10-9-19 - Kathmandu - Experiencing the city's markets
/Day 115. Kyle & Leanne joint blog.
Leanne wakes up the girls early for facials as she insists we will not see prices this reasonable again in our lifetimes. The boys head to breakfast at what we can only call “hotel breakfast buffet heaven” with its excellent selection. Can you tell we absolutely love our Kathmandu accommodations yet?
We had gotten to talking with one of the hotel staff at breakfast who shared that he lost his father-in-law and that his house was completely destroyed in the earthquake. We will hear other tales of personal tragedy as many of the Nepalese people are still struggling to come to terms with the tragedy even though four years have passed.
It’s off to the pool again and we are feeling a bit guilty enjoying this quasi-Four Seasons existence (at Springhill Suites prices!) within this economically challenged and “structurally unsound in certain areas” city. We vow to find a way to give back to this beautiful friendly country at some point.
The afternoon finds us on a walking tour with Deepak to see the heart of Kathmandu’s markets. It’s hopping with people and mopeds zipping everywhere but our guide shares there is normally 5-10 times as many vendors and customers here on a normal day. With the festival, most people are back in their villages with their families. We were quite happy to catch a slow day at a much slower pace which still seemed incredibly fast to us.
We pass by $15 cashmere sweaters and $5 baby yak wool scarves. It’s so hard not to indulgence in buying these unique, low-priced items but our bags are already bulging over and we are not likely to find an easy place to ship stuff back here. We spend about an hour at one store finding more than fifty country flag patches to match the countries on our visit list. The shop owner is more than happy to help find every country he has in stock for us. At one point, three European tourists enter the shop and witness 2,000 patches piled on every counter and the floor with six of us madly digging through the piles, holding up a flag and yelling “Bosnia! What about Bosnia? Do we have Bosnia? No we don’t. Yes – score, now we do!” Their look borders between curiosity and being horrified and they keep a safe distance from us at the other end of the shop. For about 20 percent of the price of these patches, Leanne has been collecting so far, we get nearly every country covered. By the end of the day, we are left with Ecuador as the only missing patch. Katmandu must have hosted a massive Ecuadorian conference recently with every patch in the city having been purchased.
We walk by more and more earthquake-damaged buildings that have not yet been repaired. Our guide shares only half of the homes have been rebuilt despite millions of dollars of international aid that poured in for the exact purpose.
We stop at a metal structure where you put your head in and your toothache is supposed to go away. It looked like thousands of people have stopped by here to try this method. As we look up afterwards, we notice at least two dental clinics within throwing distance. Location, location, location. And smart marketing.
As we get back to the hotel, the doctor awaits us to see Ashley whose a little under the weather. Yes a house call. Could this have worked out any better? The doctor sees Ashley and provides the recommended medicine. It was straight out of Little House on the Prairie.
We head down to sit by the pool for sunset and work on the blog. The kids had visions of venturing out to the only Pizza Hut in Katmandu but it’s clear on the other side of town so we “settle” for swanky dinner at Hotel Swanky and then it’s “pack” night as we are off early tomorrow for Chitwan Natural Park.
