A Day In Kathmandu

Kathmandu is the capital city of Nepal. It is a city of nearly half a million people in a valley by the same name in central Nepal, near the Vishnumati River.

Kathmandu is said to have been founded by King Gun Kamdev in 723 AD. According to legend, the area was a lake in the past, but the Hindu God Manjushri cut open a hill to the south and allowed the water to flow out, making the region habitable. The origin of the present name is unclear, but one of the more likely theories is that it was named after Kastha-Mandap ("temple of wood" in Sanskrit), after a pagoda carved from the single tree on the order of King Lakshmi Narasingha Malla in 1596.

Once thought to be the fabled and inaccessible Shangri-La, Kathmandu is now a hub for independent travellers as well as a growing vacation spot catering to all budgets. Kathmandu itself has limited activities for visitors beyond the amazing sightseeing and general experience of being there, but it is the starting point for numerous adventures in the rest of the country including trekking, rafting, jungle adventures, and more extreme sports.

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Our late night sleep effectively meant our day in Kathmandu was going to start late. Though we got up at 08:30 am (after barely 4 hours of sleep), we managed to push off from our hotel only by 10:00 am. The gentleman who had arranged for our stay the previous day (Mr. Meghraj Tiwari) was already waiting for us in the hotel’s lobby. He was supposed to make further arrangements for our flight to Lukla, on the same day if possible. If we were to live by our schedule, that was a must.

On arriving at a travel company's office (Gorkha Encounters Pvt. Ltd, Thamel, Kathmandu) that Mr. Tiwari took us to, unexpected news was delivered to us. It was about 10:15 am, and we were told that the last flight to Lukla departed at about 11:00 am. There was no probability of making it to Lukla on the same day to start our trek as per plan. Our fear turned into reality - a day was lost right away courtesy delayed service by Royal Nepal Airlines the previous night.

The travel company arranged for our flight tickets to Lukla for the next morning (10^th November) and suggested that we go in for a ‘complete package deal’ for the entire trek. This package deal included the flight ticket to Lukla, a cook who would accompany us all through the trek, a guide for the trek, porters who would carry stoves, camping gear and our backpacks. Luckily enough we had experienced people who had given enough information about the trek and we were in no need whatsoever of any such package deal. But we did hire a guide for the trek. Enroute Mount Everest Base Camp, you actually do not need a guide as far as the trail is concerned, but a guide does matter in many ways, as time was to tell. We were doing it all to make sure that we maximised our probability of completing the intended trek on which the guide is one person who happens to know more about your health than you would.

Trekking to Mount Everest Base Camp is not where serious technical climbing is involved. Neither does one have to do hazardous rock climbing nor rappelling. One does have to trek over undulating ridges, but that happens to be the typicality of any long distance trek, especially in the Himalayas. This trek is more of a test of one’s physical stamina to trek on considerably steep graded terrains over a long distance, adjusting to cold weather, chilly winds and the killer factor - very high altitude. A good guide can make all the difference by being able to judge the abilities of his clients, and guide them in a way such that they can achieve their aim. On asking Madhukar (the person who was the source of inspiration for our trek) how one could overcome all these challenges, he had a noteworthy reply: “It’s all mental”. In hindsight now, I can’t agree more – the moment where one gives up mentally, the deal is over.

We spent some time around the famous Thamel Street in Kathmandu before arriving back to our hotel for lunch. Thamel area is one of the most popular tourist areas of Kathmandu – a 15 to 20 minute walk from the centre of Kathmandu. Thamel has clean narrow streets full of mushrooming lodges, hotels for budget travellers. Restaurants, bars and other tourist-oriented shops can be seen bustling with activities. A couple of months before we arrived, Kathmandu was under the siege of the Maoists (rebels who were trying to force Communism onto the Nepali people through acts of terrorism). We were relieved to be able to roam freely around town without any hindrances whatsoever.

On the second trip to our travel company's office in the evening, we were introduced to our guide-to-be, Mr. Anish Rawal (the name used throughout the article is Rawal bhai). He happened to be a very friendly person, younger in age to the three of us, a slim, short guy who sounded very positive. He came to aid right from that evening - in getting us a good bargain while renting our trekking gear - that consisted of down jackets (chill wind, rain and snow proof thick jackets - fleece inline), chill wind proof gloves, and a few medicines. The most critical of which was dexamethasone - the well-known drug that gives temporary relief in case of altitude sickness.

It was after spending considerable time gathering our trekking essentials and talking to Rawal bhai, which convinced us that spending a day in Kathmandu, actually worked in our favour as opposed to hampering our schedule. In fact, I now wonder how would we have managed had we not spent this day in Kathmandu.

Meanwhile, we'd got Indian currency exchanged with Nepalese. Although Indian currency is accepted in Nepal, we did not want to take any chances. As long as we were in the city region, there would have been no problems, but we could not take a gamble since we would be dealing in the mountains. A denial to accept Indian currency up there would leave us begging for money. A useful tip for those Indians who intend to go to Kathmandu is that currency notes in denomination of 100 INR or lower are the only ones to be accepted.

The fact that Indian currency was stronger than Nepalese currency gave us something to cheer about. 100 INR fetched us 160 Nepalese Rupees, and we were just expecting life to be less costly. Only time was going to prove it otherwise. Anyhow, a peaceful dinner at our Hotel Lai Lai and an early night's sleep marked the end of the day. We were expecting that November the 10^th onwards, the flight to Lukla and the first day of the trek would mark the beginning of the much-awaited excitement.