Kathmandu is chaotic, there is no doubt about it. The mass sprawl, the crowds, the mental traffic of motorbikes, tuktuks, cars, rickshaws, and cows! Its not a huge city, but its pretty packed with people! With over 2000 years of cultural heritage, you catch glimpses of the buddhist stupas or hindu temples next to modern buildings and rickety huts. I bicycle around the city as its quick to get around, and you can weave around the traffic and take the bumpy scenic back roads! Weirdly I am so comfortable cycling around Kathmandu, but have only tried it once in London - all those cycle lanes coming and going, with all drivers on autopilot, made me nervous! At least in Kathmandu, it is organised chaos - despite the traffic weaving around, moving everywhere, squeezing everywhere, they are all very aware of the road. You even get used to the customary horn 'beep' everytime a car passes any other moving object!
Its a lot of fun too; I have had plenty of random chats with taxi drivers or tuktuk passengers whilst at traffic lights, even lost a flipflop or two mid-cycle during monsoon. Its also a great way to learn about the city, find your way around - and sometimes you find the best places when you get lost!
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