Day 12, Kathmandu: Home Cookin'.
(Posted by Andrew about the events of Dec 23; Kathmandu, Nepal.)
We had a booked a second day in Nepal as a fallback in case the weather didn't cooperate for our Everest flight yesterday. However, as Kathmandu is largely used as a launching pad for extended backpacking adventures in the Himalayas, touring options within the city are somewhat limited. I did manage to find a half-day walking tour with a private guide that would show us the major sites. Technically it was a "walking and taking-the-bus" tour as we frequently hopped on the public transit option: medium-sized vans into which we had packed as many as 21 people at a time:
(I'm more than two standard deviations from the average Nepalese male and our guide ended up having to pay two fares for me: one for me and one for my legs.)
The Nepalese people are friendly and polite, a welcome change after some of the more aggressive barkers in India. They are welcoming to outsiders since tourism is the main industry here, though in the city tourists were few (we saw only a couple of other tourists all day) and mostly we were ignored.
Our tour started at Swayambhunath, also known as the Monkey Temple of Nepal. This was an unexpected highlight, packed with large groups of Buddhists singing holy songs, spinning prayer wheels, feeding thousands of pigeons (to get good karma) which was promptly stolen by the dozens of titular monkeys (who, presumably, will get bad karma).
Another "bus" ride took us to central Kathmandu where we toured several temples, shrines, royal palaces, and it all was a bit of a blur. Also we had a viewing of the Kumari, the living goddess of Kathmandu. (Mixed feelings on this one.)
A good thing about this tour is that up until now we haven't really gotten off of many of the hotel "compounds" to see how the locals actually live; we definitely resolved that situation today:
The tour ended visiting a Nepalese home for a lesson in traditional cooking. We had to supply the veggies that we picked up on the way: potatoes, cauliflower, cilantro, tomatoes, and onion (enough for three adults and four children) came to 165 rupees... less than $2.
When we got to the house, I was all impressed that the children (five boys, all under ten or so) were not glued to the TV like they would be back home. Then the guide explained to us that they only get eight hours of electricity per day, split into three blocks. At noon when the power came on all the kids were immediately glued to the TV. Some things are universal.
Nepalese cooking consists of spicy fried vegetables with rice, eaten with your bare hands.
The cooking lesson we will take home with us; the eating style we will not.
P.S. Gastronomical status: A few scares but still pretty good, all things considered.
We had a booked a second day in Nepal as a fallback in case the weather didn't cooperate for our Everest flight yesterday. However, as Kathmandu is largely used as a launching pad for extended backpacking adventures in the Himalayas, touring options within the city are somewhat limited. I did manage to find a half-day walking tour with a private guide that would show us the major sites. Technically it was a "walking and taking-the-bus" tour as we frequently hopped on the public transit option: medium-sized vans into which we had packed as many as 21 people at a time:
(I'm more than two standard deviations from the average Nepalese male and our guide ended up having to pay two fares for me: one for me and one for my legs.)
The Nepalese people are friendly and polite, a welcome change after some of the more aggressive barkers in India. They are welcoming to outsiders since tourism is the main industry here, though in the city tourists were few (we saw only a couple of other tourists all day) and mostly we were ignored.
Our tour started at Swayambhunath, also known as the Monkey Temple of Nepal. This was an unexpected highlight, packed with large groups of Buddhists singing holy songs, spinning prayer wheels, feeding thousands of pigeons (to get good karma) which was promptly stolen by the dozens of titular monkeys (who, presumably, will get bad karma).
Another "bus" ride took us to central Kathmandu where we toured several temples, shrines, royal palaces, and it all was a bit of a blur. Also we had a viewing of the Kumari, the living goddess of Kathmandu. (Mixed feelings on this one.)
A good thing about this tour is that up until now we haven't really gotten off of many of the hotel "compounds" to see how the locals actually live; we definitely resolved that situation today:
The tour ended visiting a Nepalese home for a lesson in traditional cooking. We had to supply the veggies that we picked up on the way: potatoes, cauliflower, cilantro, tomatoes, and onion (enough for three adults and four children) came to 165 rupees... less than $2.
When we got to the house, I was all impressed that the children (five boys, all under ten or so) were not glued to the TV like they would be back home. Then the guide explained to us that they only get eight hours of electricity per day, split into three blocks. At noon when the power came on all the kids were immediately glued to the TV. Some things are universal.
Nepalese cooking consists of spicy fried vegetables with rice, eaten with your bare hands.
The cooking lesson we will take home with us; the eating style we will not.
P.S. Gastronomical status: A few scares but still pretty good, all things considered.
posted by Paineroo @ 9:00 AM
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