The traveller's sleepy eyes open to the hazy plains of northern India far below.

A dried up, brown world in the glaring light of the morning sun, and there, like a glittering greeting - a snake rolling through the plain - the Ganges, the map on the monitor indicates Patna 78 kilometers. Memories are awakened. On the crossing of the Ganges. The first rain after months. The leak in the roof of the VW bus. Long time ago …

Half an hour later, a few pointed towers appear in the north, barely recognizable through the clouds. The Himalayas. Or the few that are recognizable, because the next moment they are swallowed up by avalanches of clouds.

It seems to last forever until we break through the white blanket and immediately above the Kathmandu Valley I recognize houses and streets. A nested world of thousands of streets and alleys and buildings, veiled by a strange mist over the valley.

View to Kathmandu
A first look at Kathmandu, grey and somehow dirty

The weather is mediocre, but at least over 20 degrees warm, so the captain on his goodbye speech. I also tell goodbye to my neighbor from New York, he wants to do the Anapurnatrek. Do not get lost in the Himalayas, my friend!

Then Touchdown, everything looks the same. You climb down the stairs, recognize the airport building, draw the fresh morning air into your lungs and take a deep breath.

First Impressions

A little confusing the customs procedure. You queue up and notice just in time that you first have to pay the visa fee at the appropriate counter, but then everything happens quickly. Change money, you get a lot of rupees, stuff them into your pocket, get on your way to the taxis, search in vain for the sign with the inscription „Hotel Yambu“ and get a little annoyed that someone obviously forgot me. Also not astonishing with a delay of more than one hour.

Finally there is someone who decides to drive me to the city for 10 Dollars, the amount the hotel told me about. Only much later do I learn that you normally only have to pay half of it.

The drive from the airport to the city gives a first impression of the traffic situation. We actually find ourselves from one traffic jam to the other.

The hotel "Yambu“ is okay, I ended up in the middle of Thamel, the old town, that's where the action is. The view of the city confirms my first impression: the sky has clouded over, it's cooler than expected, and above all: the haze over the valley is man-made. Simply smog. He will be with me for the next few days and will be responsible for one or two coughs.

Clouds over Kathmandu

The Earthquake

On the April 25th 2015 a devastating Earthquake destruction and death. The capital Kathmandu as well as individual mountain valleys such as the Langtang Valley were particularly affected.

What about today?

At first glance - a reassurance. It looks better than expected, although it is known that the earthquake caused great devastation, especially at the temples.

But first impressions are deceptive. If you take a closer look, if you dare to look behind the raised scaffolds and curtains, only then the damage become visible. Collapsed buildings, collapsed walls. Temples that have to be laboriously reconstructed. Cracks in house walls, collapsed roofs, scantily covered with tarpaulins.

It will be years before everything is back to former glory.

Unrecognizable

How has the city changed since the last visit 1990? I remember long comfortable bike rides through busy but not jammed streets and alleys. Today – unthinkable! Traffic has reached a point where even the thought of cycling would be a joke.

The streets in Thamel, the bustling old town, are so jammed that you, as a pedestrian, are constantly at risk of being driven over. There are over a million motorcycles in Kathmandu alone, and they are all honking their way through the chaos. But nobody seems to mind, it's daily business. No one complains, no cursing or scolding is heard anywhere. You got used to it.

Friendly was on the streets Hustle and bustle in Thamel

It reminds a bit of Hanoi, and the feeling is similar. You are in the throat of a monster. It stinks of exhaust fumes and all sorts of other things, it booms and honks and roars.

An environmental disaster

The air, however, is an insult. A single tragedy for bronchi and lungs. Many inhabitants suffer from respiratory problems, thousands die of lung cancer. Maybe worse than Delhi, and that means a lot. After a short time you will feel a scratching in your throat. It won't get any better.

The population in the Kathmandu Valley is estimated at over 7 millions, and probably more every day.

Thamel

And so here I am, on a slow, tired walk in the direction of the Durbar Square, I struggle through people and motorcycles and honking cars and pickups and dogs and rickshaws. My legs are a bit heavy after the waking night, but I have to hold on until evening to get used to the time difference as fast as possible.

One of the least damaged temples One big mess

At Durbar Square, where the effects of the earthquake are visible (some museums are still closed), I sit on a little wall until a resolute lady in uniform tells me that I have to pay the entrance fee. All right, I move some meters to the right, and indeed, there it doesn't cost anything. I am much too tired to visit the square properly, so I make my way back.

Jimi Hendrix

The growling stomach reminds me that since breakfast on the plane a little over ten hours ago, there hasn't been any calorie intake. Strangely enough, there seem to be no restaurants here, at this place teeming with tourists, so I walk back towards Thamel, feel as old as I am, until somewhere the sign of a restaurant appears that offers not only food but also rock music.

That should be enough to bring my tired spirits and bones back to fruition. And indeed, the food is good, but there is no rock music at all. At least there are posters on the walls with Jimi Handrix and AC / DC and Mötley Crüe.

Surprisingly, I even find the way back to my Yambu hotel and am almost a bit proud of it.

The question is, how do I survive this evening until the planned bedtime? Once again, I can not get the TV going, so I try out an action blastmovie on Netflix, with my eyes closing every few minutes. Eventually I surrender and hide below the blanket.

It is amazingly cold.

 

P.S. Matching Song:  Gun Club - Mother of Earth

And here the journey continues ...

 

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