We have been in Kathmandu, Nepal for almost a month now, and we thought we would give you a little description of our temporary home. Despite some of the less than enjoyable attributes of this city, we have grown to love those we are staying with and everyone we meet associated with The Way. Their love and kindness make up for anything the city lacks. That being said, we introduce to you… (Drum roll please) Kathmandu:
Elevation: 1350 meters, 4,423 feet
Temperature: Cold, above freezing most of the time, but cold, especially when it’s cloudy outside or rainy, then it’s even colder. None of the homes are heated, and even though the concrete and brick can hold some heat from the day, even inside it’s pretty cold, especially in the rooms that don’t get much sunlight. We mainly wear a fleece and our down REI jacket’s all the time, because it’s cold. We are very comfortable at night though with our 3 thick, blankets. And it does get warm when we sit in the sun, either on the grass or on the roof.
Currency: Nepali Rupees, or NRs. It’s about 72 or 73 NRs to one US Dollar.
Religion: Mostly Hindu, but there is also a large Buddhist population. The Buddhists and Hindu get along quite nicely; in fact they even share temples for some festivals. Neither of these groups gets along very well with those of The Way, especially Hindus.
Population: Kathmandu has around 1 million people in the city, up from 700,000 just 4 years ago, and there are 3 million people in the “Kathmandu Valley”, which is the large area around the city, although it is hard to tell sometimes when the city ends and another area begins.
The People: The people are for the most part helpful and friendly. The children we come across around town are always very friendly and love to practice their English on us. There are a few exceptions as one lady stuck her tongue out at Krista and kind of glared at me as we walked on by (not really sure why any of that happened – maybe something spiritual).
Anyone associated with The Way has been very, very nice to us and we are always given really great tea wherever we go, and usually a meal, although sometimes we decline as it may not sit well with our sensitive American stomachs.
Sights, sounds and smells: Kathmandu is very crowded, dirty and dusty. Any stream or water we see usually has quite a bit of trash in it, and some places on the side of the road have become local dumping areas. There also seems to be a haze that has settled over the city, probably a mix of exhaust and dirt that has been kicked up by traffic in the very dry winter months, an occasional rain, although cold, sure cleans up the air, and makes for some great views of the Himalayas. A lot of locals, and bus drivers, wear masks to keep from having to breathe this haze.
The city is pretty loud as well, with a constant hum of horns, some of which are quite fun and entertaining, dogs barking, and during the day, children playing.
As far as smells go, there seems to be a slight underlying odor of car fumes and trash that is mixed with the occasional whiff of incense being burned in one of the shops. You tend to get used to the smells so that a whiff of incense kind of shocks you.
Infrastructure: Most of the streets are very narrow, and it’s amazing that people, bicycles, motorbikes, cars and buses, oh, and chickens, goats, dogs and cows, can actually share the road. Which means walking on these streets makes for quite an adventure (no sidewalks) and both Krista and I have been hit by side mirrors of cars while they were passing us. Now, most vehicles honk to let you know they’re coming, but with so much honking going on, it’s easy to just tune it out and not pay attention.
There is one “large”, two plus lane (unpainted) road which wraps around Kathmandu, like a big “ring” and is therefore called Ring Road. This is the main road in Kathmandu, and nearly everything is accessed from Ring Road.
The central and older parts of the city have very old brick buildings, sometimes with roofs made of dirt and grass. The newer areas have nice, newer homes that are usually multiple stories and made of concrete and brick. Any piece of land that doesn’t have a building on it will be used as a garden or farmland. Every square inch in the city, and some of the country, is used.
Our Lodging: We are staying at the Blessing House, a four story concrete and brick house. We have the 3rd floor all to ourselves, unless they have other guests, and we are blessed to have a bathroom right off our room, and to be on the south side of the house, which means we get the best sunshine in the day. The house is also in a great location, it is 3 blocks from the Ring Road and close to all the “projects” that our hosts are running.
The Food: Typical Nepali food is Daal Bhaat Tarkari and is eaten with your hands. Daal is like a lentil soup, bhaat is white rice, and tarkari is a generic term for vegetables cooked, usually cooked in some kind of curry. On special occasions, or if you are wealthy, you also get masu which is the generic term for meat and can include chicken, buffalo, goat, or wild boar (no cow here, so buffalo, or buff, is the “beef”). We’ve found that Nepali food is generally not very spicy by itself, but they usually have some achar on the side, ground up pickles, and this is spicy! Be careful how much of this you throw on your plate. For spicy food, grab some Newari food! The Newari is another people group that lives around Kathmandu, and their food is spicy, but delicious. And we can’t forget Krista’s favorite, the bread! Here it is chapati or roti, both are similar to India’s Naan, and both are delicious.
Shopping: There really doesn’t seem to be a “downtown”, mall, or central shopping area for the locals, every little area has shops within minutes that will have everything from chicken (alive or dead) to wild boar (mostly dead) to internet to medicine to chocolate to photo printing… pretty much the works.
There are some bigger market areas that will have larger selections of goods. For the tourists, there is Thamel, which has all sorts of outdoor gear (funny though, how every jacket looks the same but has different brand names on them, from North Face to Mountain Hardwear), restaurants and places to stay. And there is one grocery store/ department store call Bhat Bhateni that has everything in one place, inside a nice building, with good parking, and at a fixed cost, we do get a “special” price when we visit some of the smaller shops and the price isn’t on the item. Big fan of Bhat Bhateni. Items are for the most part less expensive here than in the States, especially considering the exchange rate. We just bought a medium size jar of Peanut Butter for $2 US. The big exceptions are Cadbury’s chocolate and Snickers, they’re pricey.
Transportation: Lots of walking! Everything is pretty close to the Blessing House… 5 minutes to the main “gathering” building, 20 minutes to the children’s home, 25 minutes to the Bible College, and 30 minutes to Thamel, the tourist shopping area, and Justin’s favorite coffee and internet cafe!
Taxis are another option, and are relatively inexpensive. To get a Taxi to Bhaktapur, an hour away, it costs 550 NRs, or roughly $7.50 US. To get to Thamel, it’s around 200 NRs, or $2.75 US.
There are also buses, big ones and little minibuses, which travel around Ring Road. These busses are very cheap, but crowded and you have to be able to communicate with the “Bus Master” (every bus has a driver, and then someone who hangs out the door to drum up business and inform potential customers of the route for that bus). One time, on the way to visit a Buddhist temple, we had our host write down the name of the temple in Nepali, which was very helpful when the Bus Master wasn’t sure what we were trying to say. We just showed him the hand written name and we were all set, he even informed us what stop we wanted… all for about 30 NRs, or $.42 US, for both of us.
In any vehicle, or walking even, the trend is to stay to the left side of the road, but really it’s more of a free-for-all with a few honks of the horn to let the other vehicle know you are overtaking them. That makes any ride an adventure, with lots of horn honking and sudden stops, especially when you are trying to overtake a vehicle that really doesn’t want to be overtaken and the on-coming traffic isn’t giving way to you either. This jerky style of driving can lead one to become a little car-sick, but rolling down the windows just adds dust and various odors to the situation, not really helping. Not to mention it can get quite hot in a vehicle during the day, but again, rolling down the window has its own side-effects that may make a hot drive seem the favorable option.
