Blogs from Durbar Square, Bhaktapur, Nepal, Asia
Bhaktapur, Nepal via Motorbike - More Than I Bargained For
Published: April 26th 2012Asia » Nepal » Bhaktapur » Durbar Square
March 31st 2012
Last summer a friend asked me if I'd be interested in going to Nepal. 'Of course,' I said. Who wouldn't be interested in going to Nepal? So we planned this trip for April and I have finally arrived! I arrived last night after an uneventful flight. I waited in line for almost an hour to get my visa (25USD). Ravi, my tour organizer, met me at the airport with quite an entourage - himself, a driver, and my guide, Nabin. (www.adventurediscoverytreks.com) Only I didn't know Nabin was going to be my guide. I was taken directly to my hotel which was in the tourist area of Kathmandu called Thamel. I saw a lot of stuff I'd like have while looking through the window of that car. I think my hotel was called Hotel Buddha. It was ... read more
Animal sacrifices in Bhaktapur
Published: September 21st 2009Asia » Nepal » Bhaktapur » Durbar Square
September 4th 2009
Bhaktapur is the city to go to Nepal if you want to see stunning temples. We loved our 48 hours there! It was made even better by the fact that the main areas are traffic free though the odd motorbike still managed to find its way through. Our hotel room had a window seat which overlooked the main sqaure and in the evening (when the day trippers left) it was a wonderful place to sit. To get to Bhaktapur was not much fun - it is now virtually a suburb of Kathmamndu, separated only by a few rice paddies. The road is polluted and overcrowded and it is not doing much to increase the amount of tourists who visit Bhaktapur. The local shopkeepers said that they have seen tourist numbers drop as the road has become ... read more
May 28th 2009
After rainy Patan, the weather fortuitously cleared up and so we headed to Bhaktapur. We spent a small fortune on the metered taxi to get there (I'm sure something was suspect as it went up every 8 seconds if we were moving, which seems a bit much!), and were therefore cross to notice the NR750 fee to get in to Bhaktapur (it is only NR50 for citizens of countries like India and other SAARC countries - we felt that the degree of uplift was a bit unreasonable, and it was also a lot more expensive than the other Durbar Squares to get into!) However, eventually we settled in to a hotel and then set about exploring. The Durbar Square itself was nice enough. It had a Golden Gate, which isn't really gold, many interesting temples with ... read more
April 14th 2009
Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! Jawel, vandaag is het Nepalese jaar 2066 begonnen. Het bisket jatra is een van de meest opwindende jaarlijkse evenementen in de Kathmandu-vallei. De festiviteiten zijn vooral verbonden aan de gebeurtenissen in de voormalige Koningsstad Bhaktapur. Daar zijn we de afgelopen twee dagen dan ook geweest. De heenreis was wederom een sensatie. Met de Safaa (de elektrische Dragstra-karretjes) zijn we richting Langakhel gereden, het busstation van Patan. Ik gniffelde nog even bij de herinnering aan de Lonely Planet-gids, die aangeeft dat daar zes personen in passen. Nou, twaalf lukt ook prima, hier. Het ding zat al overvol toen hij bij ons in de straat langskwam, dus zijn wij beiden aan de achterkant hangend meegegaan. Ik vond het best stoer. Op een gegeven moment stapten er mensen uit en konden wij ook gewoon binnen zitten. Zo’n ... read more
April 4th 2009
I again had a trip to Nepal and went to see Bhatapur and Patan close to Khatmando...... read more
March 31st 2009
Well the day didn't start so well. Still really jet lagged and didn't get to sleep until about 3/4 am. Not helpful with a 6.30am start to go and SIGHTSEE. (Some of you will know my feelings on SIGHTSEEING) Felt tired and grumpy and irrationally annoyed with the world. And the last thing in the world that was going to cheer me up was the prospect of traipsing round temples and monuments with the verbose and largely unintelligible Samir. 'Please all come with me and listen to what I say and I make you very good holidays with the detailed histories of Bakhtapur'. 'Hmmm....well I wouldn't count on it sunshine' I thought wearily as we set off in the bus. It was an hour's s potholed drive from Kathmandu, halfway there something totally unexpected happened, the ... read more
March 24th 2009
Today I visited Bhaktapur which lies around 40 mins away to the East of Kathmandu. Bhaktapur is an ancient Newar town in the east corner of the Kathmandu Valley. It is the third largest city in Kathmandu valley and was once the capital of Nepal during the great Malla Kingdom until the second half of the 15th century. Bhaktapur is known for its fabulous culture and indigeneous lifestyle. It is listed as a World Heritage by UNESCO for its abundant rich culture, temples, artworks in wood, metal and stone. Again I got the bus from near the park, it was difficult to find the bus though I had to ask about 4 people before someone eventually pointed me in the right direction. Bhaktapur was really nice to walk around as there was limited traffic allowed around ... read more
December 2nd 2008
Day 50 - November 29, 2008 Closer glimpse of Mt. Everest Woke up early and drove for an hour and a half to the airport. The airport was freezing. It was very modern and yet no heating whatsoever. We left Lhasa at 10:30 AM and reached Kathmandu at 10:30 AM! Tibet follows Beijing time, that’s why. On the plane, we got a closer glimpse of Mt. Everest, which was awesome. Ammar met us again at the airport. We went back to Moonlight Hotel and then went hiking to the Swayambhunath Temple (640 AD). Also called “Monkey Temple” by the locals because of its many resident monkeys, it sits on top of a hill west of Kathmandu. We climbed a long stairway to the top of the hill until we reached the stupa. We didn’t mind neither ... read more
Farmhouse to Bhaktapur by foot and local bus
Published: October 18th 2008Asia » Nepal » Bhaktapur » Durbar Square
October 9th 2008
Our group is getting sicker. Raymond has had stomach trouble for a couple of days, Charis (from London) could not even go to the farmhouse because of health issues and later this day Emily (Melbourne Australia) would be very sick also. But anyway after a nice breakfast as an exercise we walked to the outskirts Bhaktapur to visit a very ancient and important Vishnu temple nearby. It took us two and a half hours to get there. First descending the mountain and then through the rice fields to go up another mountain again using a lot of steps. And it was hot! Emily turned ill here and she took a bus to Bhaktapur because she couldn’t walk any further. We walked the rest of the way and it got even hotter with a lot of descending ... read more
