Wow, what culture shock. One week after I arrived in Thailand I just wanted to back to good old USA. But, I guess things have gotten better. Now, I just want to go back to good old Thailand!
Anyway, I arrived and my ride was waiting. The taxis were not nice newer cars that were almost all identical like in Bangkok. Ours was this tiny hatchback about the size of a Volkswagen bug. It herked and jerked and crawled along.
We got to the hotel and I was not excited. We were dropped off about 2 blocks from the hotel. All those streets shown on google are not car drivable. These last 2 are about 15 feet wide from building to building with about 8-9 feet of brick street - used by only motorcycles, bikes, and pedestrians.
Notice the building across the street - a very narrow street. Also, notice the width of my room. Note that this is the width of the hotel, also.
Anyway, I was on the 5th floor. They use the British system where the ground floor is called the ground floor and the next floor up is called the first floor, etc. So, I was looking at 5 flights of stairs. They switched me to the 4th floor for that first night and today they switched me to the 2nd floor. The 2 flights seem to be alright.
The first room was nicer. It had a ceiling fan and I was nice and cool. The toilet worked right. With this one I have to poor water into the bowl. If it's yellow, just be mellow. If it's brown, flush it down! The room is about 6 inches narrower and you really notice it. Should I complain some more? (grin)
That wasn't bad. The worst part is I could hardly breathe with walking. I read up on it and this is normal when going from sea level to Denver (about the same change.) I also had sleep apnea the first night and woke up gasping for air. This is also normal.
Fortunately, I slept fine the second night and I feel better today. I was able to walk up the stairs one flight at a time without resting on the way.
So, I guess I'll stay. Even though the room is super tiny, it has what I need.
Internet is spotty. So, I'll post this for now.
Namaste from The Roof of the World
Glad you made it safely Mike. And sounds like plenty of adventure already. Culture shock is absolutely normal no matter where you go. How long are you in this hotel?
ReplyDeleteI checked out Kathmandu hotels on TripAdvisor.com and found some good ones. There is a palace you can stay at called Hotel Shankar for $43 a night. Or for right now in the city center with Tibetan style, the Hotel Tibet was $49 per night or very big deluxe room for $55 per night. Price includes free breakfast. Reviews say this hotel is very friendly and the standard of a good middle class Europe hotel, so probably would feel like high luxury to you. So maybe increase your hotel budget while you get adjusted?
The room looks tiny, but nice and clean... that is important. What is the altitude of where you are staying?
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