Welcome to our blog. 31 years ago, my best friend Anne and I set off on our first excellent adventure. On January 28 1984, we departed Buffalo airport bound for New York on People Express - apparently it cost $25!. Anne's parents - Mary and John Roberts drove us there from Toronto. From New York we flew to Hawaii and then started our six month Asian adventure. Here is a poloroid (Google that you young things) pic of us in the Buffalo airport. From Hawaii, we travelled to Japan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Thailand, Burma eventually ending up in Kathmandu, Nepal on April 21, 1984.
According to my notes, these were my first impressions of Kathmandu..
"We're here! Isn't at all what I expected - but is fascinating nonetheless. Crowded narrow streets filled with cows and goats and cars and motorcycles - the streets themselves are alley's of dirt and rubble - piles of bricks and garbage. The distinctive smell of urine permeates through everything too - haven't had a whiff of that since China! Yesterday we arrived via Bangladesh Airlines and grabbed a taxi to the Blue Angel Guest House. It is a little out of the way, but it is only ~ 10 minute walk to Freak Street and Durbar Market. For 24 RS a night it is pretty clean although Anne thought she got bitten by something last night! We wandered around yesterday - eyes agawk at all the wonderful things to buy - pants & tops & sweaters & bags - jewelry, brass, carving - amazing stuff!"
April 23 - "I am losing my sense of observation - I still see things but they don't impress on me as much as they did at the beginning. Here in Kathmandu, I can walk down a typical street and see women in 2's and 3's dressed in beautiful sari's, their foreheads highlighted with vermillion talik - some of them adorned with gold studs in the sides of their noses. Further down the street a Saddu - with wild mangy hair would be striding purposely, knarled staff in hand. I myself have to pick my way among bits of rubble, or piles of garbage, fresh cow patties, prostrate beggars and always, always, children. Invariably a bottleneck will appear - as a incalcitrant cow will block a crucial intersection. The animals in the streets here are so comical. Herds of ducks, goats, stray dogs and cows are everywhere. The animals don't appear to hold much reverence for the temples and stupas - they sleep on them, urinate and defecate all around them. There are so many different types of people here - not only are there a varied range foreigners (from hippies to freaks to clean cut apple pie types, Germans and English mountaineering types & of course a good contingent of WT's (world travelers) - but the Nepali - the monks, the saddus, the Tibetan refugees, the Indians, the beggars, the hawkers, - the streets are always a myriad of colours."
After wandering around Kathmandu we ended up at the Monkey Temple (Swayambhunath) - where we ended up getting our picture taken by a National Geographic photographer - who persuaded us to pose on the Buddha.
