Left the Tropicana Hotel at 7:15 and went by cab to the Pokhara Tourist Bus Station. The busses were lined up like military vehicles preparing for an assault. I counted 20 of them. Most left at 7:30; mine left at 8:00. Three stops, like the trip to Pokhara, and we arrived at 3 PM in Kathmandu.
Caught a taxi to Bhaktapour and checked back into the $8.00 room just off Durbar Square that I had last week.
The bus ride seemed less intense than the ride to Pokhara last week. No bodies on the side of the road, fewer near miss collisions. Maybe I did not watch as closely. Maybe I have become accustomed to Nepali bus travel and the risks involved.
Nepal is about the size of Arkansas, with about 25 million people. Most people are very poor - Kathmandu and Pokhara are two of the three largest cities.....
Nepal is a third nation country - like Lao, Cambodia, Myanmar.
Nepal, like Lao, does not have port access and this eliminates the opportunity for maritime international export/import and increases the cost of oil and other imports. Oil and propane are imported. Vehicles are small. Most electric is hydro, but I have seen no dams.
I went to an appliance and TV store with Shree today and - like the US - everything in the store was made in China or Japan.
I have not seen steel mills, foundries, or manufacturing of any substance. But there are brick and cinder block factories, and also lots of natural stone/gravel being hauled, dumped, piled and carried everywhere. I imagine the portland cement is imported from China or India.
It is like much of backwater Mexico...a work in progress. But never finished.
Nepal is scenically beautiful, but there is trash everywhere. There is no effort to pick up trash - unless it is cardboard, plastic bottles or glass bottles - which have recycle value. Open a bag of chips, buy a bottle of water......ditch it on the ground when finished. The amount of trash on trails, in streets and on the side of the road diminishes the natural beauty of the country. Trash is everywhere. Often you see piles of trash being burned.......most of it petro chem plastic trash.
Nepal is poor, but it is not as poor as Myanmar - at least the small portion in the far eastern side of the country that I visited last year. There is rural electricity, most rural dwellings are either brick, stome or concrete - many with corrugated galvanized roofs. There are numerous wells and running water - streams or springs - and many rural households haul water for indoor use. The women haul the water, work in the fields, cook, care for the children. Many men just sit around.
Will hang in the area for two days and depart for Lhasa on 11/4.
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