Thamel

Yesterday I ventured to the Thamel district, the main tourist district in Kathmandu. It is where most of the hotels and hostels in Kathmandu can be found. Consequently it is a very busy, crazy place with lots of bars; lots of restaurants; lots of tourists; lots of stores selling cheap (and not so cheap) souvenirs and trekking supplies to those tourists; lots of tiny streets that people, motorbikes, and cars try to navigate through; and lots and lots of noise:

You can even get Mexican food here

And Irish food too, with Johnny Cash on the jukebox. Only in Thamel would you find this in Nepal.

It's not all touristy though. For example, there is this Buddhist temple right in the middle of the district.

 And there are plenty of multi-story buildings that exist all over Kathmandu that somehow managed to survive last year's earthquakes.

 Though not all of them did...

Now that I think about it, Thamel is a lot like the French Quarter in New Orleans, though with not as many good restaurants, or for that matter beignets. There is though a New Orleans restaurant here where you can get hurricanes at the bar.

I stayed in Thamel for part of my trip last year before moving to Sanepa when Build Change set up their office and guest house. Now having stayed in Sanepa for several weeks on this trip, I am really thankful to be staying here instead of Thamel again. Thamel can be exhausting.

I was in Thamel to have dinner with Ram Kumar, who runs the trekking tour company Alpine Eco here in Nepal. I came in contact with Ram through one of my friends at St. Cross who did an Everest Base Camp trek with Ram a couple of years ago. When my friend and his wife learned that I was going to be in Nepal they gave me Ram's contact information and told me what a great guy he was. We didn't get a chance to meet in person when I was here last year but this year we did. My friend was right, Ram is a great guy. Ram had great things to say about my friends too...

Ram and I before dinner arrived

And again after dinner arrived

Ram took me to a Nepali restaurant that featured a cultural show. Most of the audience were Chinese tour groups. Ram told me this is the biggest time of year for Chinese tourists, so he wasn't surprised to see them.

My Nepali dinner: rice, lintel soup, spinach, chicken curry, yak (yes, yak), vegetables, and Everest Beer, all yummy

I'm told this dance was a story about a man with 2 wives...

I don't know if I'll have the chance to go on a tour with Ram on this trip. However, if I come back again I'll try and set aside an extra week to do a trek with him, though I probably won't go to Everest Base Camp unless I get into much better shape like my friends are.

I may be joining the Build Change team out in a rural village this week, so if you don't hear from me for a few days don't worry. I'll be out in the country.