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Nepal Pt16: Spending Deepawali in Kathmandu

At the end of my trek I was able to fly back to Kathmandu from Lukla with no problems. It was a pleasant change from the beginning of the trek when my flight was cancelled and we had to take a bus and then walk four extra days. From the airport, Shambu and I took a taxi and he dropped me off at my hotel, the Kathmandu Guest House. Then he had to head straight home. He didn't have any time for rest and recuperation before he had to leave on another trip. While I could relax and enjoy a sense of accomplishment, he had to rush to get ready to lead his next trek. I guess that's the nature of seasonal work.

I had a reservation at the Kathmandu Guest House but it was only 8:30 in the morning when I got there. That's serious early check in. I was impressed that they let me into my room right away. KGH is not the fanciest place in Kathmandu (that would be the Yak and Yeti) but I really like it. They always do everything they can for you. The location in the center of Thamel is great and I love their garden. They have a lot of history with famous climbers and celebrities who have stayed there. The rates are reasonable. Most importantly, it's neat and clean. It's definitely the place to stay in Kathmandu as far as I am concerned.

With all that said, they do have one area where they could use some improvement - bag storage. Most trekkers and climbers leave some things behind in Kathmandu when they go into the mountains. There are strict weight limits on flights to remote airstrips like Lukla. Even more importantly, there are limits because a porter has to carry anything that you bring along on the trek that you are not currently wearing or using. So most people pack up a bag with their extra stuff and leave it at their hotel in Kathmandu.

KGH will store a bag for you at no charge if you are staying there after your trek. I took advantage of that service on a previous trip in 2008 when I went to the Annapurna Sanctuary. I had a claim check for my bag so I thought it would be easy to retrieve it when I came back. Wrong. In fact, it was so wrong, that doesn't even come close to covering it.

WRONG!!!!

I assumed that since I had a numbered claim check, that all the bags would be stored using some system by number. Nope. There was just a big room that was packed to the ceiling with bags, with absolutely no rhyme or reason. Whenever they stored a bag, they just put it wherever they could find a spot. Even worse, when we couldn't find my bag in there, it turned out there was another room completely filled with stored bags. And then another. And another. There were four in all. Some of the stuff seemed to be ancient. It wouldn't have surprised me if Mallory and Irvine's stored bags were still in there someplace. It took the two of us about an hour of searching to locate my bag.

On my next trip to Nepal in 2009 it was even worse. I spent a whole afternoon looking and it took me four hours before I found my stuff.

Given my past experience I was a little nervous this time when I gave my claim check to one of the hotel staff. Sure enough, he took me to a big room completely filled with bags and started to look around at random. Apparently they hadn't instituted a more systematic way of storing bags anytime in the last eight years. We both looked for about fifteen minutes when he told me that I should just go to my room and he would find it. I was doubtfull but I did have clean clothes with me from the trek and a shower sounded really good. I figured I would have to come back and find it myself later. I had lots of time. The guy surprised me though. When I came back a half hour later he had found it. Since he didn't even know what my bag looked like he had to match the numbers on the tag which was definitely the hard way to do it. I was impressed.

I had some time in Kathmandu before I flew back to the US. Since the flights from Lukla are very dependent on the weather I gave myself several days buffer just to make sure I would make it back in time for my international flight. I was scheduled to fly back to Kathmandu on a Tuesday morning and then didn't leave for the US until Friday evening. Since my flight from Lukla was right on time, that gave me three days to relax in Kathmandu before heading home.

I didn't do any sightseeing during that time. I did that on previous trips to Nepal. I had climbed the hill west of the city to reach the Buddhist shrine of Swayambhunath with its sacred monkeys in the surrounding woods. I had visited the temple at Pashupatinath, where the Hindus of the city cremate their dead. I had circled the Buddhist stupa at Boudhanath, which is one of the largest in the world. I had been to Durbar Square in Patan and seen its beautiful wooden temples and palaces. I heard that Durbar Square especially had suffered from the earthquake in 2015 and work to restore it has been slow. Going there would have just been sad.

I spent quite a bit of my time wandering around Thamel and did a lot of shopping there. I got a turquoise necklace for Sandy. She deserved something for being supportive of me being gone so long on my trip to Nepal. There are a lot of jewelry shops and the prices are quite low. What I got was nice but moderately priced. I was nervous about buying anything too expensive as there are no consumer protection laws in Nepal and fake jewelry is quite common.

A better buy, something Nepal is famous for is cashmere and pashmina scarves. Made from special goat wool, they are extremely soft and come in many beautiful colors and designs. They're very elegant but are a good deal in Kathmandu so I bought several as Christmas gifts for friends and family. I also got a nice painting of a Himalayan mountain scene, although I'm not sure where I'm going to hang it. We might have to get a bigger house some day so I have more wall space.

Those were my major purchases but I got a lot of little stuff too. I got a warm hat and glove set made of baby yak wool for Sandy. I bought trekking maps and guidebooks to use for my Dog Blog writeups and to help me plan future trips to Nepal. And tshirts. I bought a lot of tshirts, because that's what I do.

My last purchase was a CD. It was only $3.50 USD but for me is a special souvenir of Kathmandu. Wherever I went in Thamel, there seemed to be a shop on every block that sold CD's and DVD's, probably most of them bootleg copies. They would be playing music, the way music stores do everywhere, but it was always the same music, a particular Buddist chant. Not just a specific chant, but a specific version and recording that is forever stuck in my head and associated with being in Kathmandu. On the very first morning of the trip, the first time that I left the hotel, I only walked a few yards before I heard the Om Mani Padme Hum chant. The music made me think "Yup. I am definitely back in Nepal." Well actually, it was the music and the dust and the crowds of people and the traffic noise and the garbage in the street and the exhaust smells. But mainly it was the music.

When I wasn't out walking or shopping I spent time just relaxing in the garden at the hotel. The fall weather in Kathmandu was just about perfect. Although the Kathmandu Guest House is in the middle of the Thamel tourist district, which is a totally crazy place, the garden is like an island of peace and tranquility. Set back from the road and completely walled off, it's quiet and restful. You would never suspect that just outside are the crowds and confusion of Thamel. All around the garden the flowers were in bloom (which I thought was strange since it was fall) and the Buddhist shrines added to the atmosphere of calm. It was very pleasant to sit in the garden with a glass of Everest lager, either reading a book or going through my pictures from the trip, feeling incredibly pleased with myself for successfully making it through the trek.

I also have to admit that I spent a lot of time eating while I was in Kathmandu. On the trek I didn't eat much, mainly because I just wasn't very hungry. Due to a lot of hard hiking combined with the effects of high altitude I never had much of an appetite. There wasn't much choice at the teahouses where we stayed either, at least not food that I totally trusted. I would eat spaghetti, or french fries, or chapatis, or often just nothing. Shambu said that he told his wife that I was like a little kid. If everything wasn't just to my liking then I wouldn't eat anything. I told him "Hey, I resemble that remark".

While I was at the Kathmandu Guest House, I started off every morning with a good breakfast (it was included with my room). They had a buffet with an impressive selection of fresh fruit, as well as pastries, croissants, and Nepalese pancakes. They also had a variety of cooked dishes, which I am not big on for breakfast, but I made an exception for the pasta. Noodles for breakfast sounds weird but I loved it. I can eat pasta anytime, anywhere. Eating outside in the garden was very pleasant. Sandy is a breakfast person and all I could think was that she would have really enjoyed it.

While I was careful what I ate in the mountains, there are some good restaurants in Thamel that I know (and trust) from previous trips. La Dolce Vita is right across the street from KGH and I ate lunch there every day. One afternoon there were two couples at the table next to me. We started to chat and I found out that they were Italians. One woman said that La Dolce Vita definitely had the best pizza in Kathmandu. So there, it's official. They have good pizza.

I also liked their pasta. It reminded me of Barbiere's, my favorite Italian restaurant in my hometown of Milwaukee. They didn't have Coke Zero (I never did see Diet Coke in Nepal) so I always had fresh lemon soda with my meal. It was a bottle of selzer water with fresh lemon slices. It was really refreshing and tasted great with spicy Italian food.

I usually had dinner at the Roadhouse Cafe. It's only a block down the road from the hotel. They had good pizza too. It's actually a chain with several locations in Kathmandu, other cities in Nepal and even one in New Dehli. I found out later that they are the same people who own La Dolce Vita. I guess that shows that my tastes are consistent. On my last night I even had a glass of wine before dinner. It was a Sauvignon Blanc from Sula Vinyards, an Indian winery. I didn't even know that they made wine in India but I guess the conditions would be right in the Himalayan foothills. I thought it was pretty good too.

I never did make it to Fire and Ice, another well known pizza place in Thamel. There name comes from the fact that they serve both pizza and ice cream. I just was too nervous about eating dairy products in Nepal, even at a reputable restaurant. It was tough because I had a real craving for ice cream by this time but I held out. As soon as I was back in the US though I made Sandy go out somewhere that I could order a sundae. Two scoops with salted carmel, pecans and whipped cream.

Just by chance, the days that I spent in Kathmandu after the trek were during one of the main festivals of the year in Nepal. It was Deepawali, the Festival of Lights, and it lasts for five days. It's celebrated in many countries in Southern Asia. When I lived in Singapore it was a national holiday known as Deepavali and Sandy and I would go to the Little India neighborhood to see the lights and decorations. In Nepal it's usually called Tihar. Although it's primarily a Hindu festival, in Nepal it is also celebrated by other groups such as Newar Buddhists.

At first I didn't realize that it was Deepawali but the first night I was out walking I noticed that many of the buildings were decorated with lights. Think Christmas decorations in the West. Lines of colorful prayer flags were strung across the street every ten feet or so. It certainly looked like a celebration of some kind. Thamel is always busy but there were more people than usual out and about. A lot more. Then a big parade came down the street, probably several hundred people. The streets are extremely narrow so everyone just stepped aside to make room. Traffic had to turn away and find a different route. You couldn't get through till the parade went by, although most people were watching and taking photos and vidoes anyway, including me. It reminded me of a small town Fourth of July parade, a lot of ordinary people, many of them with young kids. Some were in special costumes while others just wore everyday clothes. Everyone was carrying candles. There were a lot of people with drums or cymbals, all of them making a lot of noise although as you can see no two of them were in sync. People were having a lot of fun though.

Part of Deepawali is a celebration of the special bond between people and various animals, with each day dedicated to a different one. My favorite is the second day which is called Kukur Tihar. Dogs are honored and people make special treats for them. They decorate dogs with garlands of flowers and even put tika (also called tilaka), a mark made of red powder, yogurt and rice, on their foreheads. I thought it was pretty funny to see dogs with red marks on their foreheads wearing necklaces of marigolds.

Deepawali involves the worship of Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity. On the third day of the festival, people invite her into their homes and businesses by constucting rangoli on their doorsteps. These are beautiful decorations made of colored rice grains and flower petals arranged in intricate patterns. People spent a lot of time constructing them. I walked around all evening watching people work on them and admiring the incredible artwork. There weren't any more parades that night but sometimes groups of people would just start singing and dancing in the street. Later that night a group of costumed dancers and musicians came into the garden at the hotel and performed for the guests. It was kind of the Hindu equivalent of Christmas caroling.

An area was roped off in the lobby of the Kathmandu Guest House for a large rangoli, maybe seven feet by seven feet. It was incredibly detailed and beautiful and a lot of effort had to go into making it. It was probably the most impressive rangoli that I saw although even the small ones took a lot of effort. Next day when I went out, a lot of the rangoli in the street were gone, although the one in the lobby at the KGH stayed for a couple of days. All that hard work was for only one night, but it had been impressive.

I saw Shambu one more time before I left for home. The day after we got back to Kathmandu he and his son stopped by the hotel. I had asked during the trek if the company that he worked for, Himalayan Odyssey Nepal Trek, sold tshirts. He told me he would check but it turned out that they didn't. Instead he had two tshirts that he had made specially for Sandy and me that were embroidered with their logo (which I think is a pretty cool logo). I know that he was really busy getting ready to start a new trek early the next morning, so I was impressed that he had taken the time to get the tshirts made.

I returned the duffel he had loaned me for the trek and gave him some extra gear that I wasn't taking home. He offered to have dinner but I told him that since he only had one night in town he should spend it with his family. We said our goodbyes. It had been good to see him again on this trip and we had a great time together on the trek. He told me that since he would be gone, his son would come by and take me to the airport when it was time for me to leave.

The last evening before I left was pretty quiet and I was just about ready to turn in for the night. I picked up a Coke Zero at the market across the street to have with half a package of Pringle's that I had left in my room. Then I was going to pack my things and go to bed. I figured it would be quick since I had all my stuff spread out and sorted on top of the dressor. When I picked up the Pringles I saw that the can was crawling with ants. The lid was on tight so I don't know how they got into a sealed package but they did. I took it outside and threw it away and returned to figure out where they were coming from. There was a trail all the way across the dresser, which was probably six feet long, over to the wall and then down to the floor. Since all my stuff was stacked on the dresser, everything was full of ants. Instead of going to bed, I spent the next two hours unfolding every piece of clothing that I had and picking off any ants that had gotten on it. Then I went to the front desk and explained the problem. They were very apologetic and sent a guy up with a can of Raid. He sprayed the trail the ants had used so no more would come in. That did the trick and I didn't see any more, either that night or the next morning. It wasn't exactly the quiet and calm last evening I had expected though.

Shambu's son was coming to pick me up at 1:30 pm. I was packed up and ready to go. Between getting rid of some of my stuff and having discipline on my purchases (I know, that's hard to believe), my duffel bag was under 20 kg. I was pretty proud of that. It meant I wouldn't have to worry about baggage limits on any of my international flights. I was in the lobby and waiting well ahead of time. I was finally ready to go home. I knew that I had a long trip ahead of me and was anxious to get started.

1:30 came and went. Five minutes late. Then ten minutes late. I was starting to worry when he finally came running up at 1:45. I was surprised to see him on foot. It's a long way to the airport so I kinda thought he would come in a cab. He told me that there was a big parade that was blocking the road. He had left the cab a couple of blocks away and walked to the hotel. I grabbed my bag and followed him. Now I was really glad that I had kept the weight down. In that short, hurried walk to the taxi I gained a real appreciation for the work that Awshuk had done carrying my duffel bag on the trek.

We made it to the cab and had no more problems getting to the airport. The parade that had blocked us wasn't scheduled, it had just occured spontaneously. It was an impromptu celebration as part of Deepawali. Chaos is just normal in Kathmandu.

I was nervous about getting through the Kathmandu airport but it turned out to be easy. I got through check in, security and immigration quickly and was at the gate several hours early with nothing to do but wait. For once something in Kathmandu had gone smoothly.

The flight was uneventful and my only problem came in Dubai. The Holiday Inn wouldn't pick me up from the regional terminal because their shuttle driver had already gone home. They told me to take a taxi and they would reimburse me. Since I didn't have any local currency I had to use a credit card. The driver didn't like that and said it wouldn't work. When I told him it was that or talk to the hotel people to get his money he finally got it to work on the third try.

Then when I thought my problems were finally over, the lady in the hotel tried to reimburse me in cash. The last thing I needed was a small amount of UAE money (in Dirhams, in case you are interested). I had another hassle getting her to credit it to my room bill because she had already run the charge through. She had to cancel everything and then do it all over again. It seemed like it took forever but I finally got checked in. I fell asleep as soon as I got to my room.

The next day there were no problems at all. It was just long and boring. I was up with my alarm at 5:30 am. I was ready and waiting when breakfast opened at 6 and finished in time to catch the 6:30 shuttle to the airport. I had a long wait there. Then I had a very long fourteen hour flight, in a middle seat again. I usually just read on airplanes but at some point it felt like my brain was fried. I gave up and watched a movie. It was The Matrix, an oldie but goodie. I finally made it to Seattle and eventually to Boise. The trip from Kathmandu took two days.

I had a wonderful time. It was a fantastic trip but I had been gone for four weeks so I was glad to see Sandy again. Abby wagged her tail and gave me a warm welcome too. It was good to finally be home.

Now I just want to know when I can go back to Nepal again.