Thamel Calls

Yesterday a Pharping monk asked me where I was going in the dusty Tata van. I told him "the Kathmandu entertainment complex." "Oh," he replied, "you mean Thamel."

Thamel is the tourist center in downtown Kathmandu, a series of long, narrow streets and winding alleys, filled with all manner of traffic, chaos, international tourists, many of them here for trecking, shopkeepers, touts, and beggars. Oh, and did I say "traffic"? It's one of the most colorful areas of the city, and that's saying a lot. Think the French Quarter or the Village on steroids. Some say either you love it or you hate it. I love it.

My favorite inexpensive DVD/CD place is across from Fire and Ice Restaurant on Tri Devi Marg. This time I foundt DVD's of  BROKEN EMBRACES (Almodovar) and BAD LIEUTENANT (Herzog). Both have just opened in US theaters. For my music iPod I came across COLTRANE PLAYS THE BLUES and THE VERY BEST OF J.J. CALE. Hearing it being played, I couldn't resist adding WHEEL OF LIFE by Kicha Chitraker, a local DJ/musician. 

A few doors down at the Tibetan Book Shop I picked up THE OPEN ROAD, by Pico Iyer, my favorite travel writer, and THE COUNTRY IS YOURS, a collection of contemporary Nepali literature edited by Manjushree Thapa, a local writer, and published by Penguin. From there I went to United Books that has Half-Price Books in Austin beat by a mile. You pay half-price for a used book, and when you return it you get half of your purchase price back. At Half-Price Books they'll give you $5 for a wheelbarrow of books, providing you throw in the wheelbarrow. You know I'm just kidding, right?

Anyway, the typical Napoli week always seems to include a holiday, which includes a half day to prepare for it and a half day to recover from it. Yesterday was the holiday, this time it was a day celebrating Newar farmers, who make up much of the population of the Kathmandu valley. So in the middle of our Themal shopping, wave after wave of farmers from the villages sorrounding the city marched down Jyatha street in diverse garb to the sound of bells, drums, flutes, and whistles (picture). 

After that, we retired to Nanglo's Chinese on Durbar Marge, Kathmandu's Fifth Avenue, for a lunch of chilli chicken (boneless). --Jerry in Nepal