Blog uno from the du of Kat-ness

So i have arrived in pollution central... or should i say Kathmandu. After 2 days, mostly spent at work I have only made a few conclusions about the place, which will probably change when i live here a bit longer... perhaps...

• Polluted (to the extent you want to cough the whole time)
• Narrow roads (1 cars width) + many many cars = non-stop traffic jam. No one can drive fast in this place. It is not possible.
• Elephants randomly add to the traffic congestion.
• There are people everywhere... often wearing little pillow case hats (men) and pretty sari type dresses (women) and orange robes, big beards and dobs of yoghurt on their foreheads (guru people)
• The government recently revoked the law which said all people on motorbikes must wear helmets. Now only the driver must wear a helmet. Makes sense??? hmmm anyways helmet use is much higher than in the bodge.
• Many things have a run down/dilapidated feel about them... there isnt the plethora of new buildings like in Phnom Penh... and even UB to a certain extent.
• There are a reasonable amount of guns, and people toting guns, and people wearing uniforms.
• I am unsure how one identifies a Maoist (do they wear red?) However hundreds of thousands of them are said to be massing here on friday, and already many people, including collegues, are being 'asked' to 'host' 10 or so maoists bussed in from the countryside for a couple of days. Hosting includes providing stuff to sleep on and food... (the Nadj, your diner table for 12 would come in handy in this situation).
• Uncertainty is everywhere. No one seems to know what will happen... will the king return? will the maoists take over? will things just pootle along like now?
• Due to power cuts and the threat of strikes forcing people to stay inside, lots of people have stashes of purified water, emergency lighting, and food...
• Transport around the country sounds tres dodgy... bus crashes, plane crashes and helicopter crashes (indeed even elephant stampeedes) seem to occur rather too frequently for my liking...
• Apparently we are sitting right in the middle of an earthquake fault line... the same line that runs through the area of Pakistan that was so devastated last year... hmmm why did i not know this before???

So, i think its an interesting place. Perhaps I have painted a negative picture, but that isnt how i see it. The bodge was sunny and easy... but this place is certainly very different, more chaotic, less predictable, less politically stable, less lexus cars (hooray), less international NGOs, less tourists, less spublic holidays... but not necesarily bad... I like the mountains surrounding the city, and i can only imagine how stunning the place is when you actually leave smog valley, the food seems good, people are very friendly... and if i am lucky i might sign a contract on a 3 bedroom flat which looks lovely jublee apart from its lack of furniture... i dont need 3 bedrooms... its just you cant seem to get appartments with less... the appartment is close to what the estate agent called the 'jew'... i was very confused, but it turns out 'jew' is a misspronounciation of zoo... lets hope the tigers dont escape.

This is more than enough from me. Time for sleep I think

Over and out
xxx