by Lianna

Kathmandu is a weird place. The tourist centre to Kathmandu is Thamel, which being my first introduction to a place purely existing for tourists, freaked me out a little bit. Though after going through China for a month where everything was very different from home, arriving in Kathmandu and being able to buy my favourite British cookies and chocolates that I can’t even find at home made me very happy. There is everything a tourist could ever want here, including wood fired-oven pizzas, steakhouses, and bakeries. I even found myself wandering into one of the many bookstores that stock Himalaya themed books next to worldwide best sellers, and stupidly picking up the book Twilight. Anyone who has read this book (Laurie) knows that I immediately had to go and spend the same amount I would have at home completing the series. Your money can go very quickly in Kathmandu if your not careful even with the price of a good pizza being just over $4, because even if food and books aren’t your thing there are endless shops selling fashion that hasn’t changed since the 70’s – when Kathmandu was put on the map as a tourist spot. Anywhere else you would wonder who the hell buys these clothes, but in Kathmandu you see them walking around in front of you all over the streets. The 70’s lives on here.

There are a few sites that are considered must-sees around the Kathmandu area. So far we have gone to the Monkey Temple, and Durbar Square

The Monkey Temple is actually called Swayambhunath, but is nicknamed for the many Monkeys that seem to own the Buddhist temple. After being in some of the most intense monasteries in Tibet the Buddhist message at Monkey Temple was lost on me, my attention instead being pulled to the many vendors, dogs, tourists and of course monkeys.

It was still a very cool temple though, and if you can make your way up the very long staircase I definitely recommend it if not just for the good views over Kathmandu valley at sunset. We took a cab there and walked back which took about 1 hour

Durbar square was interesting. It was just about a 30 minute walk from Thamel, and is basically a square that has many buildings with interesting architecture. The endless alleys surrounding the square were a good preparation for our next destination of India. Insanity. People buying and selling the most random things, along with street food (that Nick obviously tried) that was also random, such as the hollow blown up pastry filled with mashed potato and water. Mmm! To say the least it wasn’t his favourite and thankful it didn’t make him sick.

The square was full of locals due to some sort of political celebration taking place complete with traditional newari dancing and speakers. It was unclear what was happening as most of the celebrations seemed to be ending when we arrived.

Once it started to get dark the rest of our evening was spent wondering around trying to find our way back to place in Thamel.