The Trip
Bombay to Beijing: Flew to Mumbai in March 2004 and backpacked through India, Nepal, Tibet and China for more than 4 months. The trip is all over now, but the photos and blogs are still with us.
Click to open fullsize map of route.
Currently...
Getting ready for my next big trip - a cycle tour across Japan, top to bottom. The plan is to set off in August from the northern tip of Japan and just keep on pedaling south.
More here...
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May 2004Friday, May 28, 2004
Gourmet Pizza and Otherworldy Bargains
It's been quite a while since I've lived in a country that takes pizza really seriously, so my judgement is no doubt impaired, but the pizza we just had in a suave little restaurant in the grooviest corner of Kathmandu may just be the best I've ever eaten. Down the road the chocolate soufflé is to die for. The Korean restaurant was great, and the Japanese restaurants as good as they are in Japan. The german liquorice was delectable and the French patisserie divine. We feast on croissants, muesli, yoghurt and bountiful fresh fruit for breakfast every morning. Wallowing in this international gourmet paradise, we even managed to find a Nepalese restaurant one night!
The people of Kathmandu have the most extraordinary talent for knowing just what a foreign tourist wants, and serving it up to them in an irresistibly exotic package. Even an avowed shopping-hater like myself, soon fell under Kathmandu's spell. Wandering the winding misty alley ways, ancient statues of monkey gods and otherworldly temples of stone and damp wood loom up with as much frequency as the alluring shops full of ancient artefacts (real or not hardly seems to matter) and all manner of things you never new you needed (like my new $300 altimeter / barometer / compass / heart-rate monitor watch... how did I ever live without it). This seamless blend of the ancient and mystical with the irresistibly consumerist is just what gives Kathmandu its charm, and just what keeps the tourists here happily parting with their cash (though of course travellers cheques and credit cards are also welcomed).
Between the food, the shopping, the food, the nightly video screenings and the food, it takes quite an effort to get out of this tourist quarter of Kathmandu and see all the rest that this region has to offer.
Hmmmm.... chocolate souffle.....
1 Comments:
I was there in 73 and most of the food was lousy. However, there was plenty of water buffalo, American style Chinese food sold as Tibetan food, and the world's greatest apple pie. Do they still serve over cooked tea? Shame they closed the Brown Bread. Greatest Oval-tine ever.
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