I fought my way through the crowds of people, and saw someone holding a sign with A's name on it ('A' being the first letter of the name of the man who I knew was also helping to make the film) and I explained that even though I wasn't the person they were looking for, I was meant to be getting in the same taxi. These guys had been waiting hours for me and A, and they were really surprised to find 'Narayan' was infact a white guy, rather than a Nepali. There were lots of armed police, so in order to find A, the people collecting me from the airport (who were very friendly and welcoming) sent me back in, through the exit. I sneakily made my way back into the airport, against the flow of people exiting the airport via "nothing to declare". I looked around for tourist-looking types, and the first guy I approach happens to be A! So we leave the airport again, and get in the taxi. The roads in Nepal, to western eyes are deathtraps, whole families on mopeds, no road markings, contant horns beeping, under-taking. The only rule seems to be "if you can, try to stay generally on the left side, but if you can't, oh well." so the first taxi ride was fun and memorable of India (where I stayed about 2 years ago for a few weeks). We settled into the Millennium Inn, I had a room all to myself. Two single beds, en-suite, little balcony. I saw no cockroaches which was a plus, even if the curtains were totally ripped up and all the taps in the bathroom released cold water, and the bedsheets clearly hadn't been washed. But hey, that's just a guest house in the Nepali style! After a few hours of chilling out and settling in, me and A were called upon with the message that someone was waiting for us downstairs. M and K (first initials of last names) were in the lobby and after a short hello we went to eat the first Nepali meal. M is an Australian photographer/musician, with apparently not a lot of experience in directing films, and K is a Kathmandu local, who is the director of photography. Both are friendly and in good spirits. My first meal was from quite a posh restaurant in Thamel (the most busy, touristy area - though no tourists in sight!) and I chose the vegetarian Nepali Thali Set Menu. It's the fish and chips of nepal - the classic dish. It consists of a big portion of rice, the soup-like Dal Bhat, Tarkari, Achar, Papad, and Green Salad. It was delicious!
Afterwards, K takes us for a walk round Thamel, and we're instantly a target for hundreds of street vendors, children, and drug dealers. K leads us into a narrow stairwell with signs of britney spears face and text saying "krazy girl in shower dance", but we continue upstairs past the door to the strip club/brothel (with a shower!) and on to the top floor, which was a dingy and gritty bar, the only lighting coming from the lights above 3 dilapidated pool tables. So we start to shoot some pool! Many hours later, the table is finally cleared and another game begins. I start feeling nervous about how late it's getting but continue to play on until the wee hours. When we go back to the hotel, it's all locked up, so we ring doorbells and make a racket, and about 5 minutes later, the disgruntled manager (who clearly just woke up for us) opens the gate. Sleeeeep.
I fought my way through the crowds of people, and saw someone holding a sign with A's name on it ('A' being the first letter of the name of the man who I knew was also helping to make the film) and I explained that even though I wasn't the person they were looking for, I was meant to be getting in the same taxi. These guys had been waiting hours for me and A, and they were really surprised to find 'Narayan' was infact a white guy, rather than a Nepali. There were lots of armed police, so in order to find A, the people collecting me from the airport (who were very friendly and welcoming) sent me back in, through the exit. I sneakily made my way back into the airport, against the flow of people exiting the airport via "nothing to declare". I looked around for tourist-looking types, and the first guy I approach happens to be A! So we leave the airport again, and get in the taxi. The roads in Nepal, to western eyes are deathtraps, whole families on mopeds, no road markings, contant horns beeping, under-taking. The only rule seems to be "if you can, try to stay generally on the left side, but if you can't, oh well." so the first taxi ride was fun and memorable of India (where I stayed about 2 years ago for a few weeks). We settled into the Millennium Inn, I had a room all to myself. Two single beds, en-suite, little balcony. I saw no cockroaches which was a plus, even if the curtains were totally ripped up and all the taps in the bathroom released cold water, and the bedsheets clearly hadn't been washed. But hey, that's just a guest house in the Nepali style! After a few hours of chilling out and settling in, me and A were called upon with the message that someone was waiting for us downstairs. M and K (first initials of last names) were in the lobby and after a short hello we went to eat the first Nepali meal. M is an Australian photographer/musician, with apparently not a lot of experience in directing films, and K is a Kathmandu local, who is the director of photography. Both are friendly and in good spirits. My first meal was from quite a posh restaurant in Thamel (the most busy, touristy area - though no tourists in sight!) and I chose the vegetarian Nepali Thali Set Menu. It's the fish and chips of nepal - the classic dish. It consists of a big portion of rice, the soup-like Dal Bhat, Tarkari, Achar, Papad, and Green Salad. It was delicious! 
Afterwards, K takes us for a walk round Thamel, and we're instantly a target for hundreds of street vendors, children, and drug dealers. K leads us into a narrow stairwell with signs of britney spears face and text saying "krazy girl in shower dance", but we continue upstairs past the door to the strip club/brothel (with a shower!) and on to the top floor, which was a dingy and gritty bar, the only lighting coming from the lights above 3 dilapidated pool tables. So we start to shoot some pool! Many hours later, the table is finally cleared and another game begins. I start feeling nervous about how late it's getting but continue to play on until the wee hours. When we go back to the hotel, it's all locked up, so we ring doorbells and make a racket, and about 5 minutes later, the disgruntled manager (who clearly just woke up for us) opens the gate. Sleeeeep.
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