Kathmandu, Nepal, after 23 years

Kathmandu, Nepal, after 23 years - First impressions

After a short flight, but with a delay of 4 hours in Varanasi, I arrived in Kathmandu. It's my third visit, and the first by plane. Coming up from India by bus is very scenic with the drive winding along dramatic cliffs, but flying in offered a beautiful view of the long and rugged, snow-covered ranges of the Himalayas. My first visit was in 1991 while the second visit in 2001, and it is interesting to see Kathmandu 10 and 23 years apart. I loved this city for the first sight and still do, but I have mixed feelings this time.

The thing that really shocked me how touristy Kathmandu became. Of course, there were always many foreigners, but the number has increased dramatically and the composition changed. Hippies gave way to backpackers and now it is mostly older middle class people, as much as I could tell. It's not really noticable, as they blend more into the local scene, but there are also many South Asian, South East-Asian and Chinese visitors, plus many Nepali.

Another thing that I didn't like at all was that Western nationals have to pay 1.000 rupees (7.5 USD) to walk around the city's main square, Durbar Square. You were able to stroll around free in the past and there weren't many people, my older photos prove, but now it all became an open air museum with a folk market and trendy cafés. But I changed my feeling a little bit. I asked a local if the money foreigners pay gets stolen or goes to the right place, and he assured me that it is spent well. The 2015 earthquake damaged a large number of old buildings, but many have been nicely renovated and further work is visibly going on. It should be made more clear that the relatively expensive entrance fees support the restoration of Nepal's ancient heritige. In my opinion, a donation could be asked with the current fee as a suggested contribution, and maybe poorer backpackers would pay less, but I am sure many people would give more. Anyway, let Nepali officials do what they think is necessary.

Then, the changes in Thamel, the main tourist hub, struck me. In 1991, it was a low-scale semi-residential area where you found hotels and restaurants, but it wasn't the tourist ghetto as it was on my next visit in 2001. It became like the Khao San road area of Bangkok, which is not necessarily bad, as you find a wide variety of accommodation, food and services. In the early 2000s, as I also noted, the Buddhist prayer flags got replaced by communist flags. Now the hammer and sickle are gone, but half the establishments in Thamel bear Chinese signs. Far from Communist, in fact capitalist to the bone, Chinese inverstors bought up a large portion of the economy. Interestingly, many of them are Muslims, but not Uyghur refugees, they are just here for business.

The view of the snow-covered Himalaya ranges and Kathmandu, as seen arriving by plane.