Monsoon

The monsoon is now fully upon us here in Nepal. There are a few changes which take place with the monsoon:
-The smell of sewage is constantly in the air. Since there are such heavy rains are intermittent times during the day this causes constant overflow of the sewage drains and pipes. So the sewage overflow runs about everywhere causing an unpleasant smell.
-The roads turn to mud. Since many of the Kathmandu roads are not paved but are dirt they turn to sticky and slippery mud when the monsoon hits. This only adds to the chaos of the streets when the roads turn to mud.
-Open sewer grates. It's even more necessary to watch your step when the monsoon hits. The manholes to the sewer below are often left open. This means there are holes scattered all over the place that drop down into the river of the sewer below. So if you do not watch yourstep you could find yourself swimming in feces!
-Monsoon vegetables. With the rains comes an outpouring of new types of vegetables. The vegetable peddlers on the streets seems to have increased ten fold. The colors of the vegetables are amazingly brilliant green, red, orange, and purple.
-There are much more mosquitos that come out to suck your blood.
-The rats come out also as the sewers overflow, so they are forced onto the streets. And let me tell you, these things are massive!! The size of cats, and fairly large cats at that.