Goodbye Kathmandu

It's Kevin. I'm in the lakeside tourist town of Pokhara typing away at an internet cafe/German bakery. To get here I took a short walk down an alleyway that I shared with a handful of people, two motorcycles and a cow. I just had a dinner of the best chicken tikka masala and naan I've ever had. Tomorrow Krissy and I will head out on our first trek. Life is sublime.

However, before the calm there was a storm I call Kathmandu. I have never experienced a city that is so riotous to my senses. There is always a pungent odor of incense, sewage, garbage, car exhaust, fried street food and burning (one smell is usually stronger than another and is quickly replaced). There is always the sound of car horns that beep incessantly to warn others of their presence. Shop owners greet you with a "namaste" or more aggressively with a sales pitch. The colors of city are a motley assortment of the brightest shades imaginable that more often than not are buried in a layer of dust.

On top of all these distractions is the traffic. Navigating narrow streets that may or may not have sidewalks with cars, motorcycles, bikes and rickshaws that occupy any available space takes some getting used to. There is an exhausting rhythm to it.

Unfortunately it is entirely necessary to explore Kathmandu to get all the necessary permits and supplies for what I really want to be doing in Nepal: trekking. After all the logistics were taken care of we took a seven hour bus ride from Kathmandu to Pokhara. Along the "highway" we averaged a speed of probably 30 mph over pothole riddled pavement with lanes that were just wide enough to allow two buses to pass each other.

It was a long ride but we made it. It was nice to see the urban outskirts of Kathmandu melt away to reveal rivers, rice paddies and roadside villages. The further down the road the more my mood improved.