The Neighbourhood

I have to say I am pleasantly surprised ....I had thought I was going to mud huts or something ..but Kathmandu at least is fairly well built up. On saying that it is clearly on the poverty line and you can see that some folks really don't have much .
The roads have massive pot holes and there are no pavements . The side of the road is mainly just dirt or in our case since its been raining a lot , its thick mud. There are virtually no private cars but there are plenty of taxis ..these tiny wee Suzuki things . You feel like it has no suspension whatsoever in these things and we were in one taxi where every time we went over a hole the interior light would switch on and off and the driver kept opening various doors whilst driving to see if that was the problem . I was just hoping we wouldn't stall on one of the hills on the way home cos Im not sure the thing had brakes ...
There is also the microbus to get around in . Its like a wee bus with seats for around 11 but they squeeze about 30 in ! You have folk sitting on your knee , folk falling on your feet , squashing various body parts as they try to get on the bus . Kind of reminded me of the commuter train in Tokyo where they have one guy physically pushing people into a not existent space.
The traffic is Mental !! Cars , buses , people , cows , beggars ....everyone jostling for room on a single track road . You just kind of have to shut your eyes and not pay attention to the cars one inch from your window . There is a ton of smog and a lot of people have taken to wearing a face mask .
There are many weird and wonderful smells . The best one being when you walk by a spice shop ...the worst being the sewage ...Havent seen any raw sewage but the pipes must be pretty close to the road surface !
There are the occasional cows wandering around munching on the many bags of rubbish chucked to the side of the road . There are plenty of stray dogs around but they seem to be too lazy to move . Thankfully I haven't seen a cat yet - it seems they are evil omens or at least bad news in this culture . That suits me just fine !  Have only seen one rat so far and no beasties ...am hoping it stays that way but might just be because its so cold just now.
The electricity wiring is a sight to behold ....just see the photo . No words for that other than dangerous!