Adventure Number 2: Kathmandu -- the first few days

So the Air India flight from Delhi took off half an hour late of course, but after a six hour layover it really made not much difference! The flight was uneventful and getting my Visa on arrival proved delightfully easy: in fact the queue for those with visas was far longer than the queue for those without. I think I had one person in front of me for each of the three times I had to queue up. However, baggage claim was a different matter: the hall was possibly the most chaotic place I have ever been to (and that is saying something!). There are two carousels and only one electronic information board – which works when it feels like it. This means that several flights’ baggage all come on to the same carousel, but you have no idea which flights those are unless you peer at the labels on the bags as they circulate. The system behind the scenes must be even worse as the baggage from my fight took nearly two hours to appear: it would have been easy to have given it up for lost by then, but a group of English speakers made it into as much fun as we could by making faces and gestures as appropriate and then letting out huge whoops of joy when one of our bags was spotted!!

Bishnu, who has to be the most patient man I know, was there to meet me and took me by taxi to the hotel he had chosen for me. They have done me a very good deal, partly because he gives them a lot of business, and partly because the tourist trade is so desperate, everyone is struggling terribly for business. Having been here several times over the last 14 years, the first difference I noted was the quality of the air and the lack of visibility: there are times when even the sun finds it hard to penetrate the atmosphere. Because of the blockade which stops fuel oil (and everything else) coming from India and because they have no other trade routes with neighbouring countries, the people have resorted to burning wood (doors, furniture etc) in order to keep warm: this creates pollution. Because of the demolition work and rebuilding which is happening everywhere, there is dust in the air. Because of the lack of winter wind and rain this year, the pollution and dust have stayed in the Kathmandu valley. After just two days I developed a real smokers cough and took Strepsils to avoid an infection, but it is only the dust/pollution I am sure.

The next thing I noticed was the lack of tourists: in fact there are so few these days that even the beggars seem to have given up their trade. In four days of walking quite extensively, I have seen one lady with two small boys (one of whom grabbed my hand and escorted me proudly along the road to the next junction grinning his head off constantly) who looked in serious need, and one man riding on a board as his legs were useless. Both of these people held out an open hand, but never hassled me ... in stark contrast to the behaviour of others in the last few years.

Then of course there is the damage from the earthquake and after shocks of 2015: much of the city is still standing, but many have been made homeless. Work has started on rebuilding, but there does not seem to be A Plan: the road outside of a new luxury apartment block is being paved, but the school on the same road has been abandoned because it remains unsafe.

On my second night here I had a small taste of what it must have been like living here in 2015. The 427th aftershock (magnitude 4.9 - 5.5 according to which paper you read) hit the city. The walls shook dramatically and then it was over ... so quickly, I was very surprised by the brevity, but decided to get out of bed and go down stairs to see if any advice was to be had. Less than ten of us gathered in the garden and waited to see if this was an isolated incident and when we found that all was quiet after ten minutes I went back to bed! Not surprisingly sleep eluded me: my mind raced and I needed to know that I was as prepared as I could possibly be. So I have incorporated a few new routines into my bedtime practices: I ensure the laces of my shoes are open wide and my socks are on top of each shoe: my clothes are left on the spare bed ready to be donned over pyjamas easily; I have packed a small bag in case of emergency evacuation - my small solar panel, my head torch, phone, warm clothes, water, biscuits, medications, passport, insurance details etc. I also sleep with all doors shut as this gives extra strength to the walls and have opted to stay on an upper floor as last year's experience showed this was the safest place to be. Having done all of that, of course there have been no more rattles, but I am sleeping very well indeed! Me and my organised brain!

The infrastructure is struggling as evidenced by the lack of electricity. We have about three hours a day and this is usually in the wee small hours of the morning: just enough to charge anything i can't charge with my solar panel. I ignorantly asked for pancakes for breakfast on my first morning and was told they would take 25 minutes to cook because of the lack of fuel oil - I opted for fruit instead.