Kathmandu photothread.

[Bettyboo]

Sorry about the poor quality of pics, it's because: 1) I used my cameraphone; 2) I'm crap at taking pics.

Last week, I went to Kathmandu for 5 days. I flew from Bangkok with ThaiAir in a 777 from Swampy; direct flight; 12,200 baht. Great flight, excellent food and service.

I stayed for 2 days at the tourist area then went to the Tibetan temple area for 3 days. Firstly, I went to a bar and had some beer and lunch. Gorkha is my favourite Nepalese beer, and Nepalese chicken curry is one of my favourite dishes. Very, very nice.





The price was similar if a little bit cheaper than in Thailand; under 100 baht for the big beer, and around 70 baht for the curry, but in a nice placw which would have likely been more expensive in LoS.

I had a couple more beers then a sleep. In the evening I firstly walked around (Thamel is the KSR type area, I have a few pics later) then had something to eat then went into a dodgy bar/pole dancing club for another beer. There were loads of poll dancing clubs in this area - not exactly LA, and often had mixed dancers (seems like some posters were right on the gay young lad bit...), often males topless, but females sadly not so.

[blue]

The beer looks inviting
How was the the weather there?

[natalie8]

Looking forward to more pics. I was invited by two friends to go to Nepal in December for the UAE National Day holiday in early December. I'll take in your pics while I figure out my flights, because we're probably going to Thailand before. It's all good.

[Bettyboo]

Evening meal was a 'Tibetan Selection' with a couple of beer, came to around 500 baht - the Everest beer is not as good as the Gorkha...



The food was ok, but I much prefer Nepalese food to Tibetan...

[Bettyboo]

Blue - the weather was perfect, late 20's, just a little rain on some days.

Nat - you should go, I really enjoyed my time there; very nice place and nice people too.

The next morning, I walked around for a few minutes and came to a nice garden which had a nice coffee bar, so I went in (about 20 baht?), walked around and had a coffee and cake while reading the paper...

[Dillinger]

4 photos, 4 beer shots, good work

[ltnt]

Curry looks a bit soupy to me? So where are the pole dancer pic.'s?

[Bettyboo]

I then walked around the local area and took some pics. The first few are away from the tourist away, the last couple are in the heart of Thamel which is like KSR but 5 times bigger (lots or little streets) and much nicer:



These 'normal' roads were good quality, some are very much worse. Driving has to be seen to be believed, no road rules, no looking, go anyway anywhere anytime...



The next 2 pics are in Thamel again. The hot Tibetan beer was undrinkable, but at only about 30 baht it was worth the photo...

[misskit]

Tibetan millet beer. I love the stuff.

Y U say undrinkable?

[Bettyboo]

It was approaching midday, so I thought about seeing some tourist sights in the heart of town; the national museum, palace, temples all at one square (Durbar sq?). I was thinking of hiring a motorbike - cost about 400 baht for a 170cc or about 800 baht for a nice ktm 200cc, but with no insurance and none available..., I decided against the ide and jumped in a cab. The cabs are tiny little cars, but cheap, cheaper even than Bkk taxis:

[Bettyboo]

Curry looks a bit soupy to me?

No! It was lovely.

Tibetan millet beer. I love the stuff. Y U say undrinkable?

Sorry, Misskit, only tried it once, maybe I was wrong - will get another next time upon your advice.

[yortyiam]

Really interesting place. I had no idea about the area before! Great thread bettyboo !

[alitongkat]

nice for a holiday, nothing for long-term-stay, imo...

just too poor, too dirty, too bad food and all too bad...

[Bettyboo]

More of the same:







Then I went for a looping walk around the shops, back to a bar overlooking the square that I'd noticed earlier...





The next pic is taken from the bar; had a couple or 3 and got a little bit pissed... Started talking to the locals, getting on well, then 2 of the guys said they'd take me on their motorbikes up to the top of the hill Obviously, I was well up for that. Going on the back of a bike through the traffic was a great experience although you'd need to be drunk...

[Bettyboo]

So, we went to a little stupa where you could look across Kathandu, lovely views:







Three raving poofters at the top of Kathmandu valley (at least two of them were nice blokes...):



The stupa Budha:

[Bettyboo]

More pics from the top of the hill where packs of dogs and monkeys ran wild. My money would be on the monkeys - sneaky little bastards...

Here's the stupa at the top of the hill:



& here's the way up (down):











& finally, for the day, the monkeys:

[alitongkat]

thats swayambunath ? i mix them always up...
i remember the stairs too... but i walked all the way there from thamel...
for some money, you could have prayer flags hanged there by the guys...

nice pics, thanks!

[Dillinger]

Why's the guy on the left holding his ass ?

[The Fresh Prince]

It looked a lot more mountainy in The Golden Child.

Nice pics though.

[alitongkat]

when taking pictures for dillinger, make sure they dont appear fishy to him...

[Dillinger]

Is that a Sony Z in Betty's pocket, or is he just pleased to see them ?

[Bettyboo]

Then I moved to the Tibetan area that has a big temple/stupa and many smaller temples and such. I stayed in the Shambaling (Home) for 3 or 4 days, just to relax and do nothing. It's a nice peaceful price and I paid a very low price through Agodo (although I now get marketed nonstop by many companies...), I think I paid about 50 euros per night. Here a 3 pics of the room:







Very good staff, formal, a bit upstairs downstairs with me being upstairs...

[somtamslap]

4 photos, 4 beer shots, good work

Indeed, but methinks someone is just using the beverages in order to enhance the visuals. Betsy is way too thin be considered an authentic drunkard. Up your game, man, for fuck's sake. This isn't a joke, you know? This is alcohol we're talking about here!

[Bettyboo]

So, I decided to go out and get something to eat, maybe a beer or 2...



Bird flu had come to town so no chicken... Asked if they had pork - yes; asked if they had curry - yes; asked if they had pork curry - no. I tried various ways around this with the sole owner, cook, waitress, interpreter, but... Thus, was left with not many choices, went with the buff curry. As expected, it was chewy!



For the sake of all at TD, I took a pic of the toilet (luxury by local standards...):



Then I went for a walk around the stupa (clockwise of course, and sat for a coffee).









Then I walked back, through the throngs of crippled and homeless, up a small alley where the locals washed in the street (one water outlet for the community), and I stopped at a tiny "eatery" for a beer and some food.



Above was the worst banana pancake I've ever tried to eat (but couldn't...), and below is a toilet that wasn't too great either (had to get the key from the manager):



For the next few days, I did much the same...

Then onto Muscat for work, or that was the plan. An emergency had me flying back from Muscat to Bangkok, to the adoring arms of my loving wife who was waiting for me in bed:

[Bettyboo]

Up your game, man, for fuck's sake. This isn't a joke, you know? This is alcohol we're talking about here!

I will try, but being in Oman I cannot make promises. Today, actually this very hour, is the end of the week and I have 3 Guinness and a bottle of Vodka at home, so we will see...