Mt Everest Trek: Day sixteen
Thamel street scene (Photo: Ian Connellan)
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Ama Dablam
Everest Trek in Nepal, run by World Expeditions.
DAY SIXTEEN: Just like that, we’re down from the ranges. Our
flight’s smooth and everyone’s quiet and reflective; it's only as we descend
into the appallingly grubby air that cloaks Kathmandu that most of us
start to energise.
Back at the Radisson Hotel we check into rooms and
shower or bath ourselves back into urban mode. Around midday Alistair, Lincoln
and I wander down Lazimpat Rd seeking coffee. Kathmandu veteran
Alistair is going to take me on a tour of some of his favourite places,
while Lincoln is simply delaying completing some work.
We eat and drink, then continue down Kanti Path to Thamel, the city’s
main tourist area, which is crammed with shops, bars and restaurants.
Our first task – helping Lincoln find an ATM that works – takes a few
attempts; there’s been a blackout, which is not an uncommon occurrence. Next, Alistair and I wind through the streets to the old
centre of the city, Durbar Square. We sit on the steps of a temple and
watch the utterly beguiling human maelstrom of the Kathmandu streets:
men and women, beggars and hawkers, rickshaws and tuktuks, cabs honking
motorbikes honking delivery trucks honking pedestrians – and everywhere
conversation, smiles and laughter.
After two weeks in the high Himalaya you’d think it an odd way to end
the trip, but Kathmandu has an irresistible charm. Over the next day
I’ll visit the city’s spiritual centres – the stupas at Boudanath and
Swayambhunath (the “monkey temple”), and the Hindu temple at
Pashupatinath – eat out, shop for gifts and mingle with this fabulous
city’s friendly people.
But this afternoon at Durbar is the end-of-trip
image that sticks in my memory: the frantic workings of a developing
city surrounding a complex of ancient temples and palaces. And not far
beyond, hidden from view by the haze, the icy spires of the world’s
highest mountains.
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blog so far...
LINKS
Gallery of images from previous
Ama Dablam expeditions
Artificial glaciers in
the high Himalayan desert