After my usual rooftop breakfast, which is part of my accommodation deal and a bit chilly first thing in the morning, I had planned to visit Durbar Square. Durbar Square is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (one of many in Nepal) and renowned for its architectural styles. It is a compound of Hindu and Buddhist temples built between the 12th and 18th centuries. I didn’t think Nepal was too bad on the hustling front until I visited this place, then I found them everywhere! Hustling you for tours, trinkets, donations, you name it. Then they try to give you the guilt trip when you turn them down.
Inside the complex it was nice and peaceful since the hustlers were not allowed in. Some of the wood carvings on the building facades were quite amazing. Inside was a museum with endless photos and relics from the last Nepalese king, who died in 2001.
Part of the fun of visiting the square was walking through the marketplaces to get there. After getting lost in Bangkok and walking way out of my way, I decided to start entering coordinate information into my GPS watch so I always know I’m heading in the right direction. It is a little bit of a pain to set up, but very nice to use when you need it. It requires that I track down the exact coordinates for where I want to go (which can be tricky using an iPad – but major landmarks have their coordinates published in Wikipedia). I then need to convert them to the format my watch wants (there are 3 and Wikipedia only publishes 2) which requires visiting a GPS calculator site I know of, and then I need to tediously entering the correct numbers on my watch. Once the coordinates are in there, the watch can easily be set to simply display an arrow that points me in the direction I want to go. Getting back is easy because it is much easier to have it direct you to a lace you have already been through its waypoint recording feature.
Anyway, I’m sure glad I used it this morning because I set off in the completely opposite direction convinced it was the right way. I thought something must have been wrong with my watch when I suddenly realized I was totally disoriented. It doesn’t give turn-by-turn directions, but you can guess what streets to go down by keeping an eye on the arrow.
The walk to Dunbar Square was really cool and full of shops of butchers, produce, cloth, metal work, grains, and other local staples. Retailers still relied on balancing scales with weights to determine pricing. There were very crowded narrow lane-ways full of people, motorcycles, bikes, and the odd cars. After seeing the raw flesh lying out in front of the butchers without any refrigeration for hours, I think I will probably return to being a vegetarian again while I’m here!
Afterwards I had my momo dumplings for lunch. Made sure they were meat free. They were very nice and came with a tangy sauce for dipping. I hear I will be eating them quite regularly in the mountains.
Kathmandu is known for its horrendous air pollution due to old cars, low quality fuel, and surrounding mountains (which you often can’t even see due to the smog). Lonely Planet actually advises you to bring a face mask and tells you that you’re likely to have a throat infection after a few days. One of the characteristics of Nepalese men that I notices in the mens toilets back at the Bangkok airport is that they like to hack and spit, which is disgusting, but possibly related to living in such a polluted environment. They do it constantly in the streets of Kathmandu. Fortunately, Pokhara is supposed to be much cleaner, so I’m looking forward to my travels onward tomorrow.
