First Day In Kathmandu

When we got to the hostel, there was a Nepali guy who speaks good Japanese. His name is Ram, had lived in Japan for 3 years or so, and was doing business in Nepal. He is not the staff of the hostel, but was helping there sometimes. He gave us a cup of coffee. It was his way to let the customers know they are welcomed, and actually, we do the same way in Japan :) Me and Tomoaki decided to take a look of his tour agency office because we noticed that he was not pushy for business, and wants to do a nice business with people...Aaaand, we had to change money anyways :P Tomoaki also seemed he was interested in going to Chitwan listening to his talk. So, we promised to come back to the ground floor when we finish unpacking, and go to Ram's office together.

So, after a while, we headed to Ram's office. The guy who took us to the hostel (actually Ram's nephew) took us there. Thamel area, the tourist area in Kathmandu, is such a confused place that I get lost so easily even having a map. There are LOTS of hostels, stores and tour agencies and the sign of each place looks similar. Anyway, we got to the office and met Ram. Changed money, and Tomoaki booked a tour for Chitwan and one way ticket from Pokhara to Kathmandu. I was interested in going there as well, but I didn't book such a tour because my days in Nepal were shorter than his, and it seemed impossible to go there if I wanted to do some other things on my list. When everything was done, we went to a restaurant downstairs. We got a free meal from Ram's nephew (he told me he would buy me dinner!) and it was our first time to eat Momo! It looks like gyouza or shuumai (depends on Tibetian style or Newari style) and has buffalo or Chicken inside. I highly recommend you to try Momo when you come to Nepal :)

After dinner, we walked around Thamel. While walking, a guy came up to us and start asking Tomoaki to buy drugs...He rejected and I told him that he was not interested as well...but he was persistent, lol. He even asked him if he needed a girl! How dare he did that seeing me walking with him, lol. When we got outside of the busy area, we went to a cafe to grab a cup of tea. Actually he was the one who wanted to have tea (I think normally, girls say to have a cup of tea first if they are walking together, lol). So, it was the the first time of me having real Masala tea and I LOVED IT!!!

When we finally got back to the hostel, we exchanged our contact information. He lives in Kawasaki city, which is not that far from where I live, so we can meet up for meal sometime :) So, the first day in Kathmandu went over like this. I was happy to have my first buddy and nice meal there!

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Never Ending Peace And Love

"Never Ending Peace And Love", That's what people tell you when they explain about the meaning of "Nepal". I say, it's not an exaggeration because I actually had marvelous time there. I met great people, and went through great experience with them. However small the each piece was, every little thing took an important part. They were just like the pieces of a huge puzzle which you can never accomplish if you miss any of them. Without telling, I went under new experience, and didn't miss a chance to fill up my "To do list" ;) I think I was lucky to meet them. So, now it's time to tell you about my amazing time in Kathmandu...in Nepal. (And I think I shouldn't miss this music because I heard this almost anywhere I went. Therefore it became the theme music of Nepal for me, lol.)

"Was there any meaning of taking the bus?" That was how I was spoken to a guy as soon as getting off the bus that brought us from the airplane to the airport building. It was a very short ride...maybe just for 30 seconds or so and there was no wonder he wanted to share his feelings. Actually, he was sitting in front of me during the flight, but we didn't really talk until then. "Yeah, I agree with it", said I. "We actually could walk from there". Then, we started chatting and he became my first buddy for the trip. After immigration and getting visa, we went downstairs to pick up our luggage, and headed toward taxi counter. We were not sure if we should take a taxi yet, but wanted some information anyway. According to a guidebook, we knew that it costs 500Rs for taxi, but there is also a bus stop that we can take a local bus from if we walk a bit. When we got to the taxi counter, there was a official counter, but there were also a lot of "taxi drivers" who are negotiating with tourists. "4$" said one driver, "4$" said another, and they were fighting over us. I told them we were actually thinking of taking a local bus, but one driver said that it wouldn't be good because it'll take time and it's not so cheap since they raised the price recently. Then, I wondered if he was telling us a lie or not because I'd heard in some countries, specifically in India(lol) people who want to do business with tourists tells lie so easily. Anyway, do you want to know which way we took? I negotiated with a taxi staff and we got a ride with 1$ for two people. But we didn't even pay that money because we stayed at his friend's hostel :P

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My Family In Singapore

In the end of the day, we finally got to hang out with our friends. They came to pick up us to the hostel, and we drove to a nice seafood restaurant. I remember when we visited Singapore for the first time, they took us to a seafood restaurant as well. We had very great time there as we had before. We really love how they treat us and always want to return the favor whenever we get a chance (Maybe next time in Japan!!). Even though we don't get to see each other so often, I personally have a warm feeling inside...I feel like calling them my family in Singapore...:) Probably my one-sided feeling? :P

Anyway, I really enjoyed spending time with them and so did my sister. The dinner time was filled with enjoyable chat and smile...Damn, I miss it so much! When they brought us to the airport, they even gave us souvenirs! Can you imagine how much we didn't want to leave there? I'm sure that we will fly to Singapore again when they make a new step to their dream :)

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