Well, why not try Nepalese Cuisine at the Nepalese Kitchen? Shall we count the reasons? Is the Chef smoking a pipe? Is that a dog in the kitchen? Is the dog eating a bone? Isn't that a tripping accident just waiting to happen? Someone should have run the advertisement past the Health & Safety adviser. The Environmental Health Department could swoop and close the place before you could say "knife". Talking of which, the Chef seems to be wearing a dagger and I'm not sure he should be chopping chicken so close to the cooker?. Perhaps that is what the waiter is thinking but shouldn't he be paying more attention to where he's going?
I like the tag line "Taste it ... you will like it". It is similar to the advertising for Limca on hoardings and such like in India: "I drink Limca because I like it".
Seriously, the restaurant was OK. This was not India. This was a completely different country. It was a proper place to sit down and eat. It looked safe and clean. I didn't make a note of what I ate. After a couple of months in India the sort of food and refreshment available in Kathmandu was amazing. The difference was the Himalayas and the fact that climbers and trekkers and other lovers of outdoors pursuits from all over the world flock to Kathmandu before and after their adventures. This means that every taste is catered for. You could get Italian coffee, spaghetti, cheese sandwiches; you could get almost anything.
That Saturday morning was a little like this morning (Saturday 6 February 2010) here in North Wales. It was foggy until about 10.30 am and then the sun came out. The difference was that although it was quite chilly here in the fog, in Kathmandu it was very chilly indeed, a penetrating cold; and here the sunshine was quite pleasant today but not very warm while in Kathmandu the sun was very strong and quite hot. As the days went by it began to be a bit of a pain in the neck to have to wrap up warm first thing and then by lunchtime wish you didn't have to carry a coat and jumper around because they were heavy and it was rather too hot. Having said that the difference in temperature between the direct sunlight and shade was amazing. If you stood half in the shade and half in the direct sunlight one side of you was cold and the other uncomfortably warm.
The general calmness was eerie. Nobody accosted you as you walked around. That was it. There was no hassle.
This was really off-putting. It had seemed a relief to be out of India and away from the perpetual hassle but I wasn't ready for the culture shock. The hassle had been turned off instantly.
Kathmandu was beautiful. Every time you turned your head there was something to photograph. I couldn't get used to it. No one jumped in front of the camera.
I wandered around just trying to take it all in and trying to resist taking too many pictures.
I really wish I could have taken more. Eventually I went for something to eat at My Place and the notes say I went to a Travel Agency. There were several things that I needed to do. I needed to book an excursion. It was also going to be necessary to get a Visa for Thailand and confirm my flight onward in due course.
Everybody else just got on with things quietly. There wasn't a great deal of motorised traffic. That also contributed to the tranquility that seemed to pervade the place and everyone in it.
I went back to the hotel for a while before going for something to eat at the Nepalese Kitchen again. Here I found the answer to the "Why not Nepalese Cuisine?" question. The reason is that something advertised as Nepalese Meals was I think is the dish called dhal bhat tarkari and it is not very exciting. The Lonely planet Guide says: "Real Nepalese food is distinctly dull". That's about right.
I spent the night in my room reading, planning, writing and listening to live football commentary on the World Service. There was good reception.
