April 13th – Back to Katmandu / Monkey Temple
We booked our tickets yesterday for an early morning bus ride back to Katmandu. After a short taxi ride in the morning, we found ourselves at the bus station where we enjoyed some local tea, coffee and pastries. Then it was time for seven hours of bliss in the back of a bus as we headed back to Katmandu. We loaded all of our bags onto the top of the bus, and then took our seats for the bliss to come.
The bus was stuffy and hot, and despite my best efforts to get some sleep on it, the bumpy road prevented any real rest from occurring. We made two short stops for breakfast and lunch before continuing onto Katmandu. Right as we entered the outskirts of Katmandu, we were stuck in a huge traffic jam.
There are no traffic signals in Nepal and everyone tends to enter into an intersection at the same time. What you end up with is gridlock with people unable to move. We ended up being stuck for almost an hour with no progress. A minibus tried to pass us on the shoulder / ditch to the left of the bus but got bogged down and stuck. Compounding the driver’s problems were the fact that he didn’t get the minibus stuck in mud, but rather raw sewage in the ditch.
Finally the traffic cleared and we were able to proceed further into the city. On the way in, I noticed three large Buddha statues that I made a mental note about for future visiting. When we finally got back to the Deutsch house after walking with all of our gear through the streets of Katmandu, we found that there was only one room left for the night. Blaine and Bethany took the room, and Blaine, Michael and I set off to find some other places to stay for Michael, Andrea and I. We looked at several places that were either too expensive or crap holes. I was getting antsy because it was starting to get late in the day and I wanted to get out and photograph while the light was still good. I entrusted Mike with finding me a place and threw all of my gear in Blaine and Bethany’s room before setting off to try and find the Buddha statues.
I stopped in a local gift shop and tired to find a postcard of the statues without any success. In talking with the owner, he told me that I wanted to visit the Monkey temple. After negotiating a taxi driver from 300 rupees down to 100, I was on my way. When I got there, I realized that it was not the place I wanted to be.
Monkeys were everywhere as tourists fed them and took photos. They ran all over the place and were quite greedy for anything they perceived as food. Nervous by the brazen antics of the monkeys, I found a stick on the ground and carried it with me as I ascended the long staircase to the top of the monkey temple. On the way up, I had to stop and pay a couple hundred rupees for a permit to continue to the top.
At the top, I found myself amid a throng of tourists who were taking photos of the monkeys, the monks and the other sights and interests of the temple. I headed down a staircase to the back of the Monkey Temple and found lots of little shops selling all of the crap that you so often find for the tourists. The little shop owners would badger tourists trying to get them to buy whatever they were hawking. I ignored their sales pitches as I searched for the three golden Buddha statues without success.
There was also a gold Hindu looking statue in the middle of a fountain that people were throwing coins to. Nearby, there was a mother and her young daughter with a bunch of coins spread out in neat little piles that people could buy to throw into the fountain. I'm guessing the reason was for good luck or something similar as there was a little golden bucket to aim for. The daughter was playing with the coins and knocked a bunch of the piles over. The mother angrily reprimanded her and then noticed that I was watching everything with a big grin on my face and she gave me a big smile. I motioned that I would like to take her picture and she agreed.
Shortly after this, the clouds rolled in, and the light turned to absolute garbage for photography so I headed back to the Deutsch House to meet up with everyone. After a great burger at the New Orleans café next to the Deutsch House, I headed around the corner to a local bar called Tom and Jerry’s to watch the huge soccer match between Manchester United and Arsenal. Michael, glorious friend that he is, agreed to move my things from Blaine and Bethany’s room to our new hotel so I wouldn’t have to miss any of the game. Michael joined me at halftime of a sloppy 0-0 game. My heart was in my throat as Arsenal took the lead in the 48th minute, but my United boys battled back with a penalty kick and amazing free kick goal for a massive 2 -1 win. This really made my night and should go a long way to them retaining the English Premiere League title.
After the game, we walked back to the hotel that Mike had found us. It was about a 10 minute walk from the Deutsch house and proved to be quite comfortable. I had my own room with private bathroom as well. Exhausted by all of the day’s activities, I crashed soon after arriving.