A sea of black haired heads lurching in a swell of movement. The crowd surged forward and linked arms were crushed as we tried to stay together in a train of friends. The heat of strange bodies uncomfortably close, heightening the odour of too many warm bodies in a confined street and mingling with the fumes of cheap alcohol. We were caught in the middle of the crowd and I urged the others who were getting crushed to try and stick their elbows out to give themselves space to breathe. Easier said than done. A sense of fear arose as images of news headlines of people being crushed to death in a crowd rose in my mind, really comprehensible for the first time. As another surge knocked over a row of parked motorbikes and almost knocked some of us off our feet we decided to force our way through the crowd and past the occasional groping jerk to the side where there was a little bit of a calm in the crowd. We made it, picking each other out mostly by the white arms or faces. Still crushed though able to breath we stood for a few moments before making our way further along the street, away from the thickest crush and the flailing sticks of riot police trying to control the crowd. We found the next gate to the stadium a little calmer and with a little manouvering managed to get ourselves in through the gate. Tenzing had lost both his shoes and Brad had had his wallet nicked. I had gone down with the others to try and buy a ticket for the 1974AD concert but there was no sign of tickets being sold and I ended up sweeping through the gate with the rest of them. In for free. Apparently this was Nepal's biggest rock concert ever and 16-20,000 people were expected. It was fairly sold out certainly. We were up in the stands and the sound system while large was not adequate for an open air stadium, so what I actually heard of them was good.

Rhys and Andy joined the first lot of the crowd who jumped over the barriers and dropped down the 10ft drop onto the track of the stadium to join the crowd in the middle. We proceeded to be entertained by the many who followed. The poor police had no chance against the many who were jumping. It would stop for a while and then more would make a run for it; a victory dash across the track and into the crowd in the middle. A couple of the policemen even laughed at it at one point, though they had to try and deter people. When the serious riot police were brought in things calmed down for a while, though others made a break for it round the far side. While they were deterred with someone else a few more would run past their backs. Kathryn and I decided we would try and go in, but the more sedate way - through the main gate. We made it, though one police man did not want us to go through, and discovered to our amusement that we were actually meant to be inside with the RS100 tickets all along. We had been sitting in the Rs50 stands. We let the others know however as it was almost over they didn't manage to get in. It was a fun experience, but some idiots managed to spoil it a bit by breaking chairs and then throwing some at the band. ????!! It ended earlier than the band had planned, or so I was told today by a friend who knows them. A learning experience for Nepal and their biggest concert. On our way out of the stadium Tenzing had a little hunt and found both of his shoes!