Kathmandu, Nepal

Nepal is a WONDERful country to visit with TONS of outdoor adventures and just as many friendly smiles to greet you!

Day #1 in Nepal: After a late night flight, we landed at KTM airport in Kathmandu, Nepal. We arrived and went to the electronic kiosk at the airport to get our visa on arrival. The airport is tiny and antiquated so the fancy new kiosks almost appear out of place, we paid but $25 each for a visa and we were on our way. We changed about $50 at the airport money counter just so we would have money to start the next day bright and early with a little bit of cash.. We got a prepaid taxi at one of the airport kiosk stands and started on our way to Hotel Friends Home in Thamel. Unbeknownst to us, the driver said his friend would be coming along. Honestly he was nice and we were too tired to argue so we said sure why not. After asking us all about our travels so far and being very kind got the point... which I knew was coming. He wanted to stop and have a quick cup of tea at this office and go over some tour possibilities. Mind you its about 11 pm and we were not in the mood to do this. We couldn't get away without hearing his pitch, politely declined and finished on our way to the hotel. We were surprised driving into Thamel how AWFUL the roads are...like enormous potholes all over and dirt roads. Otherwise, we found our hotel right away and got checked in before we passed out. I would have to say that we really enjoyed our stay at Hotel Friends home. They have super kind staff that can help arrange any tours, as well as a tasty buffet breakfast with very kind waiters and good Wi-Fi!

Day #2: Our alarms went off at 04:05 am and we headed outside hoping to find a taxi. Mind you it was pitch black out and raining. Luckily Thamel has a lot of tourists so we found a guy sleeping in his taxi and got a decent price to take us to the airport domestic terminal for our early morning Everest flight. For this we pre-booked with Yeti Airlines for close to $200 each. It's about an hour flight but we didn't want to say we went to Nepal without at least trying to see Everest! We got to the airport right at 05:00 am because the instructions said to arrive 30 - 60 minutes prior to flight departure. Of course, the doors were all locked and no one was even inside working yet. So we sat outside and made friends with a few adorable stray dogs until security arrived and unlocked the doors.

We got checked in for our flights and made our way to the waiting area to watch the monitor, eagerly awaiting our flight boarding information. The thing about the Everest flight is it's tricky to catch. They cannot ensure that the weather will cooperate and frankly who am I to argue..? Dan is terrified of flying on little planes! Also who wants to spend $200 and not be able to see anything once up there? Due to the inclement weather, all flights often get delayed or canceled due to low visibility. After being delayed for 2 hours, they finally announced that our flight was canceled and would be rescheduled for tomorrow morning at the same time. We decided to try again tomorrow rather than ask for our money back. So we bargained for a taxi and headed back. Do note that the taxis in Kathmandu have meters, but they rarely will use them for you which is one of my biggest pet peeves when traveling. We got back to our hotel in time for the delicious breakfast buffet and a little power nap before starting our day's adventure. 4 am is an ungodly hour for anyone to be up-- coming from myself who sleeps in until 10 am each weekend! 😎 Anyhow, we hit the streets ready to see what Kathmandu was all about. We made it about 5 minutes into our walk before we got distracted at the first shop selling some awesome Buddha shirts. Dan... the sucker couldn't resist and now owns about five Buddha shirts. 😉

The first thing we noticed as we walked Kathmandu was just how much damage that Earthquake did. It has been a few years since it happened but one local told us that the government didn't have much money to rebuild quickly. For example, the building directly next to us was a mound of bricks. Several temples throughout the city had tape around them to keep people away. I still would not let this deter you from visiting however, it would have been nice to see this great city prior to the earthquake. I have faith over time the city will be rebuilt!

We wandered through Sundari chowk as we shopped for trinkets as we made our way to Durbar Square, one of Kathmandu's UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Due to the massive earthquake that occurred in 2015 many of the Temples were destroyed. We originally had tried to navigate around with the map they had given us when we paid the entrance fee of $10 USD. However, after wandering through we realized how bad the damage was specifically to these temples therefore we realized it was too hard to determine what temple was what. We also realized the Lonely Planet guide book didn't give many details on each temple. We decided to suck it up and hire one of the guides we had previously turned away. We made our way back to the front where a guide approached us for $15 USD we agreed to pay him for giving us a 2 hour tour. We found out that in Nepal they intermix Hinduism and Buddhism into one belief, which we found fascinating. One of our favorite parts of Durbar Square was the area where the Kumari Goddess lives. We ended this tour hoping to spot the Kumari Goddess which is rumored to bring you good fortune as she does not come out everyday. I encourage you to make this a stop if you visit, learning about this sacred tradition of a living goddess was extremely interesting. We were very lucky to have seen the Kumari Goddess right before we ended our tour, and I would have to say we are both very lucky and fortunate people :)

We then wandered around Durbar Square and cruised down Freak Street. It is an old hippie hangout where the hippies in the 60's would smoke and hangout. It still has some remnants of the hippie hangouts but not too many. We grabbed some lunch and a cold drink overlooking Durbar Square...cooling off and taking in the good views!

Overall, just wandering Durbar Square was a great experience and well worth it despite some rubble! Check it out!

Next we decided to walk to Swayambhunath, from Durbar Square, It took about 45 minutes walking through the streets of Kathmandu, along a dirty canal, over a bridge, and then it was mostly uphill through residential areas. We felt as if we were the only tourists there at this time. Most tourists are too lazy to walk 45 minutes but we love walking and its a good chance to roam the back streets and meet locals! Plus it allowed Dan to stop to be play around with some young boys playing soccer in a field. He is basically a grown up child so he relates well. 😀

We finally knew we were almost there as we saw a park with LOTS of monkeys at the entrance! The park was packed with locals and monkeys alike all just hanging out. Then you will see a set of steep steps leading up to the top...you should be in shape for this one! The 365 steps up along with a $2 USD entrance fee at the top, were WELL worth it!

This stupa is decorated with beautiful prayer flags and topped off with Buddha's eyes distinctly located at the top.

The panoramic views of Kathmandu from the top are beautiful and we were lucky enough to watch the sunset from the top. If you can plan to see it at this time of day we highly recommend it!

Afterwards we wandered the stupa as many people were. Do note that while wandering around the top you must be aware that the Monkeys with babies can be extremely territorial. I almost got attacked because I stepped too close to a baby monkey that I didn't see around the corner. So of coarse I screamed and it startled the mother monkey who came at me. Luckily Dan is strong and brave and he quickly saved me! Just kidding... Dan screamed like a girl and ran and watched while some Nepalese men I had been taking pictures with stepped in a chased the large scary monkey away from me. I can't blame him, I mean monkeys can be scary! 😛 Afterwards we were exhausted and took a taxi back to Thamel. He picked up another passenger en route which made the ride back only about $3.

We wandered the downtown area of Thamel and stopped at a Mustang Thakali Kitchen, which was recommended in our lonely planet book.

We ordered the vegetarian thali plate, it was cheap, delicious AND you get to sit on the floor on cushions which made it feel very authentic! Dan of course had to buy a local Newari hat which he wore and got lots of compliments on from the locals! I think at this point he thought he was a local with his hat and four Nepalese words he knew.👦We stopped in Reggae bar to have our first Nepalese beer. Dan loves reggae music so we thought it might have reggae music... Of course it didn't. 😆 Although it was a bad cover band playing Maroon 5 it was still fun! Exhausted from our day we didn't last long, one large Gurkha beer and we enjoyed some live music before we made our way home.

Day #3: Another 4:15 am wake up call to attempt the mountain flight once more. But alas, it wasn't meant to be as we sat for almost two hours hoping it the weather would clear and then they cancelled all the flights for the morning. However, we talked with a very nice woman from Australia that had quit her job and been in Nepal for more than 6 months because she loved it so much. She was finishing her trip with one last trek. She was flying to Lukla, it is known to be the most dangerous airport to land in the world due to the short runway that is surrounded by mountains. She was drinking heavily in order to pass out on the flight and I can't say I blame her! 😉Although our flight was canceled once more, we were offered to re-book again but our schedule didn't allow for it due to our trip to Pokhara already being planned out. However they fully refunded us, no questions asked. We highly recommend Yeti airlines if you're looking to do a Mountain flight. After getting our refund we headed back to our hotel for breakfast. While devouring our weight in food at the buffet, we got to talking with one of the kind workers at the hotel. He introduced us to Nepali Chia tea, which to this day is still one of my favorite teas that I've ever had. After feeling energized from all of our tea and a full stomach we began our days adventure.

We hit the road and walked from Thamel to our first stop which was the Narayanhiti Palace Museum. This is where the King of Nepal had lived prior to the political scandal that occurred after Prince Dipendra murdered his family in 2001.

It was just a few dollars entrance fee to get in as we did a self guided tour of the Palace and the garden. You cannot bring anything into the palace with you as they made us check our bag and NO cameras are allowed and they are strict about it! The interior is gaudy, like a 1980's feeling, and if you're an animal lover like us... the elephant feet tables, stuffed bears, and lion rugs may make you sad and angry. Overall, it was kind of a neat way to see how the king lived but I wouldn't go out of my way to add it to the agenda. If you find the murder interesting you can go out back to where it happened and you are still able to see bullet marks in the walls!

Boudhanath Stupa, which due to the rain we decided to take a taxi. It took about 15 minutes due to traffic but it was worth it! We wandered around the shops that surrounded the area before making our way to the stairs that lead up to the Stupa. It is a gorgeous area!

We then got lunch at a cute restaurant with rooftop seating so we could people watch from the top. We tried some traditional mo-mo's which are a popular Nepalese food and refueled with some iced coffee. After lunch we made our way back down and walked with the people in a circle around the Stupa, this is where I saw such a touching moment. There was an elderly street dog on his last legs and an equally elderly man that stopped, he had his leftovers in his pocket and made sure that the dog got to eat and gave a little pat on his head. Even when you don't have a lot you can still show kindness and compassion... I think that sums up the Nepalese people well!

Next, we got a taxi to Pashupatinath Temple as it was a little bit too far to walk. We debated sneaking in to see if it was worth it but ended up getting spotted by the ticket man so just paid. Haha. Since we aren't Hindu I'm not sure it was worth it as this temple is closed off to non-Hindus. However you are able to walk around and peak inside from a distance. We walked in and snuck around the back where we found a LOT of monkeys and a good view of the temple.

Dan was fascinated with the cremation ghats so we set off to find those. We heard a lot of noise coming from the back of the temple so walked around (which we could have done without paying entrance fee) But we recommend paying as it helps them rebuild. Anyhow we could then see the river and plumes of smoke!

We made our way around the temple near the river where there were hundreds of people gathered for some sort of ceremony where they were playing music and lighting candles sending them down the Bagmati River on a plate with flower petals and sending them right past the cremation ceremonies. Further down as we explored there were cremations happening, we took a seat on the stairs across the river and watched the ceremony happen.

Behind the river there were men scattered among the stupas in the area dressed in bright orange with dreadlocks, white faces with bright markings on their faces. These men are called Sadhus and will gladly accept money in exchange for a blessing and a few photos with them, however be sure to negotiate the price prior to taking the pictures. Of coarse we had to get a few pictures.

After the cremation ceremony we made our way back to an area and took a taxi back to Thamel where we stopped in a few shops along the way to our Hotel. We stopped at a small family restaurant and enjoyed some mo-mo's, however Dan made good friends with a cute dog on the way and had a very hard time getting inside of the restaurant without the dog joining us.

Day #4: We booked a bus ticket with Green line tours from Kathmandu to Pokhara for $25 USD, although we had heard of a landslide a few weeks prior the company told us the Bus was still running, however it would be expected to take a bit longer. Arriving at 07:30 am and an estimated 5 hour bus ride, turned into a very long 14 hour ride.

Tips..

1. No Uber in Nepal and taxis wont use meters so ready to bargain hard!

2. Bring a mask, Kathmandu is very polluted and it is hard to breathe

Check out our blog post "Pokhara & Chitwan, Nepal" to hear how the rest of Nepal was for us!

Don't forget to listen to our Nepal Podcast available on Itunes & Google Play.