Since I always write quite negative things about taxi drivers—those of you on my Facebook might have noticed I am now posting photographs of license plates belonging to drivers who refuse to go on the meter or who quote wildly over-inflated prices—I thought why not write something nice for a change.

 

Because at long last I actually do have something nice to say. About drivers! I know, I know, please pick your jaw off the floor and continue reading. Over the past 10 years or more I have been using a car hire company when I have needed to go a bit fur­ther than Patan. Every time it seems there is a different driver. Which means none of them actually know where I live. So no picking me up from my actual door. Not very con­venient at all. During the time of doing earthquake relief in Kavre, I was driven, more often than not, by a nice man called Ramesh. After these few weeks of being driven around with a pile of teddy bears in the boot (another story!) I forgot about Ramesh.

 

A couple of weeks ago I was allo­cated him again by the hire com­pany. Why not take his number, I thought. So now not only do I have a driver who knows where I live, but he also lives just a couple of streets away. No more excuses about traffic jams when the car is late! So tick the box for the more complicated or far away drives. Meantime, as I posted these photos of licensed plates I jokingly wrote that taxi drivers were never going to see my somewhat cheeky taxi comments. When, lo and behold—I have a part time taxi driver on my Facebook friends list! Someone I know from a bar where he works in the evening. So now I have two people on my ‘good driver’ list! Finally.

 

 Lo and behold, I have a part time taxi driver on my Facebook friends list! Someone I know from a bar where he works in the evening

 

Since this is a positive story about drivers I find myself out of words already, with only half the column filled up! This, when normally I find my allocated number of words to be too restricting, just too damn short! So like the uncomfortable cof­fee date, I’m searching around for something to talk about. How about road conditions—pretty relevant if I say so myself. Yesterday I travelled (with my new taxi driver) along the river road that runs between Jorpati/Boudha and Pashupathi. Once, not very long ago at all, that was a green area with a decent road. Definitely better than the road running through Boudha. But time has changed and a lot of buildings, mainly workshops, have come up there. The river seems to have totally disappeared.

 

We wondered what was being built as we could see ghat-like steps on the far side of the ‘river’. I couldn’t imagine there would ever be enough water for ghats. We discussed the possibility of the steps leading down to a future grassed area, but then couldn’t see the builders justi­fying the cost of installing steps to a play-ground. Perhaps they were the base of a bridge? We also laughed about the time we both volunteered for Jazzmandu and had to accom­pany (horrified) visiting musicians along the parallel, but equally as bumpy, road out to the Jazz Bazaar event at Gokarna.

 

Laughter is definitely one of the benefits of having a taxi driver on your friends list! Yet on that day, I grew sad: the scenery and road have disappeared making this ‘rural area’ an urban jungle mess in prog­ress. It’s heartbreaking to see rural areas disappear, especially around World Heritage Sites. Which was, as Lonely Planet once described it, “a pleasant walk between Pashupati­nath and Boudhanath”.