Holy cow! I now have a love hate relationship with this city. Yesterday simply walking down the street for an hour would send me into a fit of rage!! "Hello! Namaste! Where you from? How long you in Nepal? Hashish? You go trekking? Marijuana? My friend, hello, hello my friend, hashish, very good hashish, you need taxi, where you going, where you going, where you going, taxi, etc..."

And, deep breath. After a beer and a rest in our room we regained the strength to go out again. This time, we would venture out of Thamel the festering tourist hotbed to the ancient Buddhist temple of Swayambhunath or "Monkey Temple". We hiked out across town battling taxi drivers, "holy men" who put a dot on your forehead and then ask for 100 rupees, people selling Tiger Balm, and more taxi drivers.

The temple is on a "hill" or what felt like a small mountain over looking all of Kathmandu. Rather than paying for a ride we climbed the 10,000 steps up to the legendary temple (okay it was more like 400 steps, but we are out of shape so it felt like we were climbing to the heavens).

The temple was amazing. They call it Monkey Temple because it is "guarded" by a large tribe of monkeys. They were climbing all over the stupas and shrines and eating the offerings. Many of the mamas were toting little baby monkeys around. There is a huge prayer wheel about 8 feet high that you walk around and spin. The main structure is a massive stupa with Buddhas eyes painted on it. There are also many statues and smaller stupas all over. A nice end to a crazy day.

Today it started all over again. We went to a place called Durbar Square, an ancient area that is a World Heritage Site/ Monument Zone. With dozens of temples and a Hindu celebration in progress it was an amazing site. And then... "Hello, Namaste, where are you going, where are you from, you need a guide (question), you need a guide (statement), but you know nothing, you need a guide (demand)." Shake that guy off only to turn and see him again, "no guide, you need guide, I take you, I show you, 400 rupees, you know nothing, 300 rupees, you need guide, what do you know, 200 rupees."

One guy was very demanding and basically called us stupid and arrogant for not paying for his services. Natalie was counting some bills and he called off the dominations and insisted that she didn't even know how to count money. In the states he would have gotten a big go f**k yourself, but here that would be on par with pulling his pants down and giving him a good public spanking, disgraceful to both parties.

Deep breath. Hit internet cafe.