so varanassi was just too goddamned hot. it topped 42/108 degrees three days in a row and i decided to get the hell out. it's a fascinating city, but it was only possible to leave the hotel for an hour or two in the morning and again in the evening and it was very difficult to sleep and... whatever. i hopped a bus to the nepali border (which broke down, had to be towed back to the previous city where we caught another bus 3 hours later) and then took an overnight bus to kathmandu the next day.
first of all, the moment i crossed the border, the crazed intensity of the people lessened quite a bit. it was quite a relief. nepalis are physically and culturally quite distinct from indians. they smile and joke and are generally quite friendly. as the bus left the border town (sunali), it stopped at 5 or 6 military checkpoints in the first hour. nepal is literally on the brink of a civil war and especially in the provinces, fear of maoist rebels is high. after a rough, 16 hour bus ride, i arrived in kathmandu. the climate here is SO pleasant compared to india and it's proven to be quite a difficult city to leave.
for the first week, i was struggling with various gastrointestinal problems that are pretty common to traveling in this area. it's not pleasant, but it's more pleasant here than in the swealtering heat of central india. kathmandu is nesteled in amongst the mountains (at the foot of the himilayas) in a large sprawling valley. the city itself is at about 1500m/5000ft which is what makes it so cool and pleasant. on clear days you can see snow-capped mountains looming over rooftops in the distance. despite the stomach problems, i did manage to explore the old city a bit, which is just stunning. the center of the old city is known as 'durbar square' and is just filled with ancient wooden temples, statues, and stupas. this is the old asia i'd dreamed of. it's stunningly romantic and picturesque. the temples (and many of the ordinary buildings) are adorned with fantastically intricate wooden carvings. some are simply decorative patterns, but -especially on the roof-struts of the tempes- others are wild sculptures of the thousands of many-armed gods in the hindu religion. they're extremely colorful, lively and intricate. on some of the temples, there are small erotic carvings showing some shockingly explicit and exotic sex-scenes. one of the pictures in the latest set shows a woman being pleasured by a horse. nobody really knows why these erotic sculptures are there. there are similarly erotic and similarly mysterious carvings in various places throughout india.
at the end of the first week, maggie (27, french-canadian) the girl i've been traveling with for a while had her purse stolen. passport, credit cards, cash, plane tickets... everything. we spent the next week going around to the police station, consulate, airline offices, etc and sending faxes all over the world. it has not been easy but nearly everything should be replaced fairly soon. however, during our many trips downtown, we've gotten to witness a bit of the political instability here firsthand. as i said before, the country is basically on the brink of a civil war. the international media makes it out to be political, but it's really just a power struggle between the king and the 5 political parties that exist. there are rebels in the provinces attacking military baracks and killing police officers daily, and people in kathmandu protest and riot in response. one day we nearly walked into a protest which degenerated into a bunch of students throwing rocks at police who were in full riot gear. and we've seen at least 4 demonstrations by the various political parties who basically just march around waving flags and making a lot of noise. somebody new is on strike every day (students, police, transportation, farmers, etc) and when they're striking, they usually spend the day marching through the streets. it's not quite chaos... but it's getting there fast. makes the local newspapers interesting, anyway. if you want to see some photos of the riots and stuff, click here.
hopefully, by the time you read this, i'll have gathered up my strength and inertia and left kathmandu. maggie and i are planning to go trekking in the annapurna region as soon as we can get out of here.
lots of love. miss everyone back home. see you soon!
