Street scene in Kathmandu
Street scene in Kathmandu Nepal
The above photo shows a typical street scene in parts of Kathmandu, Nepal. Narrow laneways lined with such a variety of stores as to be somewhat overwhelming to the first time visitor. One shop is selling grain, such as rice in bags, the next is selling pashminas, the next a variety of vegetables and then you get a bookshop and a motor bike repair shop next to each other.
In front of one shop there is someone sitting on the path selling fruit, perhaps just bananas. Passing by you see a 3 or 4 wheeled bicycle converted into a mobile street stall selling popcorn. Across the street is an up-market restaurant alongside an internet cafe.
Actually, as I look at the photo above more closely, it is not really typical of many of the lanes of Kathmandu; there is an almost total absence of people! The streets are usually a frenetic bustling of humanity. I must have caught a brief lull in the traffic.
What a mess in Kathmandu
Building in Kathmandu
Kathmandu is not the cleanest city in the world. That is one fact that hits you immediately upon leaving the airport. In fact, even as you are landing and as the plane taxis to the terminal. Crashed helicopters and broken down planes line the runway and nearby hangars.
In central Kathmandu one is faced with a great variety of building styles. Some are ancient, many hundreds of years old and quite magnificent. Others are broken down wrecks that deserve to be bull dozed. Some are modern, spacious and beautiful.
One of the older buildings in Thamel caught my eye for another reason. The telephone and electricity supplies in Kathmandu are obviously struggling to keep up with the demands of a city trying to emerge into the modern world. In the photo above you can see that the cabling for electricity and telephone supplies can be a little chaotic at times. (Click on the image to enlarge – you will then see what I mean.)
Despite the chaos, life does go on. Phone calls can be made reasonably easily. Electricity is supplied where it is needed – most of the time. Internet connections, though slow and erratic, can be used.
It just demonstrates the pains of an ancient city struggling to emerge into the modern world.
Book Review: Against a Peacock Sky
Against a Peacock Sky written by Monica Connell. Published by Penguin Books (Viking) in 1991.
Monica Connell grew up in Northern Ireland and is an anthropologist who went to live in a rural village in Nepal. She lived and worked for two years with a Nepali family, sharing their celebrations, their hardships, their food and their hard labour in the fields to provide a subsistence living. One family took her in, sharing their everyday lives on a very personal level with her, allowing her to virtually become one of the family.
Monica witnessed first hand the villagers’ way of life. She learned how to care for the animals, how to plant and harvest rice and the best way to hunt a boar. She relates the significance of their many religious ceremonies, beliefs and festivals. She relates – without any hint of being judgmental – the importance of various customs employed to appease the local gods in order to have a successful crop or produce healthy animals.
This is a fascinating account of life in rural Nepal as it has been for many centuries and had remained largely untouched by outside influences. Here and there in her narrative, however, there are hints of change in their somewhat cloistered existence. Outside pressures were beginning to show. For example, one young man finds work building roads in nearby India, and he leaves permanently. The old ways were beginning to change, and I suspect if the author returned to that village today there would be many more changes apparent.
I would suspect that this book is now out of print. I bought mine via the internet as a used copy after I had experienced a touch of Nepali life when I went to visit there in 2006. To read more of my impressions of life in Nepal, go to the Contents on the sidebar, or click on several of the Categories, also on the sidebar.
Buildings in Kathmandu
Building in Kathmandu
I was fascinated by the great variety of buildings in central Kathmandu. This was another to catch my eye and have my camera trained on it. I was puzzled by the brickwork where the grey building in front of me met the red brick building on the left. It is best viewed enlarged (click on the image).
It seems that the grey building, by its style and ornate decorations, is from an earlier era. Part of this building seems to have collapsed at some stage, possibly during the earthquake of 1934. The red brick building appears to be a more modern building, more functional than beautiful.
Notice the spaghetti tangle of cables in the lower left hand corner of the photo.
Street stalls in Kathmandu
Street scene in Kathmandu Nepal
It is really quite amazing what you can buy from the street vendors in a city like Kathmandu. The variety is staggering. The noise is constant. The movement of people is never ending. The smells are something you can only experience first hand. And the colours are magical.
In this photo I have shown the very colourful wreaths that were for sale everywhere, especially near temples like this one. I should have asked someone there about the religious significance of them, if that is what they are for. Perhaps readers of this blog can enlighten me by leaving a comment.