Imagine running with the bulls in Spain behind the dust created by the bulls and crowds... and surviving ! Nothing in comparison to walking in Kathmandu one the most polluted cities in the world. You walk in the Nepali powder ( dust after a dry spell ) or if it has been raining the Nepali paste or "peanut butter". You negotiate the hundreds of motor cycles, taxi's , rickshaws, bicycles, mini buses ,tuktuks , children, people selling or asleep on the road side or possibly dead , beggars, cows and shops overspilling onto the streets s( no pavements) .Pot holes, uneven surfaces and places where the road has subsided away , not to mention avoiding the mountains of rubbish. You stop, start, look back , sideways , forwards , down , up, and turn around when you hear the toots of the vehicles and horns on the cycles as they warn you they are fast approaching. Everyone walks on the road, in the middle of the road , where ever they see a gap and take it .... what ever it takes to get to from a to b. No guessing as to what the major cause of disability and amputation is in this city..... motor cycle/ vehicle and pedestrian accidents .
The traffic controllers ( note the mask on this persons face in the photo) and some of the locals wear face masks due to the pollution .
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