Nepal's Okay

Khatamandu, Nina's Apartment (not a cafe at all)

Was one of just two foreigners on my Indian Air flight here. Tail end of low season but still, can't be good or normal for Nepal's tourism. Nina and boyfriend Lobsang met at quiet airport and transition from solo travel to well-looked-after house guest made with ease. Have my own bedroom, an 8 minute shower's worth of hot water, internet on Nina's laptop, filtered water on tap in the kitchen and access to Nina's thorough library of travel books. Also, advice and perfectly tailored travel plans via her travel agents around the corner from the palace. Highly recommend Nina's - plus, no other backpackers and not yet listed in LP.

Calm all around - only signs of tension are the blue camouflaged (invisible in where??) armed police with enormous guns all around the city. And the lack of tourists where I assume there were once many. Because it's a calmer, cleaner and emptier city than Calcutta, and this my first visit, Kathmandu appears in deceptively excellent shape to me. I'd have declared Calcutta the emergency region...

But then you hear the stories. Went to a friend of Nina's birthday last night, lots of development people previously stationed in the outlying regions now in the city, waiting. Not sure how long they'd be stuck in Kathmandu, when they could return safely to abandoned rural posts. I couldn't book a flight to Pokhara today because, with the Maoists blocking all the roads, airlines are swamped with all who would previously have traveled by road.

The Annapurna trek-segment starts tomorrow with night in Pokhara. Monday AM flight to Jomsom and then a three day tea-house trek from there. Nina says it's one of the very few truly safe pockets in the country right now. There and close in to Everest. Apparently, Nepalis in those regions well enough off economically via tourism, and I guess attentions from high up, that they've spurned the Maoists for the time being - not let them in to meddle, and so remain pockets (beautiful ones) of calm.

So- I'm safe, Nina and friends are safe, but the mood is anxious. Even the very old timers - dug in from Peace Corp postings in the '60's, or harvesting pot since the '70's -- are getting nervous, wondering how far the collapse will go. Such a shame - this really does seem like a remarkable place. Mad I've left it till now to get here. Those very familiar with the country report how much it's changed and none say for the better. Kathmandu continues to get crowded, the narrow roads fill, as the rest of the country flees from desperate and economically impossible regions and lives.

Much love from Kathmandu to all still checking in. Bars are still open (amazing jazz bar - serves momos and music fantastic: http://www.kathmandujazzfestival.com/), prices for prayer flags and Tibetan tea bowls in Thamel are negotiable and the best hotels have all halved and quartered their rates. And it's warm during the days in the Kali Gandaki valley, and nights are fleece weight.

C