- Joined
- Mar 8, 1999
- Messages
- 1,760
Namaste from Kathmandu. Marya and I are alive and, well . . . in reasonably good health. For the remainder of our trip here, I'll be posting a travel diary of sorts here for your reading pleasure. So, without further ado, here's a report of the first part of our trip . . .
We arrived in the afternoon at the Kathmandu airport, where we had an easy time clearing immigration. Only two of our four bags made it and, depending on your point of reference . . . either were or were not the "important ones." Marya's clothes were missing, as were our videotape. The exotic woods, handle materials, Cliff Stamp's bent bhojpure, Blackdog's bowies, and Knife Outlet's Samuri Sword . . . all present and accounted for. Of course, the baggage inspector really enjoyed looking through that box! Lalit's gift - a coffee maker for his main store - is still lost in space.
DAY ONE
Meeting Lalit was a real blast - we exited the airport and he was holding a sign that said "Gottlieb" on it. After two years of email and phone conversations, we were all a little nervous. But our discomfort soon passed, as we arrived at our hotel and immediately got down to drinking!!!!! Lalit. Marya and I sat in a lovely grass courtyard in our hotel (at $30.00 a night, quite a bargain), where Lalit taught us our first lesson . . . he'd ordered a large beer and a sprite. Huh? Well, his "afternoon drink" was something he called a Sandy (3 parts beer, one part sprite). Actually quite good, although I ribbed him about the relative strength of the concoction. A 22 year combat tested gurkha veteran drinking something called a Sandy!!!
Well, the amount of scotch that man can put down in an evening without passing out is a testimony to the strength of the Gurkha.
Marya and I visited his home for a social dinner with his friends and family. Four retired gurkhas - all from his extended family, their wives, his two sons (Saroj and Sangee), Marya and enjoyed an evening that, were we to leave Kathmandu the next morning, would have made the entire trip worthwhile. Nepali hospitality is THE BEST.
DAY TWO
Marya and I somehow managed to get up rather early, have a small breakfast in the hotel courtyard (about $1.50 each), and took a taxi to the Embassy to avail ourselves of Marine Corps hospitality. All I can say is THANK GOD FOR THE MARINES. The Det Commander there let us use his office and telephone to navigate the maze of telephone numbers for the Hong Kong Cathay Pacific offices. After three hours of arguing with reservation agents, supervisors, under-supervisors, and assistant-baggage technicians, we finally located the two lost bags. And to make up for the trouble, the customer service agent upgraded our tickets to business class for the return (which, after our 48 hours of flying in a sardine can, will be an absolute blessing).
After lunch with Lalit (we at a Chinese restaurant), we bought our plane tickets to Dharan (where the kamis are), and went to Khukuri House in the Thamel district of Kathmandu. Thamel is the place where everything is for sale (including hashish, if you like that sort of thing and don't mind risking a night in a "less than five star" Nepali jail). I had the opportunity to purchase, in the street, one of many tourist khukuris for . . . about a hundred dollars
We had a coke at a rooftop cafe (near a "Barns and Nobel" Book Store), and then onto Khukuri House.
We spent an hour in the shop with Lalit and his son Saroj (who runs the Thamel shop), where I was introduced to a whole new batch of really great khukuris that we will definitely be bringing back. These are:
A three-tanged World War Two khukuri, a "woman's khukuri" (which looks like a sickle) for cutting grass and shrubs, and a stunning khukuri with about 5 or 6 tools instead of the usual two (and the quality of these tools, which included a fork, tweezers, chakma, karda, and a few other things, is very high). I'll be checking back on this thread before my departure, so anybody who wants one just ask and I'll put them in the next shipment, which will be departing the day we leave Nepal. Other "goodies" that I'll be bringing back are some horn-handled mini-mes, some gurkha regimental pins, and even a couple of "tourist" khukuris from the box in Lalit's shop where tourists deposit them after they buy the real thing
Dinner at the hotel (I had the 24 hour bug), and sleep for the coming day.
DAY THREE
Marya and I were up with the birds at 0500. We took a taxi (at the rate of about 20 rupees a kilo - or 30 cents), to Mike's Cafe, a little "oasis" in the Patan district. This was a welcomed "break" from the smog, errant bovine road blocks, and general confusion, where we enjoyed a hearty breakfast to classical music for about $6.00. After that, we went to Durbar Square in Patan. The square is a central depository of Nepali history, beautiful temples and shrines. We chose to visit The Golden Temple (The Kwa Bahal) and, of course, the Bishwakarma Temple (from whence the name Kami comes). Then, on to Khukuri House Number Two in Jawaklel (near our hotel), where we visited with Lalit's other son, Sangee. I should point out that the day after we arrived, Lalit's uncle died, so we made ourselves scarce so that Lalit could tend to his uncle's funeral.
Sangee introduced Marya and I to an awesome woman - a tibetan refugee who fled Tibet when the Chinese pushed their family away . . . and who's mother carried her on foot from Tibet to Nepal! The woman owns a carpet store next to Khukuri House, and we spend the better part of an hour enjoying her company and hearing her stories. If she'll let me, I'd love to get some of these on tape for the Gurkha House video. Anyway, we bought a couple of small carpets from her. I also paid about a dollar to free a few small birds from a vendor. There are two ways to look at this - either locally or globally. Locally, I was doing the specific birds a favor, but globally, I was encouraging the capture of more birds to replace the freed ones. Good or bad, right or wrong, I felt happy for the birds. Maybe I was in the wrong, because as I did this, Marya came down with her 24 hour bug. So we returned to the hotel, where we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening. Again, thank God for the Marines - the embassy doctor gave us good advice - which was to do nothing and wait 24 hours for her bug to pass, which it did.
DAY FOUR
Marya is at the hotel, and I'm at a Cyber Cafe near Khukuri House (Thamel). We're meeting Lalit at the hotel at 1200 for our flight to Dharan, where we will spend three or four days with TB (Bishwakarma) who is the master kami and also a retired gurkha. We'll spend the days and evenings in the good company of the kamis and their families, learning all about their lives and their craft. We've got the video, and I've written out all sorts of questions. They'll also be judging the competition, which will be really exciting. Hopefully, they can make the winner his prize and I can hand-carry it back with me (the only khukuri that I will hand carry). We'll also be spending some time looking at the bowies that Blackdog donated for the trip, as well as a beautiful samurai sword that Fred Whitlock of knife outlet sent us (he suggested that we ask the kamis to have a go at making a blade). There are also the scottish dirk designs, and the puukkos.
So, we have our work cut out for us. However, I look forward to it as the highlight of our trip, and quite probably, of our two years with Gurkha House. A funny note: I stopped by a really small shop in Kathmandu (across from our hotel) where they sell what I guess are "village" khukuris (in between tourist khukuris and the real ones). The proprietor actually asked me, without being prompted, if I'd heard of Knife Outlet and Gurkha House!!!!! I was quite humbled by the experience. Fred: you are global!
Love and greetings from Nepal. We'll write again when we return from Dharan.
------------------
Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
[This message has been edited by Craig Gottlieb (edited 05-05-2000).]
We arrived in the afternoon at the Kathmandu airport, where we had an easy time clearing immigration. Only two of our four bags made it and, depending on your point of reference . . . either were or were not the "important ones." Marya's clothes were missing, as were our videotape. The exotic woods, handle materials, Cliff Stamp's bent bhojpure, Blackdog's bowies, and Knife Outlet's Samuri Sword . . . all present and accounted for. Of course, the baggage inspector really enjoyed looking through that box! Lalit's gift - a coffee maker for his main store - is still lost in space.
DAY ONE
Meeting Lalit was a real blast - we exited the airport and he was holding a sign that said "Gottlieb" on it. After two years of email and phone conversations, we were all a little nervous. But our discomfort soon passed, as we arrived at our hotel and immediately got down to drinking!!!!! Lalit. Marya and I sat in a lovely grass courtyard in our hotel (at $30.00 a night, quite a bargain), where Lalit taught us our first lesson . . . he'd ordered a large beer and a sprite. Huh? Well, his "afternoon drink" was something he called a Sandy (3 parts beer, one part sprite). Actually quite good, although I ribbed him about the relative strength of the concoction. A 22 year combat tested gurkha veteran drinking something called a Sandy!!!
Well, the amount of scotch that man can put down in an evening without passing out is a testimony to the strength of the Gurkha.
DAY TWO
Marya and I somehow managed to get up rather early, have a small breakfast in the hotel courtyard (about $1.50 each), and took a taxi to the Embassy to avail ourselves of Marine Corps hospitality. All I can say is THANK GOD FOR THE MARINES. The Det Commander there let us use his office and telephone to navigate the maze of telephone numbers for the Hong Kong Cathay Pacific offices. After three hours of arguing with reservation agents, supervisors, under-supervisors, and assistant-baggage technicians, we finally located the two lost bags. And to make up for the trouble, the customer service agent upgraded our tickets to business class for the return (which, after our 48 hours of flying in a sardine can, will be an absolute blessing).
After lunch with Lalit (we at a Chinese restaurant), we bought our plane tickets to Dharan (where the kamis are), and went to Khukuri House in the Thamel district of Kathmandu. Thamel is the place where everything is for sale (including hashish, if you like that sort of thing and don't mind risking a night in a "less than five star" Nepali jail). I had the opportunity to purchase, in the street, one of many tourist khukuris for . . . about a hundred dollars
We spent an hour in the shop with Lalit and his son Saroj (who runs the Thamel shop), where I was introduced to a whole new batch of really great khukuris that we will definitely be bringing back. These are:
A three-tanged World War Two khukuri, a "woman's khukuri" (which looks like a sickle) for cutting grass and shrubs, and a stunning khukuri with about 5 or 6 tools instead of the usual two (and the quality of these tools, which included a fork, tweezers, chakma, karda, and a few other things, is very high). I'll be checking back on this thread before my departure, so anybody who wants one just ask and I'll put them in the next shipment, which will be departing the day we leave Nepal. Other "goodies" that I'll be bringing back are some horn-handled mini-mes, some gurkha regimental pins, and even a couple of "tourist" khukuris from the box in Lalit's shop where tourists deposit them after they buy the real thing
DAY THREE
Marya and I were up with the birds at 0500. We took a taxi (at the rate of about 20 rupees a kilo - or 30 cents), to Mike's Cafe, a little "oasis" in the Patan district. This was a welcomed "break" from the smog, errant bovine road blocks, and general confusion, where we enjoyed a hearty breakfast to classical music for about $6.00. After that, we went to Durbar Square in Patan. The square is a central depository of Nepali history, beautiful temples and shrines. We chose to visit The Golden Temple (The Kwa Bahal) and, of course, the Bishwakarma Temple (from whence the name Kami comes). Then, on to Khukuri House Number Two in Jawaklel (near our hotel), where we visited with Lalit's other son, Sangee. I should point out that the day after we arrived, Lalit's uncle died, so we made ourselves scarce so that Lalit could tend to his uncle's funeral.
Sangee introduced Marya and I to an awesome woman - a tibetan refugee who fled Tibet when the Chinese pushed their family away . . . and who's mother carried her on foot from Tibet to Nepal! The woman owns a carpet store next to Khukuri House, and we spend the better part of an hour enjoying her company and hearing her stories. If she'll let me, I'd love to get some of these on tape for the Gurkha House video. Anyway, we bought a couple of small carpets from her. I also paid about a dollar to free a few small birds from a vendor. There are two ways to look at this - either locally or globally. Locally, I was doing the specific birds a favor, but globally, I was encouraging the capture of more birds to replace the freed ones. Good or bad, right or wrong, I felt happy for the birds. Maybe I was in the wrong, because as I did this, Marya came down with her 24 hour bug. So we returned to the hotel, where we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening. Again, thank God for the Marines - the embassy doctor gave us good advice - which was to do nothing and wait 24 hours for her bug to pass, which it did.
DAY FOUR
Marya is at the hotel, and I'm at a Cyber Cafe near Khukuri House (Thamel). We're meeting Lalit at the hotel at 1200 for our flight to Dharan, where we will spend three or four days with TB (Bishwakarma) who is the master kami and also a retired gurkha. We'll spend the days and evenings in the good company of the kamis and their families, learning all about their lives and their craft. We've got the video, and I've written out all sorts of questions. They'll also be judging the competition, which will be really exciting. Hopefully, they can make the winner his prize and I can hand-carry it back with me (the only khukuri that I will hand carry). We'll also be spending some time looking at the bowies that Blackdog donated for the trip, as well as a beautiful samurai sword that Fred Whitlock of knife outlet sent us (he suggested that we ask the kamis to have a go at making a blade). There are also the scottish dirk designs, and the puukkos.
So, we have our work cut out for us. However, I look forward to it as the highlight of our trip, and quite probably, of our two years with Gurkha House. A funny note: I stopped by a really small shop in Kathmandu (across from our hotel) where they sell what I guess are "village" khukuris (in between tourist khukuris and the real ones). The proprietor actually asked me, without being prompted, if I'd heard of Knife Outlet and Gurkha House!!!!! I was quite humbled by the experience. Fred: you are global!
Love and greetings from Nepal. We'll write again when we return from Dharan.
------------------
Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
[This message has been edited by Craig Gottlieb (edited 05-05-2000).]
