Made it to Kathmandu

After a beautiful one hour flight over the Himalayas and Mount Everest, we made it to Kathmandu, Nepal, Our final de4stination for this tour. Sadly we said goodbye to Lisa who left us to catch a painfully long train to Beijing from Lhasa, which will be approximately 25 hours! We were met by another imagenitive traveller guide here in Kathmandu, however, for the next two days, which only tomorrow will be part of the tour, we are on our own to do as we wish. I think that is great, because I would like to explore this place at my own pace and in my own style, if that makes any sense!

And the flight to Kathmandu begins

As we were dropped off at the hotel we met CHOCHO our guide and then went around the city, predominantely Tamel for a walk. At first glance Kathmandu reminded me alot of Delhi. It is almost as busy and as insane as Delhi, and the people here look alot more Indian, than oriental. There are many Rickshaws and many tuk tuks, which I look forward to taking them again for a ride. Kathmandu looks very green from the flight. It is really called Kathmandu valley and there are three main parts. Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lallipur, which all used to be the capital cities of Kathmandu at different times. Bhaktapur is the oldest capital city, and now Kathmandu is the capital city.

Approaching Kathmandu

After our little briefing and sorting out our rooms, we went for a short walk to familiarise ourselves with the place. The city is filled with shops, like outdoor shops and has all kinds of equipments for hikers and climbers. You really feel that this place belongs to heavy duty climbers, but there are also many other types of travellers here, so we don't feel left out! But it lamost makes you want to climb the Everest, so you could belong to the crowd! There are also many poeple here who are doing Annapurna and Everest Base camp. Both of which are really good trips, which I hope to do next time! When I have money! :)

We visited the Swoyambhunath Stupa, or otherwise known as the Monkey temple. Stupa is the same as Pagoda. It is a huge place and as the name suggests it has alot of monkeys around! We then visited the Kathmandu Durbar square and saw the living Goddess of Kumari. She is 8 years old and she lives in Kumari Ghar and only comes out of the temple 13 times a day, on Nepalese religious events. Which reminds me, today and the next few days are very special days here. Tomorrow is the day of sacrifice, so we will be seeing many animals being sacrificed around the city. Tomorrow should be a nice day, as Steve, Emma and I are going to explore Kathmandu and surroundings using taxis. The original plan was to hire a van from the tour company, but since tomorrow is a special day and there will be no one from the company, we have to do this on our own by catching the public transport or taxis! This is going to be fun! I am already chosen to do all the barganing as apparently I am good at it! :) we have a rough estimate of how much money we have to pay, we just need to see if we can get away with paying less! And also getting to the right place.

Cheeky eyes

Kathmandu is very much a traveller's place, so they are very good at English and also used to having visitors, so I am not worried about that. I just want to get on the tuk tuk again! :) I already had an experience of getting into the taxi this afternoon, with Steve at the front with myself and the others at the back! it was a tight squeeze! :)

Hannuman satue

Hindu Buddhist monks

Kathmandu valley from the flight

Kumari-ghar

Leaving Lhasa

Local markets

Local Nepalese ladies

Monkey temple

Mount Everest

Prayer wheels

Snowy mountains of Himalaya

Steve at the market, barganing

Steve talking to a monkey at the temple

Strange place for a tree to grow

Surrounding hills and prayer flags

Surrounding houses

There is such a mixed race over here

They love their kites

Who you talking to?