Day 2: Kathmandu

01 October 2007

Urban sketching in Nepal. Second stage of the journey gets us a far as Kathmandu. Lunch at a restaurant overlooking the dome of the Boudhanath Stupa (behind the sunshades).


Looking from my hotel window, I realise that we’re in one of the highest buildings in the city. Unlike every other capital, Kathmandu has no skyscrapers cluttering up the view. But it has enough traffic to match any other city: cars, painted lorries, overcrowded minibuses, bicycles, motorbikes, rickshaws, nervous pedestrians and sleeping dogs fight for road-space. It’s also the rule that when you’re driving, and you see another car (or van or lorry or minibus or bicycle or motorbike or rickshaw or pedestrian), you must sound your horn.

Our guide tells us, "The only way you'll ever cross the road is to just step out into the traffic. They'll go round you."