Panipuri and the Nepali Girls

Travel Day 997 – Kathmandu, NEPAL

After not having achieved anything really over the last three days, I reckoned that it would be best to rather enjoy the city a little bit, especially because the weather finally seemed to get better…

Me and the Nepali Girls in Kathmandu

Well, unfortunately the weather really just seemed to get better and once I arrived at the Durbar Square and bought a chai, the rain started to come gushing down again for quite some time. It was actually funny to see how quickly the square got empty when everyone was trying to find shelter underneath one of the many temples around. I too was trying not to be affected by the weather and luckily the company of two giggling Neplai girls next to me helped that effort…

After having been in India for quite a while and being used to the customs there, I was quite surprised to find the two friendly Nepali girls openly talking to me and asking me all sorts of questions. Eventually the rain stopped and I had to promise to join the girls somewhere for lunch in the area. They obviously knew their way around much better than I did, so I just followed them around until we reached the  desired lunch spot…

Street-Food Panipuri in Kathmandu

The girls had taken me to what they considered to be the best panipuri place in Kathmandu and they even invited me to a plate of these delicious little potato filled dough balls. So far I had never dared to try panipuri on the street since it always seemed kind of dubious to me and possibly not well cooked since they were served cold. But because I was invited, I felt compelled to eating what was served and I had to say, they were actually very delicious. But best of all, I didn’t get sick afterwards… : )

After the nice meal invitation, I felt obligated to invite the girls as well and so we ended up in a local tea and ice cream place for desert while chatting about every possible thing on earth. For me it was really refreshing to just have a normal conversation with curious girls rather than just being told to sit somewhere else as it had been the case in India sometimes…

Rooftop View of Kathmandu Valley

After our desert we went for a walk around town and at some point the girls decided that I should really meet their family. While the thought of meeting the family felt a little bit inappropriate to me, I still finally agreed after they wouldn’t stop mentioning that their family would definitely like to meet me as well. And so I found myself, feeling like a new toy that was showed around, at a Nepali family home saying hello to everyone, including the cat and the dog…

But in the end it was all good fun and having a chai, or rather chiya, on the rooftop of the family house with views over all over Kathmandu Valley was a really beautiful thing. Only the realization that the girls’ mother was actually the same age as me, made me quite aware of the fact that I was leading a very, very different life. But besides that, it was by far my best day in Kathmandu… : )