Doing the Du in the Kat Man….

And they’re off…. That’s what it feels like arriving in Kathmandu – one minute you are in your little peaceful airplane world gazing out of the window and trying desperately to identify any of the countless majestic Himalayan peaks soaring above the fluffy clouds, then you land and that’s it. Majestic silence and wonder are immediately replaced with majestic chaos. Smells, noise, horns, people, colours, fires, rubbish, cows, dogs, dead people, flags….its gloriously mental. Having said that it appears to be a slightly different kind of anarchy in Kathmandu. More one of a kind of ‘ordered chaos’ – a total oxymoron I know, but that is absolutely the stand out observation that I have made since my plane hit the tarmac at an alarming rate 24 hours ago.

The greatest example of this structured confusion can be found on the roads of this awesome city. Now I have just had one of the most mind blowing days of my life sat on the back of a Sherpa’s motorbike zooming all over the city. We went speeding around from one jaw dropping temple to the next incredible prayer flag adorned K-Du highlight but I have a confession to make. Visually and spiritually awesome as these temples and other must-sees were, by far and away the most amazing experience for me was actually when we were in transit. You see some stuff sat on the back of a motorbike weaving in and out of the Tuk Tuks and buses wearing shorts, flip flops and not even a glimmer of a helmet – sorry mum. Yup we raised a few eyebrows did Sherpa and I on our red bullet and it definitely didn’t pass me by the fact that I didn’t see one other westerner on the back of any bike. While I loved every minute and it didn’t worry me in the slightest, I’m not bloody surprised there weren’t any others doing the same thing. It’s mental out there people and is probably the best form of therapy anyone suffering from any kind of control issues! And it doesn’t make sense but it does make sense if that makes any sense? Hmmm…..let me try and explain. On the roads in Kathmandu there appear to be no rules and as a result people make up their own, and they all seem to work even though some are a little more perplexing than others. For example, safety. So as I’ve said already, I am helmetless (oi oi!!). But Sherpa, who is driving, has a helmet (repeat previous bracketed phrase). This seems to be the norm for all bike riders and their passengers in K-Du and I can only speculate that it’s something to do with legal stuff. Why else would a family of four be riding on the same motorbike (indeed a sight to behold!) and the father is the only one wearing a helmet? God knows. Wait, let me rephrase that. Buddha, Shiva, Ganesh etc etc etc knows. There is a plethora of geographically appropriate Gods in this country and I may be so bold as to speculate that it may in fact be they who actually hold the key to the functionality of the whole traffic mentalness. From what I’ve witnessed in only 24 hours on the roads in this great city, the entire population should be wiped out in about 10 years. But during the entire day I didn’t see one crash, not one person shouting at anyone else, and only one ambulance. So where does religion come in to this? Oh yes, well basically it got me thinking that to drive and ride like they do in such huge numbers with no rules and barely a set of traffic lights, the Kathmandu-ers must be bloody aware of what is going on at all times. Awareness and tolerance. Key skills to be a good driver in any country I would suggest. And if you think about it, this approach would have to be at the base of your belief system to enable itself to permeate out into the way you operate on a daily basis, even down to getting on your bike/in your car to journey over the tarmac and dust. And this is the unique thing about Kathmandu – you have literally thousands of extremely spiritual people living side by side others who follow an equally long established religion and they all appear to respect each others’ open displays of worship. There does not appear to be any sense of anyone feeling threatened or operating from a point of blame, anger of fear. So what I’m saying is that it would appear to me that this base awareness, respect, tolerance of others which underpins the city’s moral framework translates out onto the roads meaning that its citizens absolutely can drive around in the most dangerous conditions with barely a problem.

Being fortunate enough to be offered this crazy ride by my Sherpa, combined with having the balls to actually get on the bike in the first place, has given me what feels like a very unique insight into this city on day 1. But that’s kind of the way that life works I reckon, whack some equal parts luck and bravery into the pot and a dinner of great rewards is very often served…..I’m just glad that roadkill wasn’t the dish of the day.