After last Saturday's devastating earthquake, locals and tourists here in Kathmandu—Nepal's capital and largest city—hunger for news and the ability to communicate with friends and family. That means that the hunt for Internet access is almost as intense as the search for clean water and food. But it's an often frustrating one—and connectivity issues threaten to stand in the way of Nepal's recovery.
I'm a former technology journalist who's been traveling in India and Nepal for the past two months. It's the tail end of an 18-month world tour, one of the best investments I've ever made.
When I got to Nepal, I did what people do here. In Kathmandu, I toured the sites in Pashupatinath, and Durbar Square. I then traveled to Pokhara to hike a section of Annapurna. I was still in Pokhara when the earthquake hit, but my journalist's instinct told me to return to
Kathmandu. It was a six-hour bus ride on a two-lane highway, and the road was cluttered with boulders and debris.
On Sunday, I began tracking down every lead about which coffee shops or hotels might have Wi-Fi. Most of the info was bogus. When I was able to get online, access was often fleeting or erratic: I gave up on using Gmail to upload the photographs at the top of this article, and sent them via Facebook.
A BAD SITUATION MADE WORSE
Even before the earthquake, it was painfully obvious that when it came to technology, Nepal is one of the have-not countries. Agriculture follows the tourism industry in terms of the nation's overall revenue, and one of the main assets on many farms remains the water buffalo. During the two weeks I spent in Kathmandu earlier this month, hours-long power outages were daily occurrences. Internet connections around the city were spotty at best.
No comments:
Post a Comment