After my usual rooftop breakfast, part of my accommodation deal and a bit chilly first thing in the morning, I 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 because the hustlers weren’t 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 going way off course, I started entering coordinates into my GPS watch so I always knew I was 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 me to track down the exact coordinates for where I want to go (which can be tricky on an iPad, but major landmarks have their coordinates published on Wikipedia). I then need to convert them to the format my watch wants (there are 3, and Wikipedia publishes only 2), which means visiting a GPS calculator site I know and tediously entering the correct numbers on my watch. Once the coordinates are in, the watch can easily display an arrow pointing me in the direction I want to go. Getting back is easy because it is much easier to have it direct you to a place 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 was wrong with my watch when I suddenly realised 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.
