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Strike Quiets Kathmandu
Kathmandu - Monday, March 27, 2000

DISPATCHES

Berg

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Good morning Mountain Zone, it's Wally Berg, Monday morning in Kathmandu, the 27th. Beautiful, quiet, still morning here in the Kathmandu Valley and I'll tell you why. By the way, the clients, our group, the first Everest Base Camp trek does arrive today. I'll be at the airport meeting them through the day and I'll give you a report on what it's like to all be together here by tomorrow morning. So it's a big day.

The reason it's so quiet is there is a strike today — an organized shutdown of vehicular traffic, motor traffic, in the Kathmandu Valley. It's going to mean there's a very pleasant feeling around town today because of the lack of traffic. It may involve some headaches getting in from the airport, but it's something I know we'll be able to deal with.

It was 10 years ago, next month, on about April 9th as I recall – although I'd have to check the exact date – that the revolution took place. On a Friday, people massed in front of the palace of Durbar Marg and throughout the city, and actually in cities across Nepal. Over a very tense weekend, the king relented and on Monday announced that he would allow, in 1999, multi-party elections in Nepal, that did take place.

And now, 10 years into the democratic era, or the latest democratic era in Nepal, we are in a very typical state of flux between parties being in power and demonstrations for this or that. I could explain more, as the season goes on, if folks are interested. But the tourist is not threatened, or even, to be honest, largely inconvenienced. But it's something that we deal with here in this fledgling democracy.

That period in April of 1990 I remember very well. We were at Everest Base Camp and listening about the events on the BBC. Many of my expedition teammates had family at the Malla Hotel in Kathmandu; of course, we were concerned. Later we found out that the tourist was totally left out of the fray. I do remember a few days later at Base Camp, a still very shaken Rob Hall showing up. He had, for some reason or another, had to come in late, and was actually on the streets of Kathmandu during this revolution and was shaken at the violence he had seen. He had been taken by some well-meaning locals, to Bir Hospital, to be a witness to some of the injury that had occurred that day.

And it was a terrible period. Although, as is often the case in Nepal, it was a short-lived period and things moved on. As I said, the king relented the following Monday, and here we are in the democratic era, as a result of that, with all the confusion and inconvenience that implies.

So anyway, I'll be out at the airport today as our trekking members show up. I'll let you know just exactly how we get from the airport to the Yak & Yeti Hotel. I'm sure we'll figure it out. If nothing else, we'll just walk through those quiet streets and then talk about the old days in Kathmandu, before. With the era of democracy, more people got cars and tuk-tuks and motorcycles. If anything, I think it'll be quite a pleasant day.

The strike will be over tomorrow and we'll be on our city tour. And as you might guess, I wish it was the other way around; I wish we could take a vehicle in from the airport today, I could welcome these folks and we could walk around the empty streets tomorrow. But so be it, we're going to have to do it the other way around, and I'm excited to see our group and get our adventure underway.

— Wally Berg, Alpine Ascents Guide and MountainZone.com Correspondent

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