Lust for Life

 One of fantastic parts of returning to a holiday destination reasonably regularly is that you can visit the places you like and test them out again…it’s like being at home just in a more exotic location. Anne hopped into a taxi where the driver recognised her from last time, there are the shop owners who greet you like a long lost friend (we must have spent waay  to much there last time) and memories of past trips being revived.

Leaving aside the drinking problem implied for a moment, there’s a well  known bar called, imaginatively, Sam’s Bar, (Sam has never been spotted) where you can sit and have a quiet beer or two, chomping down popcorn and reading the 10 years + graffiti which is encouraged over all the walls. You can also listen to all the good music from an era of about 1975 to 1985. Damn bad luck for the rest of the world, although there is also a reggae night on Saturdays, but bloody good news for Anne & I. It doesn't seem to limit the clientelle to baby boomers trying to reclaim their youth though...I'm still the oldest in the bar! There’s something about having Iggy Pop belting out “Lust for Life” which makes your beer and popcorn taste even better. I think I’ll have another.

 

Strange looking house plant

Thamel

  

Sleeping like a pretzel

There’s something refreshingly straightforward with AirAsia’s approach to travel. You want to get to Kathmandu? No problem, we can do that (all the time remembering that part of the approach is not to have any actual booking staff or, heaven forbid, travel agents involved). So…flight looked at once to check availability, you go back to look again and check the seating, “OMG” the price has gone up..panic…or alternatively clear your cookies so they don’t know it’s you looking again and more likely to book..hey presto the price has reduced, damn clever. (and thank you to my much sneakier than I daughter for that hint).

You can of course pay extra for seats with actual leg room or away from the galley or toilets. Any unsold premium flatbed seats also get sold off at the last minute. Magic.

Flight leaving at 12.45am, way after my bedtime. No premium upgrade for us on this leg…sleep looking like a distant memory…b ut wait there’s hope..we have three seats option booked as a backup…looking good.

If you’ve ever sat eating a juicy steak in a den of ravenous wolves (sounds like every meal time  at our house with our poor maltreated starving hounds gazing at food from their respective couches) you’ll know the feeling of sitting in a vacant row of three seats while all around are trying to get themselves settled into seats designed for thin midgets. Blocking out the loud comments about how difficult it was to get comfortable, how much someone else’s back hurt and just how lucky some people were…not to mention having to use rubber bullets and a sharp stick to keep marauders at bay…I settled down for a quiet sleep.

Seats are not designed to be slept in. Full stop.In an almost foetal position I could curl up in the allotted space although there was the ever present risk of either my feet or head overhanging and being hit by passing trolleys or people…possibly deliberately. Added to my comfort was my pillow had a slow leak…so I’m curled up like some z shaped chrysalis with its head at a really weird angle and probably making even more strange sounds (absolutely not snoring). At least I wasn’t worried by the service being intrusive.

Garden of Dreams -Kathmandu

Thamel Eco Resort -home!

 

Suntans and weird science

We’ve all done it. Sitting around in the sun trying to look a little less pale. It doesn’t matter how often we’re told…tanned looks good….unless……

Flicking through the roughly 10,000 available TV channels, mainly Indian, we came across an infomercial for “Fair Look” whitening cream. Now I am translating from the Hindi here so it will be slower than I had planned…but it, apparently, can make your skin whiter by a considerable degree in only 10 days. I’m guessing that you then have to keep diligently applying it or you unfade as well and as rapidly. It’s truly amazing stuff. Everyone from a dreadlocked swami to a not so successful office worker can achieve instant success, not to mention fame and fortune using this concoction. I particularly liked the swami. His black dreads turned blonde as his skin turned from very dark to washed out. Love the filters on photoshop. In addition to the transformation his following (clearly not watching the advertisement as they were still giving him homage and, presumably, money) expanded exponentially. Wow, I need some of that.

It could also explain why, when I bought some powder, it came SPF rated. Now, not to shock the populace, it can be revealed that I don’t use powder on parts of me that see the sun. Obviously I have been using it incorrectly and should have been using it on the outside bits that get sunlight. You’d think I would know better at my age, wouldn’t you?

  

Christmas night, Thamel                                        Strawberry sellers, Durbar Square