positive :-)
Door: clarameiying
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Clara
28 Maart 2012 | Nepal, Kathmandu
Kathmandu
yesterday i arrived in the early evening in kathmandu. When i came out of the airport i was overwhelmed by a gaggle of taxidrivers, asking me if i need a taxi, where i want to go, how much i wanna pay, if somebody picks me up, where i m from, …......... that were a lot of questions for somebody who doesnt know where she wants to go or how mcuh she wanted to pay. i went to the toilet and locked myself up for a couple of minutes(watching out that the brandnew backpack doesnt land in the whole). I didnt know what the right price was, the official taxi seemed expensive, i didnt wanna get ripped off the first minute i m in nepal. And i didnt dare to take a private=black taxi on my own.
So i asked some other foreigners if they also went to the center and if they wanted to share a cab. These danish people were really nice and we stayed outside of the airport for an hour, maybe two chitchatting and waiting for another familymember to arrive with another plane. Luckily Louise(danish) used to be a travel guide and has been more than 20 time sin nepal. so she explained to me: it seems like india, but its so different here! In the end it was dark, we shared a cab and they dropped me at a hotel of her friend. With free wifi, own bathroom and a rooftop cafe:-) nice luxury for the first night!
When i walked the streets of kathmandu this morning i realised Louise was right. The traffic, people, smells, scents, shops and food, etc. did remind me of india. But the different thing was for sure: i felt safe on my own, not stared at, and not run after for my money, not being afraid of being touched. Theres plenty of women in the streets as well and if u ask for directions or a shop they are just reaaaally nice:-) even young guys of my age dont start giggling like little boys when u smile at them or ask for the way. okok, this might sound awful talking about india in such a way, but many times this happened there...
whatever, so when i walked through these little streets, jumping aside every minute for honking cars and motorbikes i suddenly saw an big outer wall of some place. I was kind of looking for the Narayanhity Palace Museum so i thought to have found it. but instead i found the Garden of Dreams. Yes, this is what its called and this is what its like. It is the oasis in the crowded city:
so i spent some time in this beautiful garden, listening to music and actually making a plan for today.
Language
the language course i did the last couple of weeks was for sure helpful to not feel completely lost. But the nepali people talk so incredible fast that i hardly can distinguish single words in their waterfall of Nepali. I did order my bananas and other small stuff in nepali though:-)
here everybody talks more or less english, i hope in dharan my nepali will develop a lot more due to lacking english overthere. Ok i m here for a day, what do i expect?
Nature
I havent seen the Himalaya yet! I tried severeal rooftops but it was too cloudy today:-(
Kathmandu lies in valley and is surrounded by green hills(mountains for dutch understandings:-P) The sun is shining over here and the air is pleasantly dry. In the Terai it will be tropical and humid.
My missions for tomorrow are:
get a SIMcard, get passport-pictures(apparently nepali people like to use passportpictures for all kinds of stuff), walk through the hills to Ichangu Nayaran and Nagarjun Ban(its said that buddha used to meditate there; in the east of Kathmandu)
yesterday i arrived in the early evening in kathmandu. When i came out of the airport i was overwhelmed by a gaggle of taxidrivers, asking me if i need a taxi, where i want to go, how much i wanna pay, if somebody picks me up, where i m from, …......... that were a lot of questions for somebody who doesnt know where she wants to go or how mcuh she wanted to pay. i went to the toilet and locked myself up for a couple of minutes(watching out that the brandnew backpack doesnt land in the whole). I didnt know what the right price was, the official taxi seemed expensive, i didnt wanna get ripped off the first minute i m in nepal. And i didnt dare to take a private=black taxi on my own.
So i asked some other foreigners if they also went to the center and if they wanted to share a cab. These danish people were really nice and we stayed outside of the airport for an hour, maybe two chitchatting and waiting for another familymember to arrive with another plane. Luckily Louise(danish) used to be a travel guide and has been more than 20 time sin nepal. so she explained to me: it seems like india, but its so different here! In the end it was dark, we shared a cab and they dropped me at a hotel of her friend. With free wifi, own bathroom and a rooftop cafe:-) nice luxury for the first night!
When i walked the streets of kathmandu this morning i realised Louise was right. The traffic, people, smells, scents, shops and food, etc. did remind me of india. But the different thing was for sure: i felt safe on my own, not stared at, and not run after for my money, not being afraid of being touched. Theres plenty of women in the streets as well and if u ask for directions or a shop they are just reaaaally nice:-) even young guys of my age dont start giggling like little boys when u smile at them or ask for the way. okok, this might sound awful talking about india in such a way, but many times this happened there...
whatever, so when i walked through these little streets, jumping aside every minute for honking cars and motorbikes i suddenly saw an big outer wall of some place. I was kind of looking for the Narayanhity Palace Museum so i thought to have found it. but instead i found the Garden of Dreams. Yes, this is what its called and this is what its like. It is the oasis in the crowded city:
so i spent some time in this beautiful garden, listening to music and actually making a plan for today.
Language
the language course i did the last couple of weeks was for sure helpful to not feel completely lost. But the nepali people talk so incredible fast that i hardly can distinguish single words in their waterfall of Nepali. I did order my bananas and other small stuff in nepali though:-)
here everybody talks more or less english, i hope in dharan my nepali will develop a lot more due to lacking english overthere. Ok i m here for a day, what do i expect?
Nature
I havent seen the Himalaya yet! I tried severeal rooftops but it was too cloudy today:-(
Kathmandu lies in valley and is surrounded by green hills(mountains for dutch understandings:-P) The sun is shining over here and the air is pleasantly dry. In the Terai it will be tropical and humid.
My missions for tomorrow are:
get a SIMcard, get passport-pictures(apparently nepali people like to use passportpictures for all kinds of stuff), walk through the hills to Ichangu Nayaran and Nagarjun Ban(its said that buddha used to meditate there; in the east of Kathmandu)
-
28 Maart 2012 - 15:34
Fidi:
Sweety, Wat cool! Wanneer begin je met je stage? Geniet ervan!!!! -
28 Maart 2012 - 15:40
Clara Sonnborn:
he lieffie, maandag begint het! :-) ik ga overmorgen daar naartoe denk ik! hoe is het met jou?
-
28 Maart 2012 - 15:52
Alisya:
Hey suesse, ich war letztes woche in Indien, zum ersten mal! da war es so schoen! ich bin ganz neidig dass du immer so tolle reise machst! ich hoffe dass es dir gut geht! lots love :) -
28 Maart 2012 - 16:20
Tina:
Dag schat,
Wat fijn om te lezen dat alles goed gaat en dat je zelfs een eigen rooftop Cafe hebt ;)
Hopelijk lukken al je plannen voor morgen en hou ons op de hoogte!
Veel kusjes uit Nederland! -
28 Maart 2012 - 17:01
Marie-Céline:
Enjoy my love! You'll love/adore it! -
28 Maart 2012 - 17:55
Clara Sonnborn:
the pcture is of the monKey temple not the money temple:-P -
28 Maart 2012 - 21:11
Ghis:
Hee hai! Je bent er al zie ik ;) (uiteraard)
tot over 2/3 weekjes dan :p -
28 Maart 2012 - 21:41
Mirk:
man sounds awesome! and reminds me of being abroad, lost, confused and feeling incredible... i wish you a lot -
28 Maart 2012 - 21:50
Leanne:
Geweldig verslag Clara!
Je hebt meteen al een heleboel typische dingen ontdekt, heerlijk om weer eens over al die kleine grappige verschillen te lezen ;)
Geniet ervan!
Liefs,
Leanne -
28 Maart 2012 - 22:24
Babs:
Heey! wat cool dat je een reisverslag schrijft, ben benieuwd hoelang je dat vol houdt :p de Garden of Dreams klinkt gaaf :D ik mis je nu al, heel veel plezier en hou ons op de hoogte!!! xx -
29 Maart 2012 - 05:38
Heike Nicolaus-konna:
Liebe Clara, hab eine gute Zeit, pass auf Dich auf. Ich werde auf jeden Fall hier Deinen Weg verfolgen. Bye
Reageer op dit reisverslag
Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
