So far, I’ve been pretty dependent on ATMs despite their on-again off-again operation in Kathmandu so it is with great relief that I report the retrieval of my “captured” card from the Himalayan Bank. After answering several questions about when and where it was captured (made me smile everytime they used that word) I was told to come back later. I basically just told them I couldn’t (which I could have) and waited them out. 45 minutes later I had my precious card in hand. I’d planned on making the most of my return trip to Patan to hit the temples again but for reasons I could not understand my cabbie could not take me there. I guess I should carry around the Nepali phrasebook Phil got me for the trip instead of leaving it back at my guest house but it would have only meant I would know why I couldn’t go. It wouldn’t have actually gotten me there. In a stroke of luck, the cabbie hit this mysterious impasse only a couple blocks from the main branch of the Himalayan Bank.

After I did my stint at the Bank I walked down the street a few blocks to a luggage store I’d seen on my earlier cab-rides. It is with much embarrassment that I admit my long-standing obsession with a certain type of suitcase - one with four wheels instead of the common two. These are no standard suitcase wheels either - they’re more like casters so that it can roll around in any direction. I’ve been looking for one of these elusive babies since 2003 when I got bumped from a flight in Tokyo and had to spend the night in the airport hotel which gave me ample opportunity to see all the well-equipped young & hip japanese tourists with their state of the art luggage. I thought, I’m gonna get me one of those suitcases in Bangkok! After scouring the malls of Bangkok (a welcome relief from the unbearable heat) I came up empty - no suitcases with casters. Imagine my shock when I thought I’d spied one of them while blowing past in a cab last week on my way home from Patan. As luck would have it, the main branch of the bank that ate my card was only blocks from the siting. So yes, red-faced I sit, the proud owner of a brand-new medium sized hard-case suitcase with FOUR wheels. I rationalized this purchase after finding out how much it was gonna cost me to send home my newly acquired Buddhas - waaaay more than the suitcase.

So that was pretty much my day. I’m chucking in a few monkey-less shots from yesterday’s Swayambunath trip. And no, there was no bandh today but yes, there is another rumored for tomorrow. I guess it’s getting less newsworthy.

Sue Borchardt in Kathmandu. February 12, 2006 at 5:00 p.m.

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