A trip to the cinema

When I came out of the temple, it started to rain, so I decided to get a cab back to Kathmandu. I had seen everything I wanted to in Patan anyway. I asked the driver to drop me off at the Chhaya Centre. I had read that Ryan Gosling's new film, Project Hail Mary, was being released today and there would be a showing at 4.45pm. I was too early, but I decided to go and see if I could get a ticket. My mission was successful 😄. From the seating plan, it looked like the cinema would be almost full to capacity.

As I had a couple of hours to spare, I went for a wander through Tamel and stopped at the Artisan Bakery for an iced Americano. Afterwards, the sky went black, and there was thunder in the air, so I headed back to the Chhaya Centre. I got there just as the heavens opened! It was one almighty storm!! I was glad to wait indoors, even if the power kept going off, and I doubted that they would actually be able to show the film. In the end, all was well. I got myself a small bag of salted popcorn and went to find my seat. Everyone else coming in had trays full of burgers, chips, hot dogs, buckets of popcorn, and massive cartons of drinks! I enjoyed the film, though probably not as much as the rest of the audience, who all appeared to be locals. They laughed out loud at jokes that I thought were mildly amusing, and gasped in horror at the 'scary' bits! At the end, they all applauded and cheered loudly. It was quite an experience. It was a long film (2 hours 36 minutes), made even longer by a 30-minute intermission so that people could go and get more food and drink!

It was 8.30pm by the time I was leaving the theatre and walking back to my hotel. It was only drizzling by then, but the roads and pavements were really wet from the storm. It was also pitch black. I had to use the torch on my phone to see where I was walking. It was too late to collect my laundry, so that will be the first job tomorrow.Read more