Lost in Thamel (and finale ultimo)

May 15 -- 8:13pm

I get back to my Kathmandu hotel exhausted. My legs hurt from the knees to the toes. All I want to do is lie in bed and watch TV while eating room service food. That and go downstairs to use the internet in the business center, to check my fantasy baseball scores.

But no. I always have to push myself too far. I decide that since this is my last true vacation day (and who knows if I'll ever be in Nepal again), I should do something I haven't done all trip -- shop. I figure I can mostly get gifts for others, though I wouldn't mind finding that elusive perfect floppy hat for myself. I'll use the internet in the business center after I’m done shopping.

With my legs ready to snap off in a stiff wind, I walk back to Thamel. And as the sky grows darker, I do my touristy shopping. I even find a cool floppy hat! I call the Western Hemisphere from a cybercafe to let them know I'm still alive. I wander around a bit more for just one more gift. By the time it’s totally dark, I am lost.

I try to find my way out to the main street of Durbar Marg, but my locale works against me. So many blocks look nearly identical. The maze of little streets and alleys keeps causing me to lose my sense of direction. I feel like I’m walking in circles. I pass the same stupa that I passed fifteen minutes earlier. I keep seeing the same street person sleeping with his head cocked to the left side.

I am so tired. I need to get out of here. I need to lie in bed and watch TV while eating room service food. And I need to check my fantasy baseball scores.

Thamel is crazy, especially at night. A chaotic mishmash of cars, bikes, motorcycles, pedestrians and bike rickshaws (I guess that’s what you call them) fighting to get through. Everyone going every direction at once. I suppose I could hire one of the cabs or bike-rickshaws to take me back to the hotel, but that wouldn’t feel right. It’d be cheating. I need to find my own way back out. I need to earn it.

Beggar children accost me from all angles. Shopkeepers seem pushier than they did the other day, more forceful with their buy-my-items "namaste"s. Is it just my imagination?

My legs ask what they ever did to deserve such punishment. They threaten to stop working entirely if I ever mistreat them again. I tell them to shut it. Their job is to walk, not to talk back.

And then it happens -- I find Durbar Marg. Finally. I trudge back to my hotel, gulping down a strawberry smoothie along the way. The hotel's business center closed five minutes ago. Guess I won't be checking my fantasy baseball scores today. Good. I need to rest already.


May 16 -- 6:04pm

I'm in the Delhi airport, my stopover on the way back to Bangalore. When my flight came in, they announced the temperature was 43 degrees Celsius. I never got the hang of Celsius conversions so I didn’t bother to think what that would be in Fahrenheit. I just knew that it was hot. Very, very hot.

I remember that I have a temperature converter in the cell phone I haven't used in a week. 43 degrees Celsius = 108 degrees Fahrenheit. Oh well. At least there’s no air conditioning.

My connecting flight is delayed. There's an announcement that anyone on my delayed flight should proceed to the snack bar "for refreshment.” I choose a different kind of refreshment by using the bathroom. As expected, it’s very, very hot.


May 16 -- 9:45pm

The plane touches down in Bangalore. My vacation is over. I'm glad I didn't start it until I was totally done with work out here. I had no responsibilities and a clear head.

I did things on this trip that I'd never done before. I learned to scuba dive in the warm waters of a tropical island. I trekked through the hills and villages of Nepal. I became close friends with all sorts of insects and pests and cows and goats. It was all fascinating and tough and gorgeous and sweaty and fun and exhausting and amazing. I'm glad I took this trip while I had the chance -- I may never get back to this part of the world again.

The passengers have all exited the plane but I'm stuck in the window seat, next to a very old couple who need help getting off. As the flight attendants decide how to assist them, I hop over the seat in from of me. I exit through the door in the back.