Woke up in Kathmandu yesterday

After a red eye flight, we finally arrived Friday morning. It’s a hot morning in the valley. We got off the plane using one of those movable stairs and took a bus to customs. I was already pouring in sweat, slightly relieved they made me check my handbag at Doha. No more air conditioning, oh boy here we go...

My mom and I had barely touched our bags when someone came rushing to help (for a few bucks of course). We were met at the arrival gate by a few uncles and cousins who loaded up the car and bickered about whose house we should go to first.

The drive to my aunt’s house was completely unfamiliar. I gazed out the window, eyes wide open. I giggle as a see a sign for an Irish Pub in Nepal, mentally noting that I must take a picture of it later. A lot has changed in the last decade. Houses, apartment buildings, and shops have sprung up everywhere in the city. There aren’t very many empty lots anymore. It’s a little strange to see huge new department stores in the background and little shanty shacks barely standing up in the foreground. Certain sections are really nice whereas others are rundown with heaps of garbage strewn along the road.

The roads are a mess. With potholes and cracks every couple feet, it is definitely a rocky drive to get anywhere. And that’s speaking about the paved roads, some are just dirt paths, others rock and gravel. The rules are: drive on the left side, when you feel like it; drive as close to the vehicle in front of you as you can; and honk your horn if anyone is slightly in your way. Motorcycles rule the road here. It takes an hour to get anywhere in the valley, unless you’re on a motorcycle and can zip through traffic. The traffic jams are horrendous. Traffic laws are not enforced; hell most laws in general are not enforced. I heard they tried traffic lights and it completely failed, especially with the common electricity outages. At large intersections, police direct traffic, but otherwise it is mostly a free-for-all. If a vehicle can squeeze through, it will. Pedestrians and turning vehicles have to forcibly cut traffic or they will literally stand there all day. No one will let you go. It is a tangled obstacle course of maneuvering around cars, motorcycles, pedestrians, stray animals, and the rocky roads themselves. Driving is only for the very skilled here.

Upon arriving at my new home, we unpacked a little, chatted with family, and ate until our stomachs were ready to burst. Relatives dropped in throughout the day to welcome us. The first question is always, do you remember me?

Around 4 or 5pm, I started feeling the jetlag and was in bed by 7pm serenaded by the sounds of strays outside and the live music of the restaurant across the gully (alley, small street). I was up by 4am to the sound of roosters, birds, and cows. I did a little early morning yoga and went upstairs. I walked around the roof terrace with a cup of tea admiring the sunrise in the mountain sky as shops began to open, street venders started shouting names of produce for sale, and the city began-a-bustling. 

I could get used to this.