed old white guy set up some metal bowls on the steps of a temple, wearing a Nepali hat and loose white cotton clothing. An old hippy lady joined him carrying a western harp. She started playing chords and the man produced one of the large metal bowls that create amazing hums when hit or “stroked” around the edge with a dowel.

There didn’t seem to be any purpose for the performance other than for their own amusement and for those around them. Locals soon crowded around to watch, fascinated. The man sometimes lowered the bowl to people’s ears so they could hear its amazing resonance, I tried it and an awesome hum filled my ears. The music suited the mood of the place perfectly as the late afternoon sun turned the square orange.

A classic example of how Nepal’s ancient buildings are still used for daily life – a convenient place to hang your washing!

I chatted to the strange man when he took a break, he was American and seemed pretty spaced out. They were in Nepal to play at a conference in Kathmandu, but he said his motive for playing in Patan was to encourage more people to play the bowls. Back home he has a collection of over forty of all different sizes, but it was so expensive to ship them over to Nepal that he bought a new set here instead!

I stayed for a while soaking up the atmosphere feeling lucky to have come across another nice random event on my travels. Then I wandered around photographing the locals hanging around the square, and hopped on a tempo back to Kathmandu.

A homeless man lies sleeping in the Square

Back at base there was no sign of the Belgian sisters so I went out to get dinner in Thamel at a little vegetarian curry restaurant called Shri Laal that I’d been recommended. On the way I passed through Kathmandu’s Durbar Square to find the end of a big concert going on. A combination of western and Nepali musicians were playing traditional instruments combined with jazz instruments. The atmosphere was buzzing with people dancing and singing along and I stayed for a few numbers. The restaurant curry was very tasty and I walked back home through the dark streets.

The music concert in Kathmandu’s Durbar Square

Passport Woes in Kathmandu

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Alan Stock

The stupa at Bodnath

Day 66 – Location: Kathmandu; Nepal.

07/11/12

Because I didn’t take many photos during this entry, I’ve added some photos from earlier days that didn’t make it into the previous posts.

Camille and her sister didn’t seem to be up so I grabbed breakfast alone and took a taxi to the immigration office, about twenty minutes drive from Freak St. There were lots of tourists queuing up and I wondered if I’d have to wait for hours to speak to someone. Thankfully a Nepali man asked me why I was here, and I explained I needed to talk to someone. “I work here, what do you need?”. Great. I explained the situation and asked how I could extend my visa. “If you don’t have a passport, how can I give you a visa and stamp it?”. Fair enough. “You need to get a temporary passport first and then come here and we can extend the visa.”. Well that was surprisingly straightforward!

A Tibetan woman spins the prayer wheels at Bodnath stupa

I caught another taxi to the British consular. To my dismay, the lady informed me that they couldn’t issue a temporary passport to stay in Nepal. The emergency passport is just to get out of the country. “So what am I supposed to do?” I asked. “Apply for the full replacement passport, confirm it with us and we’ll write a letter for the visa office asking if they can help you.”

So off I headed on a quest to apply for the full passport. This was a mind numbing combination of trawling through internet sites finding out the correct documents to print and forms to fill out, phoning my parents for their personal details, photocopying documents and so on. Even after doing it all I still wasn’t sure if I had all the things they needed, as the websites all have differing information with no clear outline about what you have to give them if it’s been stolen. I took a late lunch at a nice little restaurant called Kumari’s on Freak St which I’d been to before. It’s frequented by locals and travelers, with good, cheap food and a homely atmosphere. I sat outside filling out forms and a local guy sat down on my long table and started chatting to me. He was formerly a pilot and had visited the UK to learn to fly small aircraft. He was starting a business in Nepal with two water tankers who would provide people with water when they have water shortages in Kathmandu, under contract. A friend was going to work for him and send him the money – so he planned to move to Thailand to set up a business. A real entrepreneur this guy! He also moaned about the lack of available Nepali girls and wanted to get a Thai girl instead. He bought me a drink and insisted I try some of his meat balls (more innocent than it sounds!). Another example of the friendliness of the Nepalese!

A “rest station” at Pashupanitath

In the evening I had finally finished getting everything together for the application and walked up into Thamel in the hopes of finding a courier office that was open. Thankfully the area stays open later than the rest of the city and I found a few couriers open. I bundled all the forms into an envelope with a cover letter explaining the situation, asking them to contact me straight away if there were any problems and prayed I had enclosed everything I needed. It should arrive in Hong Kong in a few days and from then the new passport would arrive within 4 weeks in Nepal. The next problem for me would be getting Nepali immigration to allow me to stay without any passport. Exhausted, I headed to the hotel and worked on the diary for the rest of the evening. There was no sign of Camille and her sister but she’d left me a note saying they’d missed me and we’d catch up tomorrow.

Even the bridges have stalls

Day 67

08/11/12

I slept pretty well despite the cold. It’s getting a lot colder here at nights, winter is coming in a few weeks. I found Camille and her sister downstairs in the restaurant, about to head out. They were off to Bhaktapur for a big day of sightseeing. I wished them well, I had another day of visa joy to look forward to.

The dirty river in Kathmandu, with birds of prey circling overhead

I took a taxi to the British consular and told the lady there I’d applied for a full passport. She wrote me an official letter explaining the limitations of the temporary passport and asking the visa people to help me out. I thanked her and caught a taxi to the immigration office. It was chaos there again. I asked a random guy for help who turned out to work there. You wouldn’t know it, none of them have uniforms.

I had to go through the same explanations and was again told without a passport how can I extend the visa? But I said without a passport what can I do? Finally he conceded and said I could stay in the country until my full passport arrived, then I should come back there with all of the supporting documents and I’d have to pay a fine and other visa fees. That was fine with me, I figured it would still be cheaper than buying a temporary passport and getting out of Nepal at the last minute. He scribbled down his contact details so I could contact him if I had any trouble. A big weight was off my shoulders – now I could stay in Nepal until the new passport arrived (fingers crossed the application was ok).

Tikka dye vendor at the Durbar Square

Feeling good I phoned the Consular to let them know, and got a taxi back to Freak St. I spent the rest of the day catching up on the diary, which was still a week behind. I got a snack at Kumaris and again a random local guy chatted to me, curious about my Kindle. It’s a great place to meet the locals.

Durbar Square, this statue gets a lot of offerings

I spent the evening in the hotel restaurant. I’ve got to know the waiter here a bit, a young Nepali guy who speaks English but is often unintelligible. When he reads my diary on the screen you can’t understand a word of it. He inserts S sounds into everything, and can’t pronounce some of our basic sounds like “th”. It makes communication interesting for sure!

Durbar Square, Kathmandu

Kathmandu Streets Photo Walk

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Alan Stock

Day 64 – Location: Kathmandu; Nepal

05/11/12

I woke up pretty late and found Camille, the Belgian girl I’d met yesterday was just getting up too. We decided to hang out. She had a few free days before her sister was arriving from Belgium for a holiday. Cam’s been travelling for a few years all around Asia, and this was her second time in Nepal. We went for breakfast and then walked up to check out a hostel Sophie had stayed at, which she’d recommended. We also popped into the nearby KEEP office, which offers independent trekking advice. Inside they have diaries with trekking accounts and advice from other travelers. A great resource. Out on the terrace we met some French guys and Camille chatted away to them whilst I kind of got the gist of their conversation. They were going trekking and had found the KEEP to be a great help.

Camille on our hotel rooftop

I parted ways with Cam to walk up to the British Embassy nearby to find out what to do about my passport replacement. I got through some heavy duty security there into the office. The lady I’d spoken to on the phone was on the other side of the bullet-proof glass at the counter. There were two big buttons by the window on her side saying BOMB and PANIC. I guess if there’s a bomb you should hit them both? We discussed my options. A temporary emergency passport would let me leave Nepal immediately and enter other countries, but I’d have to specify dates and countries in advance and it expires in a few months. The other option was to apply for a full passport replacement, which is processed in Hong Kong and could be sent to the Nepal embassy. She advised me my next port of call would have to be the Nepal Immigration Office to see if they’d extend my Nepali visa long enough for me to receive the full replacement passport. Unfortunately that office was already closed today. I thanked her and left, pondering what to do about the situation.

Rooftop view of Kathmandu when the birds flock at dusk

Rooftop view of Kathmandu, the birds flocking at dusk

I spent some time on the internet at the hotel researching the replacement passport. The passport and embassy websites all linked to each other with contradicting information about what documents and procedures you have to follow in my situation, really confusing. Camille appeared and I gave up, hanging out with her for the rest of the afternoon. We went to the Yak Tibetan restaurant where I’d been before, to introduce her to the warm millet beer there. A Russian girl met us there who Cam knew from on earlier travels. As usual the place was packed and we ended up waiting for a while for a seat, whilst an annoying beggar boy shoved his hand in our face shouting “MONEY” – ignoring us telling him to get lost, clearly out of his mind on drugs.

We eventually got a table shared with an old German chap, who was a bit odd, but friendly enough. He’s a mountaineer and has climbed peaks all over the world. His latest trek in the Everest region had to be cut short due to altitude problems. A few years ago he’d got a condition when climbing where too much pressure had built in his brain due to the altitude, a problem which has plagued him since. He now has to acclimatize very slowly or it starts affecting him so badly he can’t continue. I felt sorry for him, unable to pursue his passion due to his health.

We stayed quite late and then went up to the hotel roof before bed, watching the stars and listening to music wafting over the rooftops. Its great chilling out above the city like this, everywhere should have rooftops you can relax on!

Day 65 – Location: Kathmandu; Nepal

06/11/12

After a terrible night’s sleep I packed up my stuff and joined Camille to move to a hotel she’d found south of the Durbar square. She wanted somewhere nice to share with her sister for her arrival later tonight. We walked down there with all our things and checked in, just off Freak Street, which is where all the hippies used to stay back in the 60s and 70s. You can tell that the longer term travelers frequent this area, lots of older travelers and vagabonds kicking around, with little cafes, restaurants, cheap guest houses and internet cafes lining the road.

Shrine door

An old street near Freak Street

We didn’t have anything to do so we set off for a photo walk – we both like photography and so we wandered the streets for most of the afternoon. Camille was quite inspiring with her inquisitive nature and interacted with the locals way more than me, especially with young children. We investigated a lot of little backstreets and hidden courtyards.

Camille

Dried fish. Yuk.

We had fun seeing how we each interpret the same scene in photos. We found a bustling food place hidden in a tiny courtyard where they serve samosas and other goodies, packed with locals eating their food out of bowls made from leaves. Pretty cool. Camille showed me a lassi (milk drink) stall she’d found before and I tried it out, it was tasty.

A popular snack found on vendor’s trolleys, different corns including popcorn are mixed with onions and sauce in a paper cone

Temple steps used as a stall

You’d occasionally see people sharpening tools, out of shot a guy is sitting pulling a chain to power the wheel, a bit like a rowing machine at a gym.

Later in the afternoon we returned to the hotel to chill out and I rested for a few hours or two. After a beer I walked Camille to the bus station, she was heading to the airport to meet her sister. It was dark now and Kathmandu has a lack of street lights. People bustle past each other to the lights of passing vehicles and stalls. The bus stops at the main road were chaos with loads of people milling around, mini buses and tuk tuks honking incessantly. Camille was asking people where the buses for the airport were and we kept getting different answers. We were getting sent in circles around the streets whilst time was running out for her. Eventually we got a solid answer for where the bus station was, which revealed we’d been given the wrong information the whole rest of the evening! We finally found the right place, dodging racing traffic in the dark to cross the roads. You can’t even see the pavement here in many places. Luckily the first bus we found was going to the airport and I bid Cam goodbye. I walked back to the hotel and discovered a direct path cutting straight through the park to the bus park from the direction of the hotel. If we’d been given the right info we would have arrived in minutes, not half an hour. That’s travelling for you! I spent the rest of the evening chilling out.