Day One Dispatch - Nepal

Greetings one and all from Kathmandu, Nepal. With little effort and even less preparation, the "If not now, when?" tour de monde has decamped the hot and dusty plains of Rajasthan for the capital city of this exotic mountain kingdom. The only effort involved for us was wrenching ourselves out of our week-long stay in the enchanting lakeside city of Udaipur with its wedding cake white floating hotel and immensely colourful and cacophonous Mewar festival. Even Nicole Kidman was there for a film shoot while we were present - really, how much better does it get than that, pray tell.

Several blogistas have professed a curiosity as to the differences we are finding, if any, between Nepal and India. From the deep perspective of one day on the ground here, we have already composed a rather substantive list - highlighted by the following.

Nepal has/is ...

1. Fewer cows roaming around fertilizing the streets and head-butting tourists (as happened to Patty in Udaipur last week).
2. A more cosmopolitan selection of available cuisine - including steaks (may be buffalo though may also relate to point 1 above), and, reputedly, sushi (to be investigated in the next few days).
3. A better selection of beer - the sampling of which lurks near the summit of my "To-do" list for Nepal .
4. More Orient-oriented - with strong Tibetan and Chinese influences in the architecture of both people and buildings.
5. Hawkers and "touts" who actually seem to understand the phrase "No, we're not interested in [fill in the blank]". Such etiquette is sadly lacking throughout most of India.
6. More pleasant, laid-back locals, always smiling and greeting you with a happy "Namaste" with much less staring and gawking. I'm not ruling out that many/most of them may in fact be stoned - but they are much more pleasant.
7. Less electricity (it has only been on for half a day during Day One here)
8. At least 10 degrees cooler! - much welcomed change after 4 months in the 25-30 degree range.
9. Even more women travellers than in India. In our hotel, women travellers seem to outnumber men by a wide margin . Where are all the men travellers anyway?
10. More wood in temples and buildings. Evidently the proverbial "Great fire of 18xx/19xx" did not sweep through Kathmandu - at least as of yet.
11. Less infatuated with the success of Slumdog Millionaire - although knock-off DVDs of the same can be had for $5.00 in many Intellectual Property-challenged establishments in Thamel.
12. Less colourful dresses (admittedly, not much could rival the rainbow Saree parades we saw regularly in India); women seem to be less bound by social or cultural strictures regarding dress.
13. Cheaper (hard to believe but true) - including the all-important cost of having your photo taken with a sadhu ascetic in a temple.
14. More hippies - spread across a spectrum of age between 20 and 70
15. Yetis ! (or are they just hippies at the top-end of the spectrum)

Well, that's a starter - surely to be added to in the next three weeks that we plan to stay here. We plan to be in Kathmandu until Monday when we hope to depart for a week-long trek among what my dear friend Gwyn would call the "slight inclines" of the Annapurna Himalayas. I would consider a brisk ascent of Everest but, alas, I left my good hiking boots at home. Poor planning plagues the trip - again!

Namaste