We felt the explosion behind us. A firecracker of the variety individuals should not possess went off a few feet down the road just as we exited our hotel in the vain attempt to get dinner and some Nepali sweets. Bad idea.
Despite it being theoretically illegal, firecrackers and fireworks have been going off for three days as part of the Tihar festival. Last night, they reached their zenith as the area around us felt a war zone and I actually thought a bunker might be necessary.
It didn’t take long before we found that very little was open and concluded that it wasn’t very safe to be out there. We opted for dinner at the rooftop restaurant at our hotel and spent an enjoyable evening talking with this very interesting Australian couple who take months at a time off their professional jobs to travel India and Nepal on a semi-regular basis. But still, the bombs were bursting in air.
This morning we awoke to thousands of people in the adjacent square chanting, dressed in festival garb and celebrating Tihar. Apparently, the last day of Tihar is not the least.
We too have reason to celebrate. Yesterday, while I worked an extra day of the week trying to get caught up on what I couldn’t accomplish this week due to technical challenges and errands, Emily went out and conquered. She took herself to Thamel – the most touristy area in Kathmandu – and pounded the pavement in search of high enough high-speed Internet.
A cafe recommended by Dipesh indeed had just what we needed. The speed is a whopping 1.28MB – not even a quarter of what we get at home, but faster than anything else we’ve found here. Emily could work on her most data-demanding university program – and it cost a mere 70 cents an hour. Let there be celebrations in the street!
Continued forays with cold showers in our room, herding down several floors for hot showers, a leaky toilet tank, slow Internet and me completely allergic to the room also led Emily to calling the Hotel Vajra once again and working out a deal where we can move there on he 15th so long as we change rooms for two nights to one with shared bathroom. We can change back afterward.
That allows us to stay there from the 15th onward continually. They should have better Internet and cleaner rooms with hot water. Let the festival continue!
Emily came home with her fantastic news as I was sprawled on the bed, head down – frustrated that the Internet had just cut out on me and that something I ate the night before had me staying near the bathroom. My only venture away from away from the hotel that afternoon had been going to a restaurant a few doors down that has decent Internet when our hotel lost connection altogether for a couple of hours. My outing was cut short by my digestive issues.
So, with slow connections speeds, intermittent Internet, a light case of food poisoning and allergies blaring, I had laid down, feeling like Kathmandu was kicking my ass and that resistance was futile.
Luckily, my amazing wife had – without telling me – gone out for the afternoon with the intention not just of trying to work in an Internet cafe somewhere, but of solving our major obstacles. Victor victorious.
Tomorrow we will begin our commute to the cafe with the higher speed Internet and hopefully, our work week will improve dramatically. Today, we get to enjoy our first free day in Kathmandu – going out and doing whatever we feel like. Emily has been dying for this.
We will mingle with the festive, visit Buddhist stupas and maybe even get massages. Region 2 started off with a thud. But as of last night, it seems to be taking off with a bang.
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