Nepalganj vs. Kathmandu

Day 1 of my trip last week: I was alone in my hotel room in Nepalganj, Nepal. It was dark and hot. (The power just went out, third time that night.) My bed was floorboard-hard and something was biting me. By the light of my Petzl, I wrote this list:

Differences between Kathmandu and Nepalganj:

1. Nepalganj restaurants don’t give you a fork. Or a spoon or a knife.
2. Nepalganj’s ratio of rickshaws: cars: cows is 10:1:8. Kathmandu’s is more like 1:10:1. (Although #s vary by neighborhood.)
3. Toilet Paper is not a given in Nepalganj.
4. Nepalgunj’s temperature produces many beads of sweat more than Kathmandu’s. To live in Nepalganj is to be perpetually sticky.
5. Veg momos cost 40 rupees in Kathmandu (KTM); in Nepalganj (NPJ) you can get them for 20.
6. In KTM, everyone speaks a little English. In NPJ, “how are you?” or “how much is this?” evokes blank stares.
7. There are three ATMs within walking distance of my house in KTM; Nepalganj, a city of over 60,000 (I think!?) has no working ATM.
8. Most restaurants in NPJ make roti and saag paneer. (It’s 5 minutes from the Indian border.) In KTM, you only find these in “Indian Restaurants.”
   

You get the point.