i take that back... and tomba

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what a great place
durbar square
unlike anything i've seen
different styles ages stones peoples
more chinese than anywhere i've been
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amazement at the ornate stupas in small squares
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loving the temples
the pagodas
the big bell
the old houses overhanging the streets
the ornate wood
the hindu and the buddhist
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thickly bustled market streets to wander
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so its a capital city
and more of a tourist zone than anywhere i've been since banglamphu in bangkok a year ago
and they have powercuts for something like 20 hours in the day
and its people most certainly derrvse more
but its a
nonstop fascination for the wandering eye
draw after draw for the swivelling head
tug after tug at the zigzagging leg
rightangle after circle after rightangle for the unplanning mind

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plus we get well-knackered looking for a place we like to eat and in the end get frustrated and so, as you do, go in the first place we come to
which is a tumbledown filthy-cornered two-story bar of hammered tibetans and nepalis
all drinking tomba
a new-to-me tibetan drink where they fill a large wooden cylindrical pot with fermented millet grain
and then serve it you
and only then add the hot water which brings out the alcohol
and gives it a saki-ish taste
and you drink it through a straw
bloody strong
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i hesitate to have two
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