Kathmandu

After a very pleasant bus ride back to Kathmandu (1200m), which was quite uneventful apart from a minor traffic jam caused by an overturned bus. Actually, this was quite interesting to see (no, grotesque corpse's were not scattered around randomly). What was interesting was they way in which the bus was being pulled back up the embankment. Basically, they had rigged a pull system and were winching the thing up the side, back onto the road, by hand.. seems most things in Nepal get done by hand.

In Kathmandu we decided to stayed the last night as a group in the same hotel, which we stayed in, when we were still wet behind ears, so many many moons ago. Then again, they did kindly toss our left bags into a lockable cupboard for free for 20+ days, so it's good traveler etiquette to at least stay at least one night. Also we went and a had a couple of beers at the infamous "Rum Doodle" bar, where a the place is supposedly legendary as the meeting place of worldwide outdoor adventurers and mis-adventures (according to the really irritating advert, you get to watch a couple of hundred times while trying to get through passport control when you arrive in Kathmandu Airport). Personally, the place was disappointing.

Next day, I found myself alone in Kathmandu (no, I did not get blindly drunk and lost my hotel). First on the agenda was relocation ... I found a really nice cheapish hotel in a quite side street, with really friendly staff and pretty decent single rooms, with attached bathroom (think I paid about 320 Rs a night), called "Red Planet". This was to be my base of operations, so to speak for the next 9 or so days. So, what is there to do in Kathmandu ... well not much.

The Kathmandu Valley is pretty large and contains a couple of cities, of these cities there are three royal cities, namely Kathmandu, Patan & Bhaktapur. Patan is on the south side of the very dirty and revoltingly polluted Bagmati River and is about 1 hours walking distance from Kathmandu. I never initially intended to walk to Patan. Initially I wanted to catch the bus to Bhahtapur and after finally finding the "correct" bus station, I was informed that the bus drivers were on strike (sounds like home), so I figured I had time to kill (I actually walked past the strike, so it was not a hoax).

Patan is also known as Lalitpur, meaning city of beauty an hence it is considered to be the oldest and most beautiful among the three cities, though this is debatable. The most important monument of the city is Patan Durbar Square, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's nice enough, but much the same as Kathmandu's Durbar Square. Interestingly the city was planned on a circular format with Buddhist stupas at each of the four points of the compass. Read more about Patan.

Bhaktapur lies about 12 KM east of capital city Kathmandu and is a quick 45min bus trip and is known as the "the city of Devotees". It really is a stunning place to get lost in. which I did, a few times, just following little streets and side roads. Actually the Lonely Planet guide book has an excellent walking tour through Bhaktapur, which gets you to all the major sights like Bhaktapur Durbar Square, Taumadhi Square, Dattatreya Square and Pottery Square. No Tuk-Tuk's or cars are allowed into the old city (I saw one, but it was wrecked), which makes walking a pleasure and the architecture & integrally carved wooden decorations of the old buildings make it well worth getting lost.

After seeing Kathmandu, Patan & Bhaktapur, you are officially "templed out" and your head is pretty sore from constantly bumping it on ceilings and doorways, so I decided to sign-up for a rafting trip down the Bhote Kosi river, with a company called Ultimate Descents (I mention them, because they were really well organized and well trained). The river is described as "Nepal's Steepest action packed rafting trip" / "100% Adrenaline Rush". The rapids in this river are all classed between IV- V at high flow, and a more classic III at lower levels. Don't worry, they don't drop you in the thick of it, the first day is spent lower down the river, where the highest rapid is a class III, teaching you all the required skills you need on the raft. The evening is spent at the Borderland Resort (the place looks amazing, but the accommodation is nothing to write home about), then the next day is action packed, hitting those class IV & V rapids. Not only was the rafting really adrenaline pumping, what really made all the difference was that we had a really good friendly mix of travelers. Could honestly not have asked for better.

Getting back from Rafting, I found I had two more days to kill. Kathmandu is a great transit point between side trips, but staying there for an extended period of time can become pretty boring. So I used the one day to get some shopping done and go to the Kathmandu Zoo (another hour's walk, because it's close to Patan). The zoo is a bit sad, the animals are kept in cages, much those in the Snake and Animal Park on the Hartebeespoort Dam. Also most of the animals are quite tame and generally look pretty "tired of life".

My last day, I rented a Fuji Mountain Bike & bought a "cycling the Kathmandu Valley" and went exporting the surrounding hills, for some rumored wicked single tracks. Looking at the map afterwards, reckon I ended up doing about 80km and without cleats, it was pretty tough (my right knee was not to impressed with me either). Had decided to go up to a peak and into the Shivapuri Watershed and Wildlife Reserve (2700m), which is apparently home to the sloth bear, langur monkey, leopard, barking deer and many species of birds. Did not see any on the way down, then I again at the speed I was going, I don't think even the leopard would have come close to catching me. Damn it was fun, did not find all the single tracks I was looking for, but did find some wicked ones, as well as a couple of army outposts, dotted along the mountain. The last thing a member of the esteemed Nepalese army expects, while eating his Dahl Baht, is some Westerner tearing through his outpost on a Mountain Bike. Also raced a couple of scrambler motor bikes down the last section of really bumpy & muddy dirty road... it was close, but gravity and letting go of the brakes is your friend.

Next day it was off to Thailand.