Western eye.
Frenetic comes to mind! Once one
exits the doors of the international
airport, the adventure begins with
touts, taxis, busses, horns, smoke, car
exhaust, and constant movement; all
to complement the sensory overload
and begin your journey according-
ly. Whisked away by taxi from the
airport, the average tourist arrives in,
or near, the Thamel area due primar-
ily to the availability of goods and
services. This area became famous
in the 1960s with the overland Hippy
Trail and the traveller vibe has re-
mained to this day, although most of
the Western hippies are now gone.
There are vendors throughout
Kathmandu renting motorcycles –
but to make this an authentic expe-
rience, I opted for the Royal Enfield.
The company, originally from En-
gland, started producing motorcycles
in 1901. After production ended in
England, India continued producing
the Bullet model under the name of
Enfield Bullet until legal issues were
resolved and India assumed the offi-
cial name of Royal Enfield, now 100%
controlled by the Indian conglomer-
ate Eicher.
Knowing that I was riding two-up,
I opted for the 500cc, fuel injected
model, with some very primitive
racks to help hold the gear of two
people. Not that I was looking for
performance, but taking on two-up
riding through the possibly treach-
erous mountain roads, and some
limited gear, necessitated a larger
frame and perhaps greater perfor-
mance. The term performance has
to be taken with a grain of salt due to
the primitive technology of the Royal
Enfield, but one I would come to rely
on for my transportation between vil-
lages throughout the country for the
weeks that were yet to unfold.
The Kathmandu Valley is not to
be missed, although the pervasive
hecticness gives no rest to the weary.
Despite many of the famous religious
TRAVERSE 92
sites being leveled by the recent
earthquake, several physical sites
remain, even in the rubble the spiri-
tuality has never vanished.
Kathmandu Durbar Square, a UN-
ESCO World Heritage Site, is a very
close walk to the Thamel region. The
Square is built in front of the former
royal palace of the Kathmandu King-
dom, one of three Durbar Squares in
the Kathmandu Valley, housing the
palaces of the Shah and Malla kings.
Standing there, you can envision the
once powerful kingdom even though
many of the sites are a pile of bricks
and stones or propped up with wood-
en reinforcements. The vision is one
of the powerful past kingdoms and
rebuilding the future to honor these
fallen icons of the past. There is no
doubt that Nepal, with some inter-
national assistance, will rebuild and
recover from the devastation.
Exiting Kathmandu was akin to
being an actor in one of the Mad Max
movies, but this was no movie set.