Live from Nepal on 5 May

After 8 weeks in Incredible India, we boarded the plane to Kathmandu on 4 May with lots of excitement to meet Peiyi and Kaixun! =)

Coming from a country where strikes is unheard of, it has been an interesting and a little tense situation when we arrived in Kathmandu as there's indefinite strike going on in Nepal. Sound familiar like the Land of Smiles?

1) All local transports have stopped due to Maoists strikes to bring down the current Prime Minister. Only limited tourist buses are allowed to bring tourists to hotels from airport. So it was a crammed ride!!

2) 'Supporters' of the Maoist parties lined the street holding hands blocking off the roads. They were cheering and jeering as our bus drove past.. Interestingly, there were alot of local onlookers as well.

3) All the shops on the roads are forced to close as the Maoist attacks those shops that are opened. Only specific opening hours for locals to buy daily supplies. 

We decided to check into an expensive hotel as there's guarantee of security, electricity, water and internet. Peiyi says that her apartment owner told them to save water (no transportation of water due to strike) and bathe twice a week! 

It was a joy meeting up with them, catching up on what we have been doing for the last 8 weeks and 6 weeks for them. They even brought us luncheon meat bread!!! =) 

We have asked for options to travel to other parts of Nepal like Pokara (thinking that it could be better) and hotel says everything has come to a halt. When we read news this morning, situation in Pokara seems worse as some tourists are trapped there and some still stuck at treks. There's still $$$ to withdraw at the standard chartered atm while all other banks atm have closed and we are concern when the $$ will run out as we do not have much nepalese rupees with us.

We spent the night on the internet searching updates on the Nepal situation, flights options out etc..where to head next. After much considerations and not wanting to wait indefinitely in Nepal, we decided to head to Amsterdam for free lodging with Suzanne and Wouter! 

There are much exciting plans to entice us to go like Herring season (dutch raw fish), cycling trip over the weekend, bbq in the park, Heineken brewery, Wouter to cook delicious pasta for us, hugs and warmth from our dear frens!

So Amsterdam here we come! =) 

Our budget flight tomorrow leaves Kathmandu for Sharjah(United Arab Emirates) then to Athens where we have to sleep a night before taking another flight the following day to Amsterdam. So much for budget travelling! According to the news right now, there's strike in Athens too!! All flights cancelled for 4-5 May as airport is closed due to strike. Hopefully, our flight on 6 & 7 May would not be affected. Else, more live report from Greece! It just keeps getting interesting and tense!

Before you get to see tulips pics in Amsterdam, here's some of the streets of Patan that we have taken this morning!

Empty streets due to the strikes, so only people walking and all shops closed.

Protesters from the villages queuing up for free meals provided by Maoist.

Music was played and they were dancing...

Situation slightly different from what we saw at the airport.

Looks like Dal and oat.

Police changing shift..

Policemen at every few junctions..

A little stall we found opened (facing possible vandalism by Maoist for defying orders to close) to buy water!

Meeting up with Peiyi & Kaixun - highlight of the trip!