Netflix’s new movie Inspector Zhende (let’s keep my opinion of this movie aside) set off a trail of memories and ended at Kathmandu’s Snowman Cafe, a legend of the 70s when the Hippie Trail was as its busiest.
I have visited this cafe on two occasions – and one quite recently (2024 Nov) and promptly walked to this cafe from Thamel upon arrival. A lot had changed – naturally, but this cafe stood there, rather decrepit and forlorn, amidst the busy street that is Jhochen Tole, that was once famous as Freak Street.
My visit to Snowman Cafe was not without reason – in fact I was really thrilled to return here so I could take a picture of my new book, A Roar and a Drumbeat, in this cafe, considering that Snowman Cafe was one of the places that inspired the writing of the book.
My fascination for this cafe remains constant.
The reason I mentioned Inspector Zhende (film) is its connection to Charles Sobhraj, the notorious Bikini Killer, who also frequented this cafe. Of course, he wasn’t the only infamous one to come here. But he is said to have preyed on young female travellers and in December 1975 (way before I was even born), two bodies were found in a field near Bhaktapur, the killing of which has been attributed to him.
Following the hippie trail was important for me, for the book, for although the book is more about tracking Lord Byron and Ernest Hemingway, the idea of “setting down a trail from end to end” was inspired by two places – The Snowman Cafe and the Pudding Shop in Istanbul and to a great extent, Thorntree Cafe in Nairobi.
The revolution in Iran stopped the overland hippie trail. The cafe business slowed down as the flood of hippies trickled to nothing. For many years, Freak Street was just a name from the past. Fortunately, the 2015 earthquake created young entrepreneurs keen on building business along this street which helped revive the otherwise dilapidated area.
I took a tour of the interiors – and it pretty much looked the same – except that there weren’t too many ‘hippie’ type people any more – just regular hip and modern youngsters probably unaware of the cafe’s claim to fame, whiling away time smoking and sipping coffee and tea while working on their laptops. Bell-bottom pants are replaced with smarter, tighter jeans. The walls looked the same – if not with more graffiti added. The Snow Man is among the very last remnants of the Hippie Trail operating today.
