Wednesday 24 November
Kathmandu to Manchester
[Diarist: Sue]
After a leisurely 8
am breakfast (Andrew had already watched 'Shakespeare in Love' on his room's
satellite TV!) a taxi driver was co-opted to take us to the south side of Kathmandu, to the 'Tibetan Refugee Camp. The mission was
carpet buying for Andrew. On the ground floor, women sat on the floor cross-legged,
deftly threading wool on tall looms, their fingers pulling forward the vertical
strands and shooting the wooden shuttles across.
Narrow carpets - one
woman; medium carpets - two women; and wide carpets - four women. They
occasionally glance at the pattern hanging in front of them.
Upstairs were piles
of carpets divided into 60 knot, 80 knot, or 100 knot, the latter being the
highest quality. Patterns and colours were diverse. It takes 45 days to make a
large carpet, with four women working. The prices seemed appropriate for this much
labour, at around US$250 for a medium-sized one.
After this [there's no comment in the diary as to whether Andrew bought
a carpet - Ed], a visit to a shopping area in Patan, where we bought a
picture with gold leaf [where is it now?], probably
paying over the odds. Next stop was Patan's Durbar Square. This was lovely, with its
mix of temples of different heights and styles, smells of incense, inner
courtyards, and ornate wood carving. It was impressively clean.
This final batch of pictures from this trip were taken in Patan and Durbar Squares, and on the way back to the hotel.
Back at the Radisson
around 12 noon, we had 3 hours to kill before moving to the airport. The
Bluebird supermarket provided some snacks, and we ate some of these sitting up
on the 5th floor outside by the pool. It was pleasantly warm now, the air
having been cleared by yesterday's rain. Also had a coffee and perused Andrew's
copy of Andrew Stephenson's picture book 'Around the Annapurnas'. [A Nepalese Journey - On Foot Around the Annapurnas - a lovely book.]
These last three images were taken near our hotel.Eventually, Shirish
and Mahesh arrived to see us off, and cream coloured scarves were placed around
our necks as last goodbyes were made.
The following 24 hours
were spent either waiting or flying. Yahtzee was introduced to Andrew and
occupied the time before our 7:25 pm flight left Kathmandu.
The flight to Doha
was just under 5 hours. The next 4 hours were spent in the airport, where the
hard floor made an adequate bed.
Whilst I slept for
a good chunk of the 7 hour flight to London, Martin watched films etc. Then
only 2 hours at Heathrow before the 40 minute flight to Manchester. A shock for Andrew when his bags
failed to materialise, but then relief that he doesn't have to carry them to
the station!
Our short taxi journey
returns us to Balmoral Drive
at 10:30 am on a dry but dull autumn morning.
Note re costs: We kept a full record. The three and a half
week trip cost Sue and me each around £2500.
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