Kathmandu had been on my 'list' for a long time. There are places that just intrigue me when I just hear their names: Timbuktu, Zanzibar, and Kathmandu. Is that enough reason to go to such places?
Kathmandu did not live up to the image I had in my head. I'm not sure I can even describe that image. Exotic. Mystical. Transcendent. I suspect the image I had was a Kathmandu of the past. A Kathmandu of the '60s and '70s. Kathmandu of the '10s is a crowded, noisy, dirty, trashy place. I wanted the Kathmandu when all the places we visited really did require a drive through the Nepalese countryside. That Kathmandu doesn't exist anymore.
While I was in Nepal I let my disillusionment cloud my vision. When I got home and looked through the pictures I'd taken I was surprised at all the cool things I'd seen. Where was I when I was taking these pictures? Yeah, Kathmandu was not what I'd been expecting but it was still pretty cool. I'd just let my disappointment get in the way.
In retrospect we didn't do Kathmandu, and Nepal in general, the right way. We had three half and one whole day of free time that we should have filled. I didn't do my research. I left it all to our tour guide. There was no reason why we couldn't have asked our guides to take us to more places. I'm sure there was more we could have seen. I just didn't do my homework. The sad part is I think our tour guide knew we could be doing more. We kept getting calls from the tour company asking if we were happy. This was irritating in the moment but I realize now that we were always giving them the wrong answer. We kept saying yes when we should have been asking what else there was to see and do. At a minimum some kind of substantial trek on our last day would have been an improvement I think.
So instead of having this awesome memory of Kathmandu, we have a feeling of disappointment that can be summed up by what the Wife said upon getting home: On the radio she'd heard Bob Seger's "Kathmandu" and said something like "That song doesn't make sense anymore."
Yeah ... It doesn't make sense anymore.
Pictures from the Nepal portion of our travels can be found in my 2012-07 Nepal Google Photos album.
Our 2012 Asian Adventure continues ...
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