Katmandu, for all its poverty and dilapidated buildings, is a
relatively safe city. In all my walks and travels through the neighborhoods I never once
felt unsafe. In comparison, many times I felt unsafe walking through Bangkok, Thailand or
even cities in California. The people in Katmandu were very friendly and easy going.
This was the first city that I have ever seen that appeared to be crumbling to the ground.
There were no paved streets, some streets had water running through the center of the
street. There were dogs everywhere, some dead, some alive. Most of the buildings were made
out of brick, and most if not all appeared to be only half completed. Some of the brick
buildings were surrounded by bamboo scaffolding. Others looked like a bomb had exploded
inside scattering brick and debris everywhere. Oftentimes you would find recently killed
animals lying in the streets, with their blood draining into a bowl. We saw goats and
chickens lying in the streets. These animals unlike the dead dogs, were going to be eaten
by the locals.
The poverty was overwhelming. We saw children lying in the gutters sleeping, with their
small heads piled on each other. We saw people cooking their meals over a fire on the
sides of the street. If there is a "good" neighborhood" in Nepal we never
found it.
The pollution is among the worst that I have ever seen (comparable to some
places I have been in Africa). It makes certain cities in the US look
mild in comparison. In parts of the city garbage is piled up on the sides of the streets.
You will see wild dogs and other animals picking their way through the scraps. You will
see homeless picking out cans and bottles from the piles.
Katmandu's water situation is pathetic. They dump cremation ashes, solid waste, sewage,
and animal carcasses in the Bagmati, their main river. The water flowing from the city
pipes is fairly clear but this is deceiving. Do not drink the water. Some of the hotels
will provide filtered water which is much safer then the tap water. Our hotel put filtered
water in our rooms once a day. I drank this and had no side effects.
The air pollution in Katmandu is quite great. When you are taking great sunset pictures at
two in the afternoon, you know that there is allot of pollution and haze in the air. You
could feel it in your lungs all day long. You could barely see the sun throughout the day.
During the dry season the air quality is worse not only because of the emitted exhaust but
also because of the very dry dusty roads.
We stayed in Thamel, a small part of Katmandu. The few streets in the heart of Thamel
where all the tourist shops were, remained fairly free of garbage. However, a short walk
away one could find devastation. We stayed in a nice hotel called Hotel
Tenki. The rooms
were very clean and there was a hot shower. The feeling after taking a 45 minute hot
shower after not cleaning oneself after 9 days on the trail, is indescribable. You can not
become clean enough, you keep scrubbing and scrubbing and you still think that you are
dirty. This hotel had a dining area and a television in their fancy lobby. We paid $20
dollars per person per night. Of course you could easily find less luxurious
accommodations for much less.
Hotel Tenki can be reached at P.O Box 10866,
Pakanajol, in
Thamel which is a part of Katmandu. Their PHONE NUMBER is 414483 or you can fax them at
977-1-245318.
One feature that most of the hotels will do for their customers is store all
their belongings between visits. We stored all of our items in large duffel bags during
our Himalayan trek. There were many many shops right outside of our hotel. Many of these
shops sold good quality trekking gear. Some was used, some was new. You have to know what
you are looking for and what is good quality. Some of the shop owners would put name brand
tags onto cheap quality goods. If you wanted climbing gear and sleeping bags, this was the
part of Katmandu to be in. I became quite tired of seeing all the trekking stores. After
you have seen one, you have seen them all. Actually the goods were similar between stores,
but the prices varied considerably. You needed to bargain of course.
There were many other shops besides trekking stores. We found small trinket stores, one of
which was selling beautiful carved animal figurines. One of the more impressive carvings
in this store was a hand carved elephant. Normally you would find just an elephant but
this carving had 2 hand carved elephants inside of the outside elephant. It is amazing to
me the precision and skill the craftsman had in carving the inner elephants without
breaking the stone. We were able to easily bargain in this store and by the time we walked
out of this store with our "treasures" we had slashed the prices in half. I
ended up paying a few American dollars for the elephant.
There were lots of clothing stores also. Many of the stores carried "Tintin"
clothing. Tintin is a comic strip character and in one of his travels, hikes in the
Himalayas.
An awesome restaurant which served exceptional food is called the Ying Yang and was not
far from our hotel. They have their own bakery and are open from 7am to 10pm. Car parking
is available. All major credit cards are accepted. PHONE NUMBER: 425510
Making local or international telephone calls in parts of Katmandu is not a problem. In
Thamel there are at many "international communication centers" which offer
telephone, fax, and Internet services. In one of the international communication centers it is
cheaper to make a short phone call out of the country, and then have your party call you
back. The reason for this is that it is much cheaper to call Nepal than to call from
Nepal. If you are dialing from another country, Nepal's country code is 977 and the
Katmandu city code is 1.
Some helpful phone numbers when calling from within Nepal are:
| Directory assistance |
197 |
| Long Distance Domestic |
180 |
| International calls |
186 |
| Police Emergency |
100 |
| Night Service Taxi |
(1) 224-374 |
| Yellow Cab |
(1) 228-531 |
|
