A new type of navigation

Anyone who knows me knows very well that I struggle with directions, as I am senseless in this domain.  So here in Kathmandu, a huge winding city with as many side streets as there are wrong ways, I am learning a whole new set of landmarks to try and get myself home to where I am staying with Anamika and her family. 

I walked allllll the way here from that little
white Stupa top on the horizon on the right.

There are, as in many big cities, the usual array of tuk-tuks, buses, and cabs to take from place to place, but each poses their own challenge.  The busses and tuk-tuks run in set directions and have numbers on them to tell you where they go, but that information isn’t made as explicit as it is at home (in fact in this respect, we are downright babied and I should really suck it up and take the bus more often!).  At key hours they are usually rammed with people, so for me, not knowing where I am going and whatnot usually leaves me to walk or take a cab, so long as I can negotiate a reasonable price and not the ‘dumb foreigner’ price that I run into with everything, everywhere, all the time unless I am able to negotiate otherwise.

The pedestrian kind of navigation leaves you a little bit short of breath at the end of the day, even if you wear your facemask faithfully.  But if you do decide you can walk to the destination, you need to acquire new skills in observation. You need to learn how to look down for puddles, garbage, dogs, holes or broken sidewalk. You need to look up for people, landmarks and your destination.  And you need to look side to side for the cars and especially the scooters that come at your from all directions. You also need to listen, to the directions given to you multiple times and to the honking and beeps of the cars and scooters as they talk to each other and sometimes to you, usually to say “I’m coming through!”.

When on foot, crossing the road is like a high-speed basket weave with pedestrians taking a “at your own risk” approach. I usually tag along with a local, it’s much safer that way.  The roads are mostly 4 lanes for the big Ring Road and New Road but each road no matter how many cars wide has a floating middle lane that expands and contracts as the more aggressive drives make their way through bringing droves along with them.

This process is relentless if you want to go anywhere around the city, unless you leave in the morning, and it’s tiring to a newcomer.

This morning I also learned about navigating a system I thought I understood. I went back to a department store to return an item I bought. I implicitly assumed I could do that easily—I had just bought it yesterday, and I had the original packaging and receipt.  But when I conveyed my inquiry to the teller, I was met with “Sorry ma’am, no refund before 12 o’clock, no cash refund, exchange only.”  This response reminded me of when I went to Pashupati Temple and tried to go in the wrong entrance but was met with “Sorry ma’am, Hindus only.”  Anyway, I had already been there at 8:30am but was told the store only opens at 9am or maybe 10am, so I found something else and cut my losses.  It was very amicable but a little frustrating because of the mixed expectations.  Also, my mom and mother in law gave me some fun-money (at least I think that’s what it was) so I took a withdrawal from that account and bought a nice kurta.

I wrote this while mostly stopped in traffic from the back of a beat down cab on my way to Bouddha.  The cab driver while patient, slowly rammed his way up as close to the vehicles in front of him as possible honking now and again, and at one point we were so close to a bus that the exhaust filled the cab with vile air.  He kept his cool though because he navigates this way every day, it’s a way of life, and one that I’ll have to get used to while I am here.

This is why I cough at night.