Here I am in Thamel. Early this morning the Gentleman Friend and the Boddisatva left for their week-long conference. I stayed to pack and then took a taxi to Thamel where I am now staying in the Kathmandu Hub Hotel. It is very cheap, and certainly feels it. but it is mostly clean (with the exception of an impressive hair ball near a drain) and the staff is very sweet. However I shall put my suitcase against the door when I go to sleep and perhaps sleep in my sleeping bag liner. Well, it is all part of my effort to learn to tolerate living in filth so as to be able to enjoy a backpacker’s existence. Certainly the next week is not going to be very clean, perhaps the least clean of my life.
I have at least bought most of the things that I need for the hiking. These include a fleece vest, reversible, with the grey side branded The North Face and the black side branded Patagonia; a pair of hiking trousers, water purification tablets, etc. All that remains now is a sleeping bag, a warm hat and gloves, and possibly something to fix my glasses.
The novelty of Thamel has worn off quite rapidly. The number of elephant pants is distressingly high, for one, and generally, it’s the sort of touristy/ backpackery patch I really dislike. At least it’s fairly quiet at the moment, with many shops still closed for Dasain, but I daresay it will be buzzing tomorrow.