Episode 003 Kathmandu, Part 2

Om Mani Padme Hum. Major finally arrives and the Everest expedition continues. We check out the largest Stupa in Nepal: Boudhanath. I can't get over how amazing this place is. I just want to spend the day walking around and around the central spire (in a clockwise direction as is the custom) and stare up at the Eyes of Buddha. There's a sort of New Age rendition of "om mani padme hum" piped in on the loudspeakers that you can't escape and can't get out of your head when you leave. It's beautiful, but touristy, and I buy a CD of it anyway.

The following day we set out early for a scenic flight along the Himalayas. It's a clear day and we get a very good view of Everest from the plane. The mountain is easy to spot...it's the tallest one in sight. As the plane flies over the Kathmandu Valley I catch a glimpse of a familiar place. It's Boudhanath Stupa in all of it's architectural glory. I bet that if the plane wasn't so loud we could probably hear the New Age music playing.

When we return to the hotel from the flight, we meet up with Elizabeth Hawley. She's the author of the Himalayan Database and interviews someone from every expedition to the Himalayas. She may not be well known outside of the climbing world, but here in Kathmandu she's an institution. Ms. Hawley has been documenting climbs for over 40 years even though she's never climbed one herself.

That evening I try to play my new CD and discover that it's blank! No matter, I still can't get the song out of my head...

Jon Miller

Total Running Time: 23:49

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Dispatch 5, April 8, 2003: Kathmandu
We spent our third day in Kathmandu finding more of it’s unique identities. The day with a mountain flight that allowed us to view Everest from 25,000’ and 12 miles away, it was breathtaking and will be included in the video footage. In the afternoon we sat down with 40-year Himalayan historian Liz Hawley, a woman who is believed to be the most credible resource on mountaineering history in the Himalayas. Then we experienced shopping in Thamel, a place like no other.
Thamel is like being lost in a cornfield, everywhere you turn there is only more of what you already see in a labyrinth where every movement makes a foreign sound. Sales pitch after sales pitch hurdles at you: The salesmen are more persistent than telemarketers. However, it is difficult to explain to a nine year old that there are only so many hand-bags, ornaments, knives, and homemade musical instruments a person needs when attempting to climb Everest.
Nevertheless a persistent child followed me for hundreds of feet, tugging at my elbow with a satin embroidered purse, repeating the price over and over, lower and lower, until finally I offered him something we both valued. We stopped at a fruit stand and I bought him a bushel of bananas an apple and three oranges, it cost 100 rupees (about $1.25). It would feed him for a day, he would not have to walk home empty handed and I made a new friend with a smile. This is Thamel, a place of cultural exchange.

Ben Clark

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