Bob-If you bring the bowl to Joe's, I'm sure I will have singing bowl envy.

shelley, is that an entree?

no bowl yet, even though we looked today. have decided to buy the original one we saw in a shop next to the large pagoda---we really liked that area btw.

"large pagoda" Bob, are you referring to Boudnath, the Buddhist stupa near the Hyatt? That is a nice area, and we visited the stupa a number of times during our stay.

Have you been to Pashupatinath yet? It's not far from Boudnath. We walked - it's all down hill - but you could take a taxi.

of course this is what i meant.... when i typed that i knew it was wrong but i was hacking and just trying to type....


next update tomorrow.

we wont make it to P this time, even though you praised it.
the way i feel tonight i could just jump on a pile of wood and light it.

Are you sick or cold?

Sorry you aren't feeling well, Bob. I hope Karen got to do some shopping.

Hope you feel better Bob. In the meantime stay indoors and give Karen the wallet and money.....she knows what to do.

Waiting for more and enjoying your report.

Aloha!

Kathie, I had to laugh at your post sorry that Bob isn't feeling too well but as long as Karen gets the shopping done thats the important thing. LOL

thanks, i feel much better today. i may still have left over thai cold symptoms.

after touring yesterday i had aches, then i got cold for no reason....Then i had 3 cups of black tea and some cookies and viola i felt much better... i really was fine by dinner.



Thursday Nov 10

First a note about electrical adapters. Here at the Hyatt they use the new British type adapter, the 3 prong flat rectangular plugs arranged in a triangle. Electrical service was good here except when we first arrived when it went on and off a bit in the late afternoon.

We have been very happy with our choice of the Hyatt. While it is at the opposite end of town from the major sites except the large stuppa (which is a 5 minute walk outside the back gate) we feel it is the best place to be. Club floor privileges are a real benefit with free breakfasts, a lovely quiet club lounge on floor 6 with a view of the pool and large stuppa, free drinks, hors each night, and a staff to help with your needs.

The goals for today were to visit the Durbar Square in Kathmandu and a visit to the wild shopping area of Thamel. We decided to take a taxi to Durbar. The car was small but comfortable enough. The doorman told me the rate should be 400-500 Rs. After we told the driver what we wanted he quoted 400, then added he would wait for us for 800. I then asked about combining Thamel with waiting time and he said 2500 or about $31. Perfect. This would take most of the day.

Let me speak to the streets. Not great. According to the drivers, corruption keeps the government from filling holes and patching them and seem to have a hands off attitude. The people do not seem happy with the current “democratic” government and certainly blame the last king (youngest of the brothers) and his son for the murder of the royal family a few years ago. I will say that as for a tourist, things are stable here. There has been huge inflation.

Durbar Square: We judge this to be the least interesting and attractive of the 3 major places we visited. The main palace, a huge white stone building, almost feels out of place. The Kumari House, official home of a young girl between age 3 and puberty, who is considered to be a living incarnation of the goddess Taleju, was interesting and ornate. It is directly opposite the palace. Btw, there is another older section of the palace, in the next square, Durbar is actually a series of squares, which contains a good museum.

There are many pagoda style buildings scattered throughout. We found this square to be more commercial and less interesting than Patan and Bhaktapur. Bhaktapur being our favorite closely followed by Patan. I would not visit here without visiting the stuppa at Boudha, Bhaktapur, Kathmandu square, and Patan.

Thamel was by far the least interesting place for us to visit. While we love shopping, the only focus of this area, this place is overload. Most of the shops seem to be crammed full of tourist merchandise and clothing. It held no interest for us other than the fair trade small mall we visited called Deva Mall, run by the Handicrafts Association of Nepal on Narsingh Chowk. Artisans rotate each 90 days. Karen bought a number of silver items, rings and bracelets as well as two hand made paper books and several greeting cards.

After our visit there the driver took us back to Paten to the industrial park to visit a “craft” store. I should have known it, but this is one of those tourist “bus” shops. A shop that sells everything. WE did not like this visit.

On our way back to the hotel we were driven through a local neighborhood which was very interesting. We ended up at Snow White laundry where we had left 2 weeks dirty clothes a few days before--$6. it is roughly opposite the main gate to Boudha. Back to the hotel and I gave the driver 3000 Rs and he asked for an additional 500 which I was glad to give as he had added on the paten stop and had walked with us the whole time giving limited commentary..

Drinks in the club and then we both needed a simple dinner as our stomachs were speaking to us. We went to ROX, the Med restaurant, and had plain grilled chicken with mashed pots… PERFECT.


Its Friday morning now and we will leave for the airport about 12:30 for our flight back to Delhi. We hope we will have no problem re-entering India.

Great commentary. We will certainly consider putting Kathmandu back on our to-do list.

i think you would like about 4-5 days there on your way to bhutan. we saw a 2 prop bhutan airways plane at ktm this afternoon.


june we got a fab singing bowl this morning. it is one of the so-called full moon variety---hammered by the light of the full moon... well maybe. $100.

we are back in delhi---no problems reentering in less than 60 days---not even a question. In case i did not say it clearly earlier, the new terminal 3 at delhi is world class.

Good to know that you were able to return to India as I'm anxious to hear the rest of your trip report. I looked those bowls up on line and they look beautiful.

Bob, ideally we'd have 4 weeks in the Himalayas and do Kathmandu, Sikkim and Bhutan. But we don't. At least not now. Bhutan will occupy 12-13 days and we will have a day or two in Bangkok as well. So Kathmandu (and Sikkim, for that matter) will have to wait...

not a problem, priorities

Bob,
Did you do an Everest sightsee tour by plane....can't remember if you wrote about it. Ofcourse, it's contingent on clear weather.

Good report...keep it coming.

mag---K would have nothing to do with these small plane flights---besides Everest has been fogged in for over a week with hundreds stranded...


Friday Nov 11


After breakfast we left the hotel thru the rear gate, which leads out directly to a charming road/alleyway which eventually enters the rear of the B stuppa square (round). The walk is perhaps 10 minutes at most. Along the walkway are several guesthouses and shops. Here you will find some everyday life of K.

Our quest for the morning was a singing bowl. We had visited The Singing Bowl Center on our first day but we had no comparison of quality and price, so it became our benchmark. We were quoted $155 for the one we liked. The shop is 8-10 shops to the left after entering the circular from the main gateway.

Santa Ratna Shakya and his younger brother run this shop and their family produces the hand hammered bowls in Patan. Santa comes annually to Colorado to conduct healing classes using the bowls and to give concerts in the month of August. We had a nice chat with Santa who we had not met before and he called his brother to come and continue the sale. BTW, they also arrange classes in K. After further discussion and comparison we purchased our original bowl, which luckily had not been sold.

It is 8-9” in diameter, fits in my carryon perfectly, has a lovely darkish hammered patina and is engraved with several words on one side and a round insignia on the other. These identify it as a “full moon” bowl---one which was crafted during a full moon. We were quoted 8000 Rs ($100) for the bowl and 2 sticks, one big for the gong effect, and one small for the singing effect. I did not bargain at all as this was 1/3 less than I had been quoted 2 days before and I felt it was very reasonable for this quality. We also bought a green silk pillow for the bowl to sit on for display (200 Rs). We were delighted. Neither of their credit machines would work with any of the cards I had (6), so K walked to a nearby ATM and got some more cash. None of our cards have chips.

We took a taxi back to the hotel (lazy me) and quickly finished our packing to be ready for our 12:30 departure. We were informed the van had been delayed and after 15 minutes we were offered a private car to the airport, which we accepted, and it was a good thing we did. About ¾ of a mile up the road, the traffic on the other side was at a standstill. There were lots of police in riot gear and one street was closed, thus snarling traffic.

We arrived at this old and dirty airport and began an unbelievable security check. We were first checked upon entry to the building—long wait… next we were checked to enter the check in area—long wait…. Then our bags were put thru an xray machine—no wait… next were 3 very long and confusing checkin lines—very long wait…next was another checkin to enter the waiting area, no wait… then a further check, and then we waited in the first boarding waiting room… then the flight was called, but they were not ready—another 10 min… then a further personal check and pat-down before leaving the building to get on the bus, AND finally an airline check on a platform outside the plane, including a carryon bag search, and then a document check and FINALLY the final check ½ way up the stairway of your boarding pass.

We had aisle seats in back of each other. I was offered the rear row to myself to be more comfortable which I took. The flight was quick and K got to see lots of white mountain tops from her seat. Arrival back in delhi is a pleasure because of the way they have the rooms set up. Easy exit and reentry back into India with no visa questions at all about our recent departure (5 days ago).

Castle and King’s greeter was right there waiting for us and all went well until we hit the Friday late afternoon traffic. What took us 20 minutes 5 days ago, on a Sunday, took over 1.5 hours this day.

We have nothing but praise for the Marriott Courtyard Hotel in Gurgaon, a few miles from the airport. The highrise is newish, modern and very 4*ish. We had club privledges again and quickly headed there for drinks and hors, and then decided to order dinner from the café restaurant menu to be delivered there. I had eggplant parm and K had fish and chips—absolutely the normal things to order in India.

A very good night’s sleep in our very comfortable room.



Saturday Nov 12


Krishna, our driver (Lord Krishna to me) came for us exactly at 10. We were headed for Jaipur, 250 kilometers from Delhi, via Neemrana.

We found ourselves in the middle of the “normal” traffic patterns: tons of large trucks, motorbikes, goats, cars, people, tuk tuks, cows---all crisscrossing, U-turning, going in the opposite direction, stopping to let people in or out, changing lanes repeatedly without notice, coming within one inch of you, etc.

About 2 hours out we stopped just outside the gate to Neenrana Fort Palace Hotel at a little silver shop K had visited 6 years ago---Neemrana Silver Craft. His prices are very fair—by weight. The work is created by his father and brother about 50 kilometers away. A bag was filled with silver items---Xmas is coming.

After an hour, we continued our trip to Jaipur for about 2.5+ hours. The further we went the more attractive the countryside became, with big hills framing the valley we drove through. While there were large modern factories along the way, agriculture seemed to dominate. We passed camel driven carts filled with animal food-stuffs and a few elephants also carrying straw. We drove thru a few run down market towns which always were very chaotic.
Finally we arrived in Jaipur. Our Sheraton Four Points seems to be located in a “local” neighborhood, attached to a small dumpy all purpose store.
We were upgraded to the club floor—no club however.

We decided to have dinner in the café where they were having a week long Rajasthan festival. We had the buffet special meal (595 Rs.). Decent enough.

Bed early as we are being picked up at 9 and heading for our elephant ride up to the Fort.

Bob, I'm so glad to hear your singing bowl story. It's great that you were able to get a hand-crafted bowl - they are so different from the machine made bowls.

It sounds like there must have been a demonstration that snarled traffic on your way to the airport in KTM.

i gave you only the partial bowl center name. i/s/b: Himalayan Singing Bowl Center

Hope you are feeling better, Bob. I've not read the last couple of entries you made... It's not fun to be ailing when you are so far from home.