News came from Kathmandu, the Seeker died. It had not seemed likely, when I met her, that she would live on for two more years, but then it also didn’t seem likely that she would ever die, having clung to life with fingers tightened into claws.
Around Lazimpat
We had a quiet Sunday as the Gentleman Friend was not feeling very well at all. At lunchtime we went for a stroll around Lazimpat and I was impressed by how pleasant it all was, particularly after Thamel but even after Patan. Lots of quiet very narrow streets connected by even narrower alleys between walls […]
Move on
Yesterday we checked out of the hotel and moved to our next Airbnb, a room in a family house in Lazimpat. This is the embassy district of Kathmandu, about a 20 minute walk from Thamel. The main road is full of restaurants and shops, and behind it is the usual Kathmandu warren of very narrow […]
Hello to the freaks
It was the final day of Tihar, and the auspicious time for this day’s main celebration was around 11.50 so when the Gentleman Friend, tired and unwell, finally woke and we left for breakfast there was almost no breakfast to be found. Eventually we made our way to the French Bakery (where I had the […]
Back in Thamel
I returned to Thamel after ODing on the paneer and mushrooms I had bought for meals (they were family sized purchases and I hate throwing away food). Thamel was, unlike everywhere else, packed, and it was odd to see so many goras after a week or so in the suburbs. There were mandalas outside the […]
Day of the dog
Yesterday was the day of the dog here in Nepal, the second day of Diwali (Tihar). On the first day, crows are worshipped as the harbingers of death. On the second, dogs are worshipped as the companions of humanity. When I stepped out briefly to buy some milk for tea I found that even the […]
Neighbourhood dance
I got caught up in the local Tihar celebrations today. At around 8pm all the neighbourhood women gathered at someone’s house, all dressed in red, and sang and danced. The songs were mostly rather like our Punjabi tappas: someone would improvise or semi-improvise a couple, funny or otherwise, and the others would sing it after […]
Run up to Tihar
This coming week is Tihar, what the Nepalis call Diwali. Our hostess will be leaving for her village to get a tika from her mother. Even more embarrassingly than yesterday’s faux pas, I learned today that I have been calling her by her daughter’s name all this time. I had thought I was so clever; […]
Nepali weekend
The Nepali weekend is Saturday, today. We have a new guest at the homestay, a young Israeli gentleman (whom I embarrassingly misidentified as Lebanese because of his coffee and his Arab sounding name). He used to live in Nepal and speaks some broken Nepali as well, and is on his way to India to learn […]
Homestay
The other residents of this homestay are a Tibetan couple from China who carry a small sign saying ‘Dear sir or madam, I am sorry but I do not speak English or Nepali. Please give me a three month visa’. It appears to have worked, for here they are. We communicate through smiles and gestures. […]