Nothing planned today. I meet with Harry in the morning for coffee and learnt a lot more about Nepalese Hindu culture.
After lunch I wander down to the shop near the hotel. Krishna runs the little shop in a narrow lane way with his wife and family. He offers me tea as he does with many foreigners that come to his shop. He’s a bit of a character and gets on well with everyone. He tells me his going up to where he was building a house before the earthquake, did I want to come? I don’t have anything planned so ‘yes’ I will come. He’s friend is coming as well to look at some land to possibly buy. We catch a bus that after about 30 minutes takes us to up into the hills on the edge of Kathmandu. After some tea we walk up to his block. They had just about finished building a house they hoped to home stay tourists in when the earthquake hit. Krishna and his wife ran for their lives. Their children were in the shop back in the city. They feared for their children’s lives but a phone call at least removed that fear. Anyway their nearly-completed house was completely destroyed. He is here today to reassess because they will rebuild. They have a French friend that’s in partnership. The view from here is stunning.
We continue walking to meet with some land sellers. We are high up on the edge of the mountain forests. It’s beautiful and there are many hotels around. Krishna and his friend have discussions, in Nepalese of course, and we move on. We come by a small collision between a bus and a truck. The drivers got out and had an animated discussion before getting back into their vehicles and carefully driving off. I think the bus driver was in the wrong.
Onward and we come across a small film crew shooting a music video on the top of a hill. It seemed a very strange little production involving a man, two women and a motorbike. The producer wanted my opinion!
We head back now via a different route. We come out onto a road that is one of the main roads going through to Tibet. Where we are it separates the city from the mountain forest. It’s late afternoon and we think we’ve missed the last bus so we walk this road. It’s pleasant walking and the forest is alive with birds and other sounds. There is a big brick wall at the edge of the forest. Krishna tells me that the last king now lives in style in a mansion up there.
We eventually find a bus and get back to the hotel around 7pm.
angusmccoll 