First days in Kathmandu

When I booked my trip to Nepal in July this year I wasn't sure what to expect, if tourists are even welcome only five months after the devastating earthquake that hit the country end of April. The arrival at the airport went smooth but the airplane of the United Nations and the lack of tourists were the first sign that something might be different this time. The advantage was that there was no queue for the visa, as there were only 8 other tourists on the plane with me!

In the tourist quarter of the city it is business as usual, all the shops and hotels were open just the tourists are missing. Everyone I talked to deplores that many tourists cancelled their trip after the earthquake, because many western media portrayed the country as being completely destroyed whereas all the touris infrastructure is still in place and undamaged. What this country desperately needs now is the money the tourism industry brings in, especially because the government has still to spend most of the 4,1 billion dollars of foreign aid.

A visit to Kathmandus Durbar Square on my second day showed the destruction the earthquake has caused to the UNESCO World Heritage site and many of the surrounding houses. Some temples have been completely destroyed with ony the stone foundations remaining and some show big cracks in the wood carvings. Nevertheless it is worth a visit because the main temple still stands impressively.

I noticed that many people here divide time into before and after the earthquake and especially the people from the affected parts of Kathmandu are still struggling to go back to their normal lifes. A women with a baby approached me and told me that her husband died during the earthquake and that she is now struggling to feed her three children because she has no income. I helped her buy milk powder for three months for her daughter but in the long run I hope the government manages to reach more people with the billions of foreign aid they received.

The saturday after I arrived I finally met the group for the 18 day Annapurna Circuit Trek I booked. We were only 7 people at the beginning and for our guide it was the first tour after the earthquake. A detailed blogpost for the trekking will follow shortly.