Lost again

Encouraged by the lost and found experiences in the near neighbourhood it was time to treck further. A taxi ride, which, as an institute, is slowly beginning to feel less terryfying, took us through chaotic streets of Kathamandu to the famous Thamel, known as the mecca of hippies in Nepal. First note: The hippies are still there, only way too young and fashionable looking to have remained from the golden age. But rather than wasting time to find out details of this curious fact, we headed on through the touristy streets, trying to avoid men young and old trying to sell us all those souveniers we didn't need, taking turns to smaller streets, not keeping in mind where we had come from. And voilá, we were lost again!

The labyrinth of tiny streets and alley ways full of the most interesting tiny little shops and stalls, selling the most colourful items of which most we could hardly recognise for what they actually were. Crowds of women in their red and golden and yellow saris doing their last minute shopping for the festivities, gangs of children running from door to door to sing songs, receiving coins and small notes for their performances, dogs wearing flowers on their necks and hair, young men on their mopeds hurrying through the huzzle and buzzle, shopkeepers lighting candles on their doorsteps, painting circular shapes on the street and decorating the floors with petals, apparently to welcome the good spirits in. The noise was undescribable, but still soothing, being the noise of everyday life and its many activities. No, we don't miss the quitness of our Finnish Mogadishu, but maybe the pedestrian streets a little, we decided.

"Namaste!", "Can we swop babies?!", "They are so sweet and smart!" were friendly shouts I received from left and right for my children all the way the streets ending to small squares, leading only to more streets which eventually began to feel like never-ending. Magical, we said, when the power was cut off again, making the rest of our search to any bigger street with a taxi service a very dark one, the candles being the only source of light leading our way.