Bhagawan Sri Ramana Maharshi
What exists in Truth is the Self alone. The Self is that where there is absolutely no ‘I’-thought. That is called silence (mauna). Self itself is the world. The Self itself is ‘I’. The Self/itself is God.
I slept very well the first night in my new accommodation. It got quiet around midnight, and I also had earplugs. I had time to read and write in bed before walking up the stairs to the roof terrace. Time to have breakfast. Breakfast is included in Hotel Namtso. I got some toast with jam and fried eggs, fried veggies, and a fruit salad with banana, apple, and papaya. I still hadn’t decided what my next steps would be. I got two suggestions from Gopika: Lotus Guest House and Pata Inn. Both are around 6 km outside the center of Kathmandu near Boudhanath, where the Buddha Stupa is located. But first, I wanted to visit Hanum Dhoka.
At first, I was looking for a laundry service. I found one on Google maps and gave some clothes to wash. They charge per kg, 1 kg is 100 rupees, I had nearly 2 kg. I started walking towards Hanuman Dhoka. Some bicycle rickshaws offered me transport. I thought it was fun, he gets some money and everybody is happy. It was a shaky ride on the broken roads in Kathmandu. There is so much traffic, and the roads are narrow.
Hanuman Dhoka (Nepali: हनुमान ढोका) is a complex of structures with the Royal Palace of the Malla kings and also of the Shah dynasty in the Durbar Square of central Kathmandu, Nepal. The Hanuman Dhoka Palace (Hanuman Dhoka Darbar in Nepali) gets its name from the stone image of Hanuman, the Hindu deity, that sits near the main entryway. ‘Dhoka’ means door or gate in Nepali. The buildings were severely damaged in the 2015 earthquake.
There were many people selling items on Durbar Square, bags, Tiger Balm, and other things. In Kathmandu-Thamel, many people ask you to come into their shop or try to sell you something on the road. I have never seen so many shops anywhere as around here. I assume most of them don’t have a good income; there are simply too many, although there are lots of tourists from all over the world. Many are coming for a hike.
Nepal has a GDP of 40.907.000.000 (40 billion) USD per year. Compared to Germany with 4.527.009.000.000 USD (4.5 trillion).
I walked back to my hotel, arriving from the other side of the road. I tried to change my Ncell SIM card to eSIM, but it’s not as easy as it should be. I left the hotel again to get some lunch. There are many different Restaurants in town, many are Chinese. Food is not as good as in India, they also have a lot of meat here.
I decided on Little Buddha Restaurant. During lunch Ncell, the internet provider, called me regarding my eSIM. He said I should go to the head office tomorrow. After having lunch, I stopped to have an ice cream, which was quite tasty. Back home, I tried to find and book accommodation from 7th to 11th April. I couldn’t find Lotus Guest House online for booking, and Tripadvisor didn’t accept bookings. So I called them. They have rooms with attached bathrooms and with common bathrooms. Single rooms with bathrooms were all booked, but I could get a double room with an attached bathroom for the double price, which is still only 1600 rupees (€11) instead of 800 (€5,50) rupees for a single room. Then I was sleeping for a while.
In the evening, I left to have an organic coffee nearby. I sat down in the Cafe. There were some Neapli’s talking incredibly loudly. It’s like in India, they have no sense for their environment or other people. A young man asked me to sit on my table. He was from Australia, his name was Michael. I asked him some questions about what he is doing and what I could do and visit in Nepal. He had some suggestions on what to visit in Kathmandu, good for the following day. He would do the famous Annapurna circuit, which takes 21 days, 250 km. We had a good talk for a while. Before he left, he invited me for my coffee. I was strolling around for a while to find a Restaurant for dinner. I popped into a Chinese restaurant and had some dinner. I am not happy with the food yet, I think you have to know some places. I strolled around a bit, and quite a few people asked me to buy hashish. I am out of that. Back in my hotel, I booked four nights in the Pate Inn on booking.com. The price shown was 10.300 rupees for four nights, then it changed to €110. It should be €69. I called the hotel, but at first I couldn’t talk to him, and then the connection was broken. I tried several times, no way. He sent an SMS that the connection was bad, but in the meantime, I cancelled the booking; it was still free until midnight. I think I will book the double room in Lotus Guest House tomorrow.
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