Next stop Nepal

The flight from Delhi to Kathmandu was short but spectacular. I spent the entire time with my nose pressed up against the glass, gazing at the jagged snowy peaks in the distance. Far below the hillsides were sculpted into hundreds of terraces that looked like the ridges of wave worn sand. Kathmandu soon loomed between the hills, a sprawling mass confined within steep valley sides. Smog replaced the clear mountain air.

India and Nepal may be neighbours but in some ways they are worlds apart. Kathmandu airport was small and quiet and getting a visa remarkably simple. I was preparing myself for hassle when I stepped foot outside, but despite my taxi not being there to meet me there was no trouble and I quickly headed into the city. Kathmandu is a strange fusion of old and new. Some parts are very touristy and western but then you can walk down a back alley and it's like stepping back in time. Tall buildings lean in over head and blot out the light.

Nepal, in a back to front way, has been hard to adjust to. Before I arrived I anticipated that it would more deprived than much of India. However, in some parts of Kathmandu I find the choice of loo rolls and shampoo overwhelming! Alcohol doesn't appear to be taboo here although I struggle to spend the equivalent amount of rupees on a beer that would buy me a room for the night (my willpower is improving!). Thamel, the tourist hub of Kathmandu, is noisy and chaotic. Street vendors fill every inch and you can't take two steps without having miniature violins, hashish or tiger balm thrust in your face. There's an abundance of Westerners "finding themselves" with the aid of some newly acquired wacky clothes and several large joints! When I first arrived I found myself really gawping a white people, it seemed so odd not to be the only one. Kathmandu can give a misleading impression of Nepal, one that soon disintegrates as you drive into the countryside where a contrasting picture emerges. Every available stretch of hillside is covered with row upon row of terraces. Small clusters of simple houses cling to the steep slopes and snowy mountains occasionally appear through the clouds. Roads follow the rivers as they carve steep ravines through the mountainside. The water transforms into a raging blue/green torrent, no longer choked by the rubbish and sewerage of the city. Buses and trucks regularly tumble off the roads, the holes in the barriers serving as eerie reminders of the dozens of people who lose their lives each day.