Cluttered and crazy Kathmandu

Well, I made it back from Pokhara, barely well enough to board the crazy bumpy bus I would ride for 6 hours to Kathmandu. I had plenty of anti-nausea pills, anti acids, and anti biotics to keep me strong for the travel. I missed a lot in Kathmandu apparently- I guess there was some rioting, and bombs and what not during the election that I conviently missed out on while out in th middle of no where.
I spent the day yesterday, which was the official Nepali New Year, in Bhaktapur. They are the only village in Nepal that celebrates, and it was very busy. It is now the year 2066 and the Newari's in Bhaktapur celebrate with lots of chickens and goats being slaughtered, and pulling a giant chariot down a cobble stone street to the Durbar Square. This process takes 3 days- the chariot holds special dieties, and it is such a slow process, it is not as exciting to watch as I thought it would be. But either way, I got to see Bhaktapur- a beautiful village known for a few things- the Newaris here are famous for their intriquite wood carvings on buildings, pottery, and tasty curd (yoghurt). The town is away from all traffic, so no honking horns or almost getting hit by cars. Because of the new year, it was packed- mostly with local tourists actually. TONS. I went there with Tina, the leader of the Responsible Travellers, and a friend of hers who works in a local restaurant. We spent the entire day there, which one should do, since there is a hefty fee of 750 rupees to enter the village. (actually, that is only like, $8- but you get caught up in the currency here- suddenly, paying 100 rupee is expensive for a cab ride, 'cause you know it could only be 50, but really, 100 rupee is only $1!). The cab ride home was interesting- a bit scary with all the drunk drivers. At one point, we were stuck in a traffic jam and our driver tried to vere off to drive around the traffic, but was stopped by a bunch of motorcycles. One of the men got off, and through the window, starting beating our drivers face- all for traffic reasons.. and i thought new yorkers were aggressive and had road rage! They immediatly got on their cycles and left, leaving our poor driver with a very wounded right eye ( people drive on the left hand side of the road and the drivers seat is also on the right- just like England. Lots of english influence here.) With one good eye, we were safely taken home. It made me realize how THAT would never happen in America- or atleast, it is not as common. Not to mention, there is NO stop signs, no stop lights, no traffic lanes- people drive where they want to. There ARE traffic police, but they are pretty much useless. It is amazing. You'd think there'd be more accidents on the road, but people just go with the flow here usually- that act of violence was the first I'd seen here. You also don't see people yelling profanity, and giving people the finger- people just know that things just the way they are, so no use yelling. But people do tend to be more blunt here in some ways. For example- if you are in someones way, they might just grab you and move you out of their way- nothing rude- just a cultural difference.
I could go on and on about these little things (time- there is another one- time pretty much doesn't exist here either) But I have a meeting with Tina soon, and should look over the report I have prepared for the Biogas headquarters.
The count down begins now- I have 6 days left.
So, happy 2066 everyone!