Discombobulated in Kathmandu

I visited India and Nepal for the first time on a Buddhist pilgrimage led by Shantum Seth in 2007. The following is from my 2008 trip to India, Nepal, and Tibet. I arrived that day in Kathmandu.

Buildings near the Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu

500 Indian rupees are about $10 in U. S. money. I didn’t yet know that 500 and 1000 Indian rupee bills are illegal in Nepal. No idea why… unless it’s because Nepal has a short man complex in its relationship with India. The time zone is only fifteen minutes different, supporting that impression.

Before I my walk in the Thamel District and ride with the scan artist rickshaw driver, I had intended to exchange Indian money for Nepalese rupees at the hotel’s front counter. I needed three thousand Nepalese rupees for the tour of the Boudhanath Stupa and the Swayambhunath Temple tomorrow.

The front desk clerk, an amiable young man, had told me they can exchange Indian money but not five hundred- or one-thousand-rupee bills, and he showed me a placard on the wall behind the desk that announced this. Unfortunately, five-hundred-rupee bills were almost all the money I carried. The clerk had called a little jewelry shop around the corner from the front desk, inside the hotel. They said I could do it later, when they had more cash.

The little shopkeeper I swear looked like a pimp or at least… he looked sleazy. He had five o’clock shadow…