Sunday 12 August 2007

Day 4

Nameste,

I went to Thamel (Main area of Kathmandu) on Friday. It was amazing there, its a hive of shops, people and traffic!
We started off by catching the bus there- a minibus crammed full of people (so much so that people were hanging out of the doors!) It takes about 45 minutes to walk there and the same by bus as the traffic is so bad.
The streets are really narrow, and tall, ancient buildings that are still used as shops are all around. The smells of fresh popcorn, fumes, street food, rain and heat all mingle and it is a real assault on you senses. There does not seem to be any real order here, cars, bikes, push bikes and pedestrians seem to use the same roads and streets and you have to put your hand on the cars to stop them running you over if you want to cross the street- You never feel in danger though as nothing is moving faster than about 2 miles an hour!
We (Steph and Damian- two guys from England and James- from New Zealand) wandered for hours just taking in the sites and smells of this amazing city.
When we decided to leave we stupidly decided to get a taxi from the centre- big mistake! It only cost us 200 rupees (About 2 pounds) but it took us an hour to get about 200 meters!

Yesterday I just stayed at the hostel and studied all day on the Nepali language, it is really difficult! Hom, our teacher and co-coordinator is really good but he is trying to fit the whole language in in 5 days and it is a real strain. It is really fun learning a new language though, I hope to pick it up quite quickly.
The rain has started up again, last night was the most amazing thunder storm I have ever seen! Lightning from the distance that filled the night sky and lit up the mountains- I wish you could see the photo's I took.

Be back soon

all the best,

Alfie

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wassup? Hows the food? You know we have got to pay a lot of money for that over here. Remind me not to shake your left hand. what's going on with your accommodation, are you staying with a family? Hey only 50 weeks to go. We're already planning your return. Get us some more photos. Hit me back just to chat. Tim & the bitch (mike)

Anonymous said...

Aren't they such big gays!! Must confess that we're pretty impressed with all the description of everything that you're putting on here its like we're there too!! ;) we are truly being that selfish and counting down the weeks though its now 49!! Take it easy man speak soon Jen xxx

. said...

Hey Alfie,
Glad to hear your having a good time! Just want to say hey and hope alls well. All is fine here in Uganda - currently experiencing the 3 week dip but know all will be good soon!
See you in a year!!
Jonathan

Anonymous said...

you can post pictures and photos on this site with your blog. it would be good to see them.x sounds exciting. x