Kathmandu

I had two days in Kathmandu at the end of my trip because I was worried that I would get caught in a strike and be unable to travel. I didn't want to miss my flight.

The first thing I did when I returned to Kathmandu was to return to my initial guesthouse and tell them that I was unhappy with their service. They had charged me three times as much as a bus ticket cost for my ticket to Besishar. Additionally they sold it to me for a day that they knew the bus wouldn't run (strike day) costing me alot of taxi money. They also charged me an extra 500 rupees for a TIMS card which is free. The front desk guys were really nice and admitted that what had been done was wrong and were sorry. Unfortunately the guy who did all those things wasn't there. They did ask me to write my complaint down. (Nothing ever happened). I was supposed to stay there on return and they had stored some gear for me. There was no problem with me picking up my stuff and not staying there.

I ended up staying at the Kathmandu View Guesthouse. It was much much nicer than the Potala and cost less. I went to dinner at my favorite veggie place and ate spinach tofu curry. It is so yummy.

The next day I went down to Durbar Square quite early. I saw a guard in old fashioned clothing, lots of temples and prayer. I saw quite a few monkeys. I walked around a bit more and saw a big white tower. Back at the Guesthouse I bumped into Julie, a friend from Chitwan. We went to the Monkey Temple. It was a nice walk except for the bit over the river which was like an open sewer. There were lots of monkeys at the temple. The temple also had good views of urban Kathmandu.

Monkey 2 from kris on Vimeo.

Monkey 1 from kris on Vimeo.

The rest of that day and the next morning was spent souvenir shopping.

The flight home went without problems except when I got to the Kathmandu airport and they closed the restaurant and were using it for a lounge for a delayed flight. I hadn't eaten and expected to eat there. I must have looked and sounded pathetic because eventually they let me in and I had one last veggie curry before I left.

I got into LAX two hours early. I had to overnight because there were no late evening flights to PHX. I stayed at the Crown Plaza. The initial room they gave me was already occupied and I walked in on some guy in bed -- very embarrassing. Eventually I got a room and I have to say that they have the nicest beds there. I would totally recommend it.

I flew out to PHX without problem the next day and spent the next week trying to overcome my jet lag.

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