Yesterday we had a barbeque at the flat. It was a great day - everyone (except the boss, although he was invited) came along. P demonstrated how to make chicken curry and aloo gobi, D made an amazing tomato relish and J and I prepared a version of banoffee pie. We ended it drinking Nepali chiya (milky tea) on the roof terrace with Bollywood music.
My plan today was to sleep in, finish off some work and then head in to town to buy the hula hoop! I decided to walk to Thamel for a bit of exercise and everything was going to schedule. I stopped off for some papaya juice and then popped in to buy the hoop. I always find it a bit embarrassing carting around a hula hoop so my intention was to get straight into a cab and speed home with my purchase (although I've really got the hang of the buses now so ordinarily I wouldn't have got a cab). All this was thwarted though when I walked back outside, it was dark by now, to be confronted by a small fire in the road and lots of people queueing up to light big sticks and join a procession down the street. I wasn't sure what was going on - it all seemed quite calm. Me and the hoop (which is the least discreet colour possible, a glow-in-the-dark green) climbed onto an overpass to watch the proceedings. It was an incredible sight - on one side the whole street as far as I could see was filled with people marching with flaming torches, and on the other side was a traffic jam into the distance and the sound of horns beeping (this is also when it dawned on me that getting a cab was going to be a nightmare). Sadly I didn't have my camera, I took some snaps on my phone but can't upload them at the mo. Initially I had wondered if it was some kind of festival but it was a Maoist protest against the government. I have been terrible at reading the local news since the daily paper to the flat was stopped. I was aware of a protest for the 10th when the Maoist's will blockade the airport but it seems this is the start of a 2 week programme of demonstrations. I've been trying to google/twitter for some photos to link to but nothing has turned up. Anyway the hoop and I had to traipse for miles to get away from the traffic and find a cab. After agreeing a fare the driver went all over town, down backstreets and alley ways to avoid joining a traffic jam. I have no idea where we went but we crossed the river at least twice and were driving along the river bank for a while. I have never been down there but saw at first hand some of the many makeshift huts where people live by the river. The dust and pollution and car fumes were awful. The whole journey took about 50 minutes (twice as long as usual) and my eyes were stinging by the end of it. Still, me and the hoop are home now. She's in the living room at the moment and I'll be giving her a whirl in a bit!
Update - I found these photos on-line.
No comments:
Post a Comment