Madness and Mayhem in Kathmandu...
Breakfast at Mc Donald, just a few steps from Pilgrims. Tandoori Paratha and Dhal for about ￡1.50 - bit pricey but too hungry to go stomping around for a better deal! A couple of coffees, a read of the Kathmandu Post and some deliberation over where to start this Kathmandu experience I have read plenty about.
A glance at the free tourist map, collected on leaving the airport, doesn't help a great deal since the roads around here don't have names, well it's not obvious to the new tourist if they have! So, based on trial and error, and a degree of internal direction finding lets go and head towards the North.
Must be at the main road bordering Thamel according to the map anyway. First landmark of note is this fruit and vegetable shop right on the corner of this busy junction - colourful enough to spot again. A few minutes here watching the mayhem as a relentless stream of traffic mixes with and even more relentless flow of people! A few near misses already, buses full to overflowing negotiating people and bikes! Left look more interesting and seems to lead towards the hills, possibly a view of the mountains too.
A glint catches my attention. High up on a hill in the far distance is what looks like a temple - white dome with a golden spire, heading for that seems a good idea right now. To say the place is dusty is somewhat an understatement - dust mixed with fumes makes hiking along this road a bit unpleasant, and given that people and traffic share the same space I'd say getting hit is quite likely!
Breakfast at Mc Donald, just a few steps from Pilgrims. Tandoori Paratha and Dhal for about ￡1.50 - bit pricey but too hungry to go stomping around for a better deal! A couple of coffees, a read of the Kathmandu Post and some deliberation over where to start this Kathmandu experience I have read plenty about.
A glance at the free tourist map, collected on leaving the airport, doesn't help a great deal since the roads around here don't have names, well it's not obvious to the new tourist if they have! So, based on trial and error, and a degree of internal direction finding lets go and head towards the North.
Must be at the main road bordering Thamel according to the map anyway. First landmark of note is this fruit and vegetable shop right on the corner of this busy junction - colourful enough to spot again. A few minutes here watching the mayhem as a relentless stream of traffic mixes with and even more relentless flow of people! A few near misses already, buses full to overflowing negotiating people and bikes! Left look more interesting and seems to lead towards the hills, possibly a view of the mountains too.
A glint catches my attention. High up on a hill in the far distance is what looks like a temple - white dome with a golden spire, heading for that seems a good idea right now. To say the place is dusty is somewhat an understatement - dust mixed with fumes makes hiking along this road a bit unpleasant, and given that people and traffic share the same space I'd say getting hit is quite likely!
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