LETTERS & PICTURES FROM ASIA, 1988 | CULTURE SHOCK, BANGKOK & KATHMANDU | PART 1

In 1988, when I was eighteen years old I set off on a journey from New Zealand to Asia. Accompanying me was my high school friend David. We were inspired by Tintin comics and National Geographic magazines. Although we had never actually been overseas before, we wanted begin our travels somewhere exotic. Our plans were vague - first Nepal, then India - then, after that, as far as our meagre holiday savings would take us. Once on the road, I wrote detailed and mostly illegible aerogrammes home, which my father kindly typed up to make readable for the rest of the family. These letters were then stored away in a cardboard box in the attic, only to be re-discovered 35 years later. My father also generously lent me his Pentax Spotmatic camera to ensure I got some good pictures. Below is the first of many letters I sent home - this first one from Kathmandu, Nepal. 

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8th March 1988
Kathmandu

Dear Everyone,

Well, here I am sitting in Kathmandu at 5.30 in the morning unable to sleep because I went to bed so early. Things have been so intense that I have hardly slept for the last two days; all the time changes seem to have mucked us up. I think that it is actually 10.30pm in New Zealand. Most of the flight was overcast until we reached northern Australia where we saw the orange dry desert with great dried-up rivers scarring their way through the sand. We had also seen Brisbane before that. After an amazing sunset it got dark, but over Indonesia we could see the lights of towns and cities. Not for one moment of the eleven and a half hour flight was I bored.

We were just about dying of excitement as we flew into Bangkok. The huge city spread in all directions and I was very nervous. The airport was very big but we went through all the formalities with no problem. We dropped off our packs and decided to head outside to catch a taxi. Outside we went and BANG, the air hit us like a hammer; it was 30 degrees and like soup. It smelled worse than Rotorua [an odorous/volcanic/sulphurous New Zealand town]  and I was afraid to breath! It was so dirty and thick. Next thing that I knew, we were accosted by three or four taxi drivers all telling us that they had the cheapest and fastest taxis in Bangkok, but their prices weren't cheap at all. So we retreated into the air-conditioned airport where we found out it was cheaper to book a taxi through the airport, which we did at a price of 160 bhat. Outside, they were asking 200.

We got in the taxi and told him to drive us to the cheap hotel area of Bunglamphu. He was very hard to understand and he couldn't really understand us; or more to the point, he only understood us when he wanted to! He said that he knew a good place to take us and only by his hand gestures did we figure out that the place that he wanted to take us to was a brothel! We persuaded him out of that and so he said that he knew another clean place.

Bangkok, what a place! Did anyone see the movie 'Bladerunner’? If you did, it is like the city in that. Very dirty, billboards advertising Coke, Pepsi, etc a hundred feet high, absolute chaos, huge piles of rubbish by the road, falling down buildings, people camping all along the pavements, and it smells.

We drove through the city open-mouthed. It was 2am on a Monday morning and you would think it was Friday night; markets, hundreds of people, prostitutes, these crazy rickshaws, everyone driving like maniacs tooting and speeding when it's not a traffic jam. We even saw two taxis have an accident, both drivers jumping out of their cars arguing and shouting.

Changing the subject here. The sun is now coming up over Kathmandu and I am looking out of the hotel window on a thatched roof and a brick house. The pigeons are waking up, a rooster is crowing and I can see an old Nepalese woman making breakfast. Wow!!

Back to the story. We arrived at this grot hole and got out. There were about twenty Thai people sitting on the steps watching a small TV set upon the pavement. The room was not very nice and somewhat expensive, about $9 US, but we took it anyway. The fan only worked when you held the button ; later the problem was solved by putting the phone that didn't work on top of the button! It was pretty shabby. I could only sleep for about 2 hours. I was lying on top of the bed only dressed in my underwear, boiling hot in the smelly air.

The next morning we caught a taxi back to the airport (safety at last!), bought some duty-free film and hopped on the plane to Kathmandu. We flew over Burma, which to my surprise was very dry. Then over the Ganges River mouth , which was very spectacular. India was so flat and so dry, all tiny little squares. It was so dusty and hazy. I thought, ”My God, I don't want to go there!” It was so barren and flat as far as the eye could see.

When the mountains came into view it was amazing. There were flat dry plains that looked so hot, then a layer of haze, then these cool, snowy, HUGE mountains. We then flew into an unimaginably spectacular Kathmandu valley that looked like one of my childhood railway layouts. We went through customs and out into the tiny airport terminal; the whole building was about as big as our house!

When we left the terminal we were leaped upon by half a dozen taxi drivers and hotel owners all offering their deals. Unfortunately we made the mistake of appearing interested and if you do that they never give up. Eventually we beat them off and caught the bus. The same thing happened when we got off the bus. After much bartering, shopping around and frustration we got a room with toilet and shower for $3 US each (76 rupees).

Kathmandu cannot be imagined until you have seen it for real; it is beyond description, but I'll try. All the streets are very narrow, dirt or brick. They are lined with brick and thatch buildings about three stories high. There are always lots of people. There are no pavements and everyone walks on the street. Cars, bikes, rickshaws constantly sound their horns and everyone has to clear out of their way. Ali the streets are lined with shops selling all sorts of amazing stuff and also junk. People are always trying to sell you things and if you show the slightest interest they will follow you right down the street.

There are hippies, guru-types, sheiks, Tibetans, fat tourists, Muslims, Hindus and anything else that you can think of. People are always approaching you and asking "You want to buy hash?" or "Smoke?" or "Good cheap rupees?" on the black market. 

It is certainly like nothing you could possibly even begin to imagine. I wish that you were here to see it; photos, film or anything is nothing like what it really is like. Last night we went shopping, though we didn't actually buy anything. There are beautiful jerseys for $12US and jewelery for $1 - $2 that would be at least ten times the price in NZ. We had a huge meal of tofu patties, vegitables, salad, two juices each for about $2; it was delicious.

Well, I am very happy and blown out by all of this; it's completely different from anything that I ever imagined. I can't really believe that I am here; I guess that is because it takes such a short time to come so far. I feel like we have been away for weeks because so much has happened. I wish that I could describe it all but it is impossible; you'll have to come here for yourselves. Everything about it is just so different.

We are heading off to hire a bike and ride around the valley. It has now got light and a nice temperature. I think that the temperature is about exactly the same as Auckland. Sometimes it is so different and intense that I want to come home, but not too much! I just love it here and am so happy. It's certainly amazing!

Love.

The next letter (part two) is HERE

Above: me on the roof our our hotel, Kathmandu