Day 21 - Kathmandu

---

It took 7 hours to travel the 140 kms from Chitwan to Kathmandu,which gives you an idea of how steep and windy the journey was, the views were pretty amazing though - there's some big mountains here!!

On arriving at the bus station there was the usual swarm of taxi drivers and I ended up sharing a taxi with a nice young French girl who I ended up going with a drink with later that night. She was called Amelie and lived in Montmartre in Paris - just like the film.

By the way I haven't mentioned so far that Nepal and Varanasi have no electricity for most of the day and night which is fun. Kathmandu is very much like some of the Indian cities I have visited very congested, dirty, noisy and polluted - I've even resorted to taking the locals lead and wearing a face mask when walking about the streets but I know that some of you will think I should have worn a mask for years now.

I made a reservation at the Ganesh Himal hotel which I can't recommend enough the staff are extremely friendly and helpful, they have free internet and loads of very hot water- so I had my third hot shower of my hols!!

The next day I did the usual tourist thing - visited Durbar Square-which was where the city's kings were once crowned and from where they ruled. Durbar means palace and this is the traditional heart of the old town. The highlight for me there was the erotic carvings in the Jagannath temple which I've obviously included the sauciest ones for your viewing pleasure and to shock my mum:-)

After Durbar it was off to Swayambhunath temple, it was about 30 mins walk from Thamel - which is the epicentre of the backpacking district in Kathmandu. It lies perched on top of a hill and it is a pretty steep climb to get to the top. The temple is alsocalled the monkey temple - yes another one:-) A temple in one form or another has stood on this site since AD460. At the top is a great Stupa which is a whitewashed dome with a gold-coloured block depicting the watchful eyes of Buddha.

Next day more temples.

---