Kathmandu

If you've got any romantic ideas about Kathmandu, forget them. Thamel is the tourist spot, but I can't see why. You can't walk even a short distance without some of the resident street lurkers whispering/speaking/shouting "Smoke, you want smoke, pollen, hash, ganja, temple rock". Don't ignore them, they'll just say it louder in case you didn't hear the first time. It's incessant, almost menacing, and deeply annoying. The reason for this interest - clueless tourists paying anything up to 10 times the going rate, and a profit several times a days pay. That's what is annoying, every word is spoken with you as a target, and with the intent of ripping you off. If it's not them its men playing (often badly) irritating instruments that look like small violins, in your face. Oh and there are taxi drivers, which between trying to run over their potential customers in the narrow streets only thankfully only manage "taxi, looking for taxi". In the evening the atmosphere changes slightly, prostitutes and pimps start to appear on the street, as a man you shouldn't  appear to stroll, or the offers of "looking for sex massage", "girls", "dancing" come rolling in. Aside from this there is also some overpriced trash for sale, none of it as described, and food which is now at the top end more expensive than basic food in England. The tourist supermarkets sell goods above MRP. Verdict: treat Kathmandu like Delhi, and get out as soon as possible. Sure there are a couple of temples, but is the biggest Stupa in Nepal a life changer: No. There is perhaps an exception, if you want to mix with locals and enjoy live music (mostly Doors covers) there are possibly the coolest spots I have seen in S Asia.