Oct 5. Boudhha , another day whiling the time. Nepal.

I woke several times during the night with a headache, it is humid and pending rain. Rajesh left me to my own again today, I was anxious to get moving and thinking that perhaps I should have arranged some fill in action activities to while the time away.
At 7:00am I went for another wander around the temple and felt that I knew the intimate content of each shop and trader.  The morning there were far more people wandering around it the stupa.
Tables were laden with thousands of candles alight for purchase to take in to the temple and the sun gave the golden dome quite a glow.
Incense, something I have a dislike for, wafted nauseously around me, not quite as bad as some places I have been to, but getting close to chasing me away. 

I went to a rather disappointing cafe for breakfast, I cannot remember its name. It consisted of a broken egg on polenta  with cold toast. Still, what do you expect for 200 rupee ? After breakfast I found a coffee at the other end of the quality curve that also served ice cream. 50 rupees, I'll be back for more !
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After breakfast, I was itching to get out of here so I looked on a map and felt that I could walk to a place called Gokarna Forest.
I needed some provisions so I went to the grocery store and then back to the apartment to get a day pack and some water. Near the store I was accosted by some people with babies asking for some food to give their children. I got sucked in and bought some infant formula, finding out later from Rajesh that this is a ruse between these people and the store, where they sell the products back.
As I was walking back I thought I would do a bit of an explore in the back streets. I happened across a bit of a slum area with people living in buildings composed of scrap materials. They were apparently from Bangladesh. The people were nice enough, but the fact is that all is not what it seems in the city. Even the poorest person in Australia, are fundamentally well off in comparison.
It is is interesting roaming the back streets, mechanics, small businesses sewing and cooking and the non refrigerated butchers. You learn a lot. I won't be eating meat here too often that is for sure.
After picking up my stuff from the apartment I proceeded down the main street towards Gokarna Forest. Quite a straightforward walk, but hardly a pleasant one. Lots of cars and the footways ill suited for a casual stroll. You need to keep a good lookout with open drains and broken pavement and horns are blasting all the time. I almost needed ear plugs to muffle the noise.
I crossed the Bagmati river and was dismayed at the amount of garbage in it. The Nepalese treat their rivers as rubbish dumps.  There is no way you'll catch me swimming in a city river. The Gokarna Forest reserve, don't waste your time !

No wonder the electricity is so fickle over here, when you see how the wires are in the main street it is amazing that it works at all and that everyone isn't shocked. I nearly walked into a power line.


I met Rajesh at 6pm, he finally got hold of all the passes and air tickets. We went to a restaurant overlooking the temple. I had pepper steak and Rajesh the  chicken noodle stir fry. The steak was tough, and I found out why. Apparently over here most animals are not eaten until they die of old age or other causes. Buffalo isn't the tenderest of meats either. Our total food bill amounted to 450 Rupees for three of us, pretty cheap on Western standards !

Walter, one of the walking party arrived at 8:30pm  - to darkness and candle light ! He arrived from Italy, fortunately the international terminal was not too far away from us. he was a bit tired and had limited English so retired fairly quickly.
 
I had fairly soft motions in the back end department, hmm maybe I should have taken note of the butchers round here. I resolved to have a basically vegetarian diet from here on in. Last thing I need is a rotten gut for the rest of the holiday. 
 
What other costs? Trekker's choice biscuits 50 Rs ($1 AUD approx 80 Rs)  Nescafe Gold 289 for 50g, Breakfast 200Rs,  12 bananas 50rs. The fare is cheap but not necessarily to the same standard as we are used to.

Banking, draw from an ATM some limit to 10000 Rs, others 35000 Rs but both will charge 400 Rs for the transaction.

Power outage again, this time at 8:00pm  through to 10pm. Luckily this time I was prepared and had a head torch. I noted other places still had power, probably running off generators. 
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Location: Boudhha, Kathmandu 44600, Nepal

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