26th May 1992 Day 311

The Diary
A day of unexpected happenings. We jumped from 9 and 10 on the waiting list to confirmed for the 27th. We had our tickets amended and cancelled on the 28th. We went to the bank, I bought some travellers cheques and was allowed to take some US dollars as well. We then went to the Poste Restaurante and I received a letter from Katrina from Sport and Rec. Now I'm up on all the gossip and she also mentioned that Brad had been to Nepal. It's a shame we missed him and Sean. Oz phoned Beth, everything we'd sent home had arrived and she'd got a week off at the end of July.

The local neighbourhood

Next door's pig - it lived in the living room as far as I could tell

We then wandered around trying to spend our Nepalese rupees on useful articles. I bought Walkman batteries, a spare camera battery, film including enhanced colour film and a T-shirt. We also had a couple of strange pizzas. A sort of curry with wooden peas on a pizza base. My stomach is back to normal now so we celebrated by having a proper pizza at the San Francisco Pizza House and listened to a group of Americans seated at the far side of the room. Why do they all talk so LOUD?


2012
"Poste Restaurante" - see yesterday.


Sport and Rec people are here


A Walkman? Remember them? 80s iPods without the fanbois.

25th May 1992 Day 310

The Diary
Oz's first lie in for 6 days but as usual we were woken by the howling dogs. When we got outside it was drizzling and it continued in the same vein all day. We tried IA again, still 9 and 10 for Wednesday so we bought a ticket for Thursday. We got talking to an ex-Gurkha in a restaurant who'd been at Aldershot from 76-80. We guessed he'd been in England in the 70s because he kept talking about discos and birds. He looked a bit past it now though. We also visited the British Council Library and dived into 2 week old copies of The Independent, Telegraph and Times. It made me a little homesick , but it's not long to go now and I'm feeling better as the tablets are doing their stuff.

Wonder if this was why I got sick?

Something for the weekend sir?

I phoned Christy and discovered Sarah and Dave had been refused their visa extension, Dave's quit Oracle, Sarah's stopped seeing John Curry and it looks like Christy will move home after her sister's wedding. Never a dull moment. Christy's life seems to have disappeared from around her though, although I suppose Dave and Sarah's has too. A few weeks ago it was marriage and a life in Oz and now it's neither. Christy talked about getting a 2 year working visa for the UK as she's been granted citizenship bar the ceremony and she thinks it will be very difficult to get UK residency. I think her plans change every time I phone her. It's not worth worrying about it as there's nothing I can do about it at the moment. I joked about the disgusting letter I'd received the previous day and mentioned I'd received one from AB as well even though he did address it to Poste Restaurante!


Back at the guest house I added a page on to the end of Oz's letter to Cat and Amber and then it was time to brave the rain and eat. We finally got in KC's but what was the fuss about? Overpriced and we've had better food elsewhere. Still, the main thing is I've only been to the toilet once today and I'm already feeling much better.

24th May 1992 Day 309

The Diary
I took a particularly obnoxious stool in a 35mm plastic film case to the clinic to be examined. The verdict? Gastroentiritis and the previous pills were completely useless. The stool was described as very pussy! I was to take some new tablets once per day and to eat whatever I wanted. I wandered back to Thamel after trying the British Council Library which was closed. I headed for the San Francisco Pizza House and indulged myself and then went back to wait for Oz.

He soon arrived and greeted me with the words "are you better then?" mistakenly believing that I was. "No" I could only reply and proceeded to explain what had happened. The people at the ATS and Hotel Lake View had told him I was better and that that was why I'd gone back to Kathmandu. Wrong.

I asked him about the trek and he said he'd had a good time, been caught in the rain a few times and the view from Poon Hill was spoilt by the weather. He'd met quite a few people en route and also been to his guide's house.

I told him about the flights and we went to Indian Airlines but we were still 9 and 10 on the standby list. Try again tomorrow. Rum Doodle for our evening meal and this time the service was a vast improvement.

2012
The view from Poon Hill





Poon Hill Sunrise, Annapurna in Nepal

23rd May 1992 Day 308

The Diary
25rp breakfast in the Everest Steak House, failed to book a flight to Patna (stopped 3 years ago) or Varanassi (computer down) but left a note with my requirements. Temporarily halted by a sudden urge to use the toilets in the Hotel Sherpa I then headed to the telecom centre to make a phone call home. Everyone OK, mam has quit job, small room is to be done out (planned), England had beaten Pakistan again (too late now), Leicester v Blackburn play-off final, parcel had arrived from Singapore, Sean had just rolled into bed after a night round Louise's (oh yeah!), Frank Cook is still our MP and the Holgate End will be 8quid next season (it was 4.50 last time I went) and Andy was getting ready for exams.


Went back to Indian Airlines, wait listed on 27th, confirmed on 28th. I went to the Nepal International Clinic to tell them I need help. As it was Saturday, everyone bar a nurse had the day off. She made me an appointment for the 24th and gave me a plastic photographic film container for a stool sample. It'll never fit!

Graham Gooch?

Went to get some food. Appalling service at the Run Doodle so I left and at the Third Eye they were making the prices up. Took 'The Big Red Train Ride' back and bought Deutsch Leicht Gemacht. In the evening Silence of the Lambs was spoilt by a crowded restaurant. 


Nachste woche werde ich nach Indien abreisen, Mir stehen nur funf Wochen zur Verfugung. Guten Abend Kinder.


2012
I remember this phone call. It was the only time during the trip that I was close to calling it a day and going home. The International Clinic was my last local hope.


Deutsch Leicht Gemacht - German Made Easy (I think!)


Frank cook - our ex-next door neighbour.


Sean and Louise - still married, so it must have been a good night.


The Holgate End ceased to exist in 1995 when Boro moved to the Riverside. First game at the new stadium was the day Sean and Louise got married. 

22nd May 1992 Day 307

The Diary
Outside the Annapurna Travel Service at 6:15am, the owner and the bus turn up at about 6:50am. The bus turned out to be a minibus in which the seats were too narrow and overall it was less comfortable than one of the bigger tourist buses. The trip to Kathmandu was just as bad as the trip to Chitwan and it was cold and rainy and the driver kept putting awful Nepalese music on the stereo. Hopefully this was one of the last bus trips I'd have to make.

Back in KTM, I dropped my bags off at the Dhaulgiri GH and raced to poste restante. Shades of Bangkok, early closing and I'd missed it. I walked back, put a film in for developing, took a book back, bought a Herald Tribune, picked the photos up, read some more of the 'Big Red Train Ride' and that was Friday.


News: England beat Pakistan in the first one day by 79 runs - why wasn't that the news on 26th March? Suchinda Kraprayoon looks like he will resign, the demonstration death toll could be in the hundreds, BT report a GBP3.1billion profit, a quarter of the money that the West is giving to the ex-USSR and O&Y have filed for bankruptcy in Canada.


2012
Why was I interested in O&Y ? Because in 1989 and 1990 I was working in the shadow of this big building site

10th May 1992 Day 295

The Diary
The trolley bus to Bhaktapur is rarely uncomfortably crowded said Tony Wheeler. This must have been one of those rare occasions. Fortunately it was only a 45 minute ride. Bhaktapur was pleasant to walk in as motor vehicles seemed to stay out of the old area. Another good Durbar Square but I made the mistake of taking a photo of a young girl on one of the temples. She then followed us around for several hours holding out her hand and repeating "photo rupee". Her only other word of English was "yes" which was always preceded by my "no".

The photo-rupee girl

At this point I must admit to making a mistake in my diary as yesterday's lunchtime encounter with the Cumbrian had, in fact, happened, today. Yesterday we ate in an Austrian Vegetarian Cafe overlooking the stupa and today it was in a guest house cafe overlooking Durbar Square. When we came out of the cafe the photo-rupee girl was waiting for us but now she had a small baby girl on her back. Probably to make us feel guilty. But armed with our "infinite patience" and guiding words from LP which says giving money will only encourage them we weren't going to crack. We had quite a bit of fun with her following us and after we'd lulled her into a false sense of security we disappeared at breakneck speed up a side alley.


The trolley bus back was less crowded and for some reason only cost half the 2rp price it cost to get there. We  paid another visit to Rum Doodle and went to bed early.


2012
Infinite Patience was our catch-phrase through much of our travels throughout SE Asia.When things got difficult or crowded or took too long we would take a deep breath and say "infinite patience".

9th May 1992 Day 294

The Diary
We hired two 12 speed mountain bikes from 'Honest Joe's' and Oz thought he'd signed his life away after reading the regulations. The rules were like the back of a BR ticket; you're entitled to nothing but responsible for everything.


We cycled to Pashupatinath, Nepal's major Hindu temple and then headed on to Bodhnath to see the largest stupa in Nepal, which graces the front cover of LP. In a restaurant overlooking the stupa we chatted to a middle-aged Cumbrian who seemed to be spending his life in Nepal and the Philippines. He seemed a bit dim to me as after he started a conversation  about the political unrest in Nepal, we asked what the riots he had witnessed were about. He thought for a while and then said "eee.....I don't know".

We headed further out into the valley towards Sundarijal and the problems with the bikes became very evident. in low gears the chain would slip causing your feet to jump violently off the pedals and making it very awkward to get up hills. We eventually made it despite the hills and the bumpy roads and then immediately turned around and went back to Kathmandu.

In the evening we went back to the Third Eye Restaurant and towards the end of the meal our peace was shattered by an extremely loud and inconsiderate Irishman who sat down to share our table. He ordered two beers, asked us about our meals, said Oz's smelt like shit and that he was going to be ill, issued a few more profanities and did a runner with his mate before the beer turned up.


We then set off to try and watch the FA Cup Final. The paper seemed to indicate that it wasn't being screened at the Hotel Sherpa with it's Star TV, our worst fears were confirmed. To round off a bad evening we were caught in a downpour going back to the guest house.

2012
I think this was the first Cup Final I'd missed watching since 1973 - the last time Sunderland had been in the cup final.

8th May 1992 Day 293

The Diary
We wandered around Thamel and Chhetrapati and Durbar Marg inquiring about trekking, visiting Chitwan and the FA Cup Final. We found a hotel with a Star satellite TV and decided to leave booking a trek until Pokhara. We walked backwards and forwards between agents offering, usually, the same Chitwan package but at different prices. We eventually booked one for $55 each, paid for it with a $100 travellers cheque each and received the change in rupees at a rate slightly better than the bank.

In the afternoon we went to the National Swimming Pool and as usual checked Poste Restante. The pool was probably very nice when it was built but now the water was filthy and opaque and the walls very slimy. It was also impossible to swim up and down as the locals, slapping and flapping their way across the pool would crash into you every 10m or so. It will be a very long time before the Nepalese win an Olympic gold for swimming.

Laurel and Hardy ?

In the evening we bumped into Sian and Adam again, who had just arrived after being delayed in Bangkok. We also saw two English lads that had been in the pool when we were. Bumping into people is becoming common. It's a good job it's the low season and there aren't so many travellers around.


2012
Why oh why did I go in that pool? Top tip - if the pool water is cloudy and the walls are slimy, avoid at all costs.


Nepal still haven't won an Olympic swimming medal.

7th May 1992 Day 292

The Diary
We took the long walk to Patan and marvelled at the temple-filled Durbar Square there. We chatted to little urchins, trying to discourage their begging and improve their English. We also marvelled at more erotic carvings while some of the lads giggled.

urchins

ooh err missus

 We wandered through more medieval streets in search of recommended temples and cowered at the guardian turtles at the Golden Temple. They can be quite vicious if you enter wearing any leather. We walked back along the river banks of the very low Bagmati River. This was because, as usual, TW had drawn his map when he was high on some hippy drug and it was a less than accurate representation of the real world. A main road had ceased to exist so we had to improvise.

By the time we got back to the guest house I felt like I'd done a days trekking and crashed out for an hour or so. I picked up my photos from Bangkok and Kathmandu and we ate accompanied by traditional Nepali music. Interesting but not Right Said Fred.


2012
Right Said Fred(s)

6th May 1992 Day 291

The Diary
We had breakfast in a different place after the previous days poor showing. Chips, omelette and toast for breakfast. A vast improvement. Oz went in search of info about the Chitwan National Park and I went on a long hike to the Chinese Embassy. Whilst in the queue for the visas I got chatting to an American girl about India and the Trans-Siberian Express. She was refused a visa because she didn't have her ticket to China, which she was going to purchase in Hong Kong. The visa man was trying to be clever and was very supercilious in his manner when she said she'd been told over the phone by this office that she could get the visa. 

Our Sadhu mate

I'd fully recommend The Hobbit young man

Nepalese carvings......pre-internet porn....

  

Then it was my turn and I had my travel vouchers with me. His excuse this time was that he couldn't issue the visa unless I had a Mongolian visa. I can't get a Mongolian visa until I'm in China and in possession of a Russian visa. He said I could buy a train ticket from HK to Canton (Guangzhou) and back. Why would I want to do that when I've already got a ticket and I've as much chance of getting one in Kathmandu as I have of buying a Billingham-Seaton Carew ticket. I gave up and made the long trek back to Durbar Square to meet Oz. On the way I checked the mail and found a postcard from CJ. Oz had already checked the post and he had two letters for me from Christy and a joint one from Bop.

We ate and then did a couple more of TW's walks around Kathmandu . All very templey but we got to see lots of nooks and crannies we probably wouldn't have noticed. We chatted to a few shansh marnie men but the rate  has been barely better than the official rate. We also had our foreheads dabbed with a red hindu spot by a sadhu in Durbar Square. A bargain (?) at 5rp. In the evening we had an excellent Indian and Oz swopped 1984 and a Leslie Thomas book for The Hobbit. Will it be a bit too Quargs from Planet Tharg for him? it is rather Tolkienistically goblinesque in it's troll-like hobbitness. Eat your heart out Clive James. 


We also went to Swayambhunath.

Swayambhunath

2012
Wonder if Oz has managed to read The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings yet?


I'd been reading some books of Clive James criticism - far too literary for me. I barely understood any of his references.

5th May 1992 Day 290

The Diary
Breakfast in the guesthouse was a bit of a disappointment; hot milk with non-Kelloggs cornflakes, poor porridge and poached eggs that didn't make it as far as the table. And it only took 1 hour.
  

I did some official money changing, we checked the mail again with as much luck as the day before and we did one of Tony Wheeler's walks. We sat for a while in Durbar Square watching the world go by and talking to the locals and then we had dinner in a very un-freaky Freak Street. Kathmandu is like a big medieval farmyard cum 60s town. It's hectic, old, friendly, smelly and like nowhere I've ever been before.

\
We went and did another of TW's walks, this time by the river and then I went and phoned Christy. She'd already received the drawing from Chiang Mai but nothing else and she said she'd sent 3 letters to me. She also said she was arriving at Gatwick at 6:30am on the 27th July. A bit sooner than I'd thought. Sarah and Dave find out if they can stay in Oz this week else they have to leave by June.

I went and checked out a trekking place and in the evening we ate at the restaurant named after the world's highest mountain, the 40,000 1/2 ft Rum Doodle. I changed A Secret Country for The Big Red Train Ride in one of Kathmandu's many great book shops.

2012
I still referred to lunch as dinner in those days - and still occasionally do today. It's a Northern thing.


Sarah and Dave haven't been an item for a loooong time. Dave is still in Aus and lives round the corner from us. Sarah is back in UK and we see her far more than we see Dave!