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Rebuilt after a disastrous 1934 earthquake, New Road (Juddha Sadak) cuts a swathe of modernity through the old city. Wealthy Nepalis and Indian tourists regard it as a magical duty-free bazaar and swarm its shops for perfume, jewellery, kitchen appliances, consumer electronics and myriad other imported luxury goods. Security guards stand watch in front of department store entrances, well-heeled matrons stroll the pavements with shopping bags, and peasants visiting the capital stand transfixed at the sight of holiday snaps rolling off automatic photo-processing machines. This is what economic prosperity looks like in one of the world's poorest nations: materialistic, elite and very localized. The statue at the west end of New Road commemorates Prime Minister Juddha Shamsher Rana, who is credited with rebuilding the road (and much of Kathmandu) after the earthquake. Pipal Bot , a venerable old tree about midway along the road's south side, provides a natural canopy for newspaper and magazine vendors, and is a favourite gathering place for Kathmandu's intelligentsia and gossipmongers. Freak Street (Jhochhen Tol), like Thamel, isn't prime sightseeing territory, but it has unique historical associations. For a few foggy years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, this was an important station along the hippy trail through Asia. In those days, before the invention of Thamel, Jhochhen was the place to hangout. Grass and hash were legal and sold openly, and "freaks" had the freedom of the city. It all ended suddenly in 1974, when the present king, then new to the throne, passed a series of stricter immigration and drug laws. A lane heading east from Freak Street leads to Kathmandu's main fish market and on to Dharahara , the tall minaret-like tower overlooking the GPO. Commonly known as Bhimsen Tower , it was built in 1832 by the prime minister, Bhimsen Thapa, possibly in imitation of Calcutta's Ochterlony Monument, which had been erected only four years earlier. A story is told that Bhimsen Thapa, sitting astride his horse, leapt off the tower, creating the nearby Sun Dhara (Golden Water Tap) where he landed. Three of Kathmandu's four jails are located south of here, down a side street off Kantipath - bear right just after the Ministry of Finance.
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