Back in Kathmandu

I was relieved to get back to the apartment in Kathmandu. After spending the night in dusty Birganj, there was no hot water for a shower in the morning. We went to the local office, and saw the Lekhandas (writers) all assembled under a metal roof waiting for customers. They are the Nepali equivalent of real property lawyers. They complete forms in nice handwriting, and navigate through the registration processes that have evolved over the years. The only qualification to be a lekhanda is good hand writing, as tested by the local court.

The office space in Birganj is really not very good. They have no money for repairs, or building maintenance, and it sure shows. But the staff are a gracious, intelligent bunch, who really want things to be improved. Even the lekhandas are hoping for a system that works better.

We took a little detour to the Indian border before heading to the airport. As you might expect it was packed with trucks, buses, rickshaws, and pony driven carts. Nepalis can cross freely, but if a Canadian made the mistake of crossing over the border without a visa they would end up in jail. A Canadian has been jailed for three months for that offence. Unlike other countries you cannot just get one at the border.

We heard that there were demonstrations in Kathmandu, and were a little concerned about getting home. Things went smoothly though – the air was clear and the views from the aircraft were awesome. The Himalayan mountain range is in the north of the country. To get to Birganj you cross over a different range with a long name that starts with M. And you can see little villages and monasteries on the tops of the hills. And switchback roads, and then coming into Kathmandu we could see the stupa at Bouddha. It was really quite spectacular. It turned out the demonstrations were in support of two mothers whose sons had been killed by members of the communist youth league. The protests were in the Kalinki area – a place we visited last week.