A night on the town........

I took a taxi into town when the rain finally stopped. I had packed a few things I would need into my daypack and chucked a pile of washing into my dry bag. The taxi wanted three hundred but we eventually agreed on two hundred. For some bizarre reason he didn't take the ring road, instead took what appeared to be the back roads, most of which were flooded from the torrential rain. He got the last laugh, dropping me off at what he claimed was Thamel, I only realised as I got out that I was about 2k from where I wanted to be. Oh well, good exercise for if I want to go trekking.....

I arrived at the Premium hotel, checked in, got my old room and everyone appeared to be happy to see me. Namaste they all yelled as I walked through the door. The owner told me that I could have. Room 402, the room that had been my home for two weeks. Great I said, I just need a hot hot water. He looked at me alarmed, "there was no hot water last time' he enquirer. "no no" I explained, no hot water at the monastery, in fact no water at all. As I walked up to my room it dawned me that actually, for a good five days out of the last 10 there was indeed no hot water....

Anyway, today there was hot water and I gave myself a good scrub. I took my laundry to reception and asked if there was any chance i could be done by Saturday lunch time. He would try but it dries in the sun.. We laughed looking at the weather this morning.... I told him that it didn't matter if itbwas still dam, I would dry it at the monastery. I then went out to BK's for chips, chilli sauce and Pakora, the best chips in town..... Then a small sleep.

It was a pretty low key evening. I had dinner at the Mandep. The usual of chicken tikka masala and a garlic naan. Washed down with a couple of beers. After which I went back to the hotel and bed.....

I had a lie in, a week (actually it's only 3 days!) of 4:30 wake ups had clearly taken their toll. It was 11:00am before I had breakfast. Hard boiled eggs (which came as fried) and hash browns which weren't, they were however good. The food at the hotel, given the facilities, is quite nice and the beer is cheap....

It was a beautiful morning, the red sky the previous evening had promised that. After breakfast I checked out. My laundry wasn't ready, no worries, I was going to get a coffee anyway. I called in to get my vitamin drink of pineapple juice. This guy as a bizarre charging structure, it's been 70, 80, 90 and 100 rupees. This kinda pisses me off. I have had to ask for my change a couple of times. Today he gave me 10 back from 100. "Has the price gone up." He looked puzzled.. "On Wednesday it was 80 rupees." "agh", he said, "it's special" yeah right. I know it's not much but the principle of the matter pisses me off. Does the man have no comprehension of "lifetime customer value". Of course not. But he just lost a customer who would have happily spent about £20 with him over the next two month. There are plenty of other fruit juice vendors...

Coffee at the Himalaya Java, it was packed so I had to ask this rather over dressed (in a scanty sort of way) and rather over made up (in a tarty sort of way) if I could sit opposite her. Two sofas with a table in-between and she had pretty much taken over the table with all her "stuff" she looked at me as if I had just asked for a shag and shrugged her shoulders. Some people are complete twats...

I am finding Kathmandu quite a strange sort of place in terms of meeting people out an about. There are loads of "hippies" complete with dreadlocks and grubby clothes. There are loads of trekker types, there are loads of french. I've only had conversations with about 10 foreign people since I arrived... Hey ho..

I found a nice little app that let's you upload batches of photos onto Face Book. Something I've not done much of before. I spent the next couple of hours drinking coffee and doing that. Every time I looked over, the women opposite glared. She was eventually joined by her boyfriend, both America, although she did have a South American look about her. But there you go. American again, with a couple of examples (if you're reading this Randles- you're exempt ) they appear to be rather a dysfunctional race. Listening to these two only reinforced that view....

The beautiful morning had turned into a pissing afternoon, dark clouds and torrential rain. I decided to have a shave... Nice head massage, all for the price of a beer. Having made that splash out, well worth it. I went to the hotel, paid my bill and checked out. As I'd been extravagant with the shave I decided to walk the 4km to the monastery. Arrived absolutely wet through.

Lots of waves from the monks as I walked through the gates. Still no water. Guess I'll have to get another HUGE bottle from the head monk. At 50 rupees it's not going to break the bank...

Having forgotten my glasses, I had a bit of work to do in preparation for the lesson tomorrow.

It won't be a late night either....


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Location:Ring Rd,Kathmandu,Nepal