A Day in the Life... October
15-23, 1998
The hippies used to stay in the old city on a street called "freak street"
here in Katmandu. We are staying in a part of town called Thamel, This is where all the
poor travelers and backpackers stay now. This has both its good points and bad points.
Around every turn there are touts selling one of six things: 1. Tigerbalm and Swiss army
knives (its a combo deal, although we don't know why?) 2. Pocket Chess 3. beaded necklaces
4. Hashish 5. trekking tours. 6. or a ride in a rickshaw. This becomes quite annoying very
quickly. On the upside all the restaurants and hotels (guesthouses) are very accommodating
and very conscious to make sure all food is safe to eat. We have also met many people like
us from all over the world staying here in Thamel.
We are staying at the Hotel Swoniga, we pay about 10 dollars a night for a room with
private bathroom. The building is new and very clean. We could pay less at one of many
"guest houses" but we doubt they would be as clean or nice, and we know we will
have such nice accommodations later on in the trip. They have also offered to lock our
bags for us when we leave for three weeks to trek in the mountains, and unlike some of the
other places we trust our bags will be here when we get back (were keeping our fingers
crossed).
The average meal costs about 3 dollars for the both of us and has included: pizza,
momos (potstickers), indian food, pastas, eggs and potatoes and lots of coffee. We have
found that almost all the "western" food tastes the same but it's all satisfying
and tasty regardless.
Our daily schedule usually consists of:
7am Jeff wakes Mike up
7:30-9:30 Breakfast
9:30-11:30 nap time
11:30-2:00 organizing/planning(sightseeing along the way)
2:00-3:00 light lunch
3:00-6:00 touring and sightseeing
6:00-9:00 optional email/nap/touring time
9:00-10:30 cocktails and dinner
11:00 lights out
3:45 Mike yells at Jeff to stop snoring
