We arrived in Kathmandu in the middle of strikes and demonstrations. A lot of shops were closed. The locals were in the streets and we saw few tourists. The few we saw were wondering if they should shorten they trip or not due to the situation. Is it going to get worse or not? People here were very optimistic and certain that the situation would get better in a few days. Despite the situation, we managed to visit the sites we wanted to see in Kathmandu and its valley without any major problems. Here the tourist is always welcome and the Nepalese are always ready to help. For example, during the curfew, a nepalese man offered that his brother drive us in his ambulance from Bakthapur to Kathmandu (about 10 miles) due to the bus strike and the curfew. Ambulances are allowed in the streets at any time. Of course we could not take the offer as someone may have needed the ambulance. The positive aspect of the situation is that we did not encounter many tourists and that there was no traffic at all in this highly polluted town. Also we could take pictures of monuments and squares with sometimes not one person in it. The police and army were always very nice with us and made signs that we could continue our visit. The negative aspect is that as there were few tourists, locals were always rushing toward us to try and sell us something. Also, getting around was made more difficult because of the lack of buses and taxis, so we had to walk to most places.
We discovered severals facets of Kathmandu. We can clearly see the poverty out in the streets, but at the same time this city is very rich in culture and monuments. There are also many interior courtyards beautifully arranged, little havens in the middle of this poverty.
No comments:
Post a Comment