Violence in Kathmandu

This was written about 5 hours ago, just before a power outage. The power just came back on, but we have no new updates.

Today I set out across the city to visit a couple of temples, one Hindu and one Tibetan Buddhist. I'll write about them later, especially the cremations that I witnessed, but right now there's more important stuff.

I set off on foot to cross the city from west to east this morning after visiting an internet cafe. I wasn't hungry yet, so no need for food. Kathmandu is a little bit of a maze. Many streets are not marked and many are not on the maps that exist. But the first place I was visiting was exactly due east, so I figured I'd head in one direction and get there. It should take about 45 minutes, according to the folks at my guest house. As I got to one of the busy main roads through the city, traffic was stopped dead and there was no way to cross the street. There was a procession of people parading through the city. At the front was a band followed by some flag bearers. Then there was a truck with elderly men in the back who had a loud speaker and were talking in a language that I just can't understand. Then there were the women. Hundreds of women dressed in red saris walking with flowered pots on their heads chanting and singing. This procession was probably a kilometer long, so I got impatient and doubled back and crossed a pedestrian overcrossing to get over it. Once over, I came across the procession again, tried to find an alternate route and got lost. I eventually made it to my destination, but 2 hours later.

From there I had to go to the Buddhist temple, but a pissed off guide (mad because I didn't want him to accompany me through the temple) gave me very bad directions and I ended up adding 5 or 6 unecessary kilometers to my walk. By that time, I had a blister on one of my big toes and had no intention of walking back. After the second temple, I hired a taxi. I want to say that I was told that there'd be hundreds of Tibetan monks in that area, but I saw very few -- I soon found out why. What should have been a 20 minute cab ride took 1 hour and 40 minutes. Traffic was stopped dead everywhere. When the driver asked other taxis what was going on, no one knew -- we just knew it was everywhere in the city. At one point, a truck carrying soldiers came up with a siren screaming, a light flashing, and lots of guys in camo with very large guns. They were having trouble getting through as well, so the driver asked them what the deal was. We were told that there was serious fighting and some bloodshed at the Chinese embassy. The demonstrators I had seen that morning were Tibetans and they were heading to the embassy.

We weren't sure how bad things were until we got near Darbar Square. There was a makeshift blood donation center on the sidewalk just two blocks from the square. The cab driver told me that they only do that in emergencies. I still had not eaten, so I got out of the taxi and walked the rest of the way home. Even that was painstakingly slow -- pedestrian traffic was deadlocked. Nepali TV still has no coverage and so we have no idea how bad things are (the news is too busy with live coverage of the flooding down south -- what you see in India has now backed up into southern Nepal). My South African friend was heading to the Indian embassy to pick up his new visa, but he wanted me to eat and wait for him to return. I think we're going to donate blood and then walk and see what we can see. But I can honestly say that if those demonstrators were involved in the altercation, they were completely unarmed. They had nothing but flower pots, flags, signs and a megaphone.

If any of you hear anything, please email me or post a comment and let me know the score.

While I'm kind of on the subject of the Chinese, I'll fill you in on some things that I've learned here. Fact: the recently ousted king was ousted in part because he gave Chinese and Indian citizens the right to free unlimited visas in Nepal. In the last 6 months, Chinese have bought 5 hotels within a 5 minute walk of where I'm staying and have opened up 4 Chinese restaurants. The Chinese also walk the streets trying to give and sell flowers to Nepali people saying that they've come in friendship. The Nepali people have disbanded their monarchy and recently elected a parliament, president and prime minister. The problem? A majority of the newly elected officials are Maoist. The people are still hoping that the Chinese and Indian visa situation gets severely restricted. When I was told this I can't help but wonder if the Chinese are trying to annex Nepal the way it annexed Tibet, just in a much more peaceful way. I seriously hope not.