Dec 5 (from the Delhi airport)
So long Nepal! What a place. I was probably done with Kathmandu yesterday, but all the same I still don't want to leave. Kathmandu is crazy busy, the weather right now is such that you can't see the mountains (haze) but you can't see the mountains from Thamel really anyway because the streets are so packed - ironic because Thamel is the trekker (people heading to the mtns - not to be confused with Sci-fi enthusiasts) headquarters. On my drive to the airport this afternoon, I saw a bit more of KTM - probably more than I needed to see and at one point I was thinking - oh so this is when I am mugged and kidnapped - I really thought it was when my paragliding experience was stretching into 45 minutes (it was supposed to be 20-30) and I could no longer see any other shoots, and the pilot told me we had just topped 3000 m (we started at about 1500-1600m). See I can describe all this now, from the safety of the Delhi airport.
Speaking of safety ... so there is an election going on in Nepal right now. It is a big deal to run elections in Nepal - voting happens in stages and it seems the stakes are pretty high. There are two major parties - one that may or may not have backers in China, and another (that may or may not have backers from the west, and/or possibly India). Tensions are high, and as such there have been more and more rallies leading up to the vote in the Kathmandu Valley. For instance, when we were wandering toward the famous Durbar Square on the weekend (Saturday) we wandered sort of into a voting awareness rally, and then the traffic stopped, and then we left - one of those feelings you get in your stomach that you shouldn't be there. We (group of 6) made our way back to the touristy places and decided that Durbar Square would be visited on our next trip to Kathmandu. Durbar Square is famous (also a world heritage site), but it sustained a LOT of damage in the 2015 earthquake, and repairs have been challenging.
Signs outside of Durbar Sqare - making sure everyone remembers there was an EQ.
Garden of Dreams - it is a funny little enclave within one of the busiest places in Kathmandu. It was built by a Prime Minister's son after he won a funny game of chance. It has some interesting designs - but gardens in winter are kind of dire.
The roof top of my last hotel - you can see the start of the roof top of the world in the distance.
Looking down at the streets - they seem quiet from here.
My final packing... ya I got a new bag - it is bigger than the old one - a poor knock-off of a TNF bag.
Okay, my internet time is running out, must be time to finish.
