Kathmandu

Getting to Kathmandu takes about 6 hours on a coach which we thought would be more comfortable then the local buses, but hey, mistake there. We had seats at the back and it was the bumpiest ride ever, we both on a few occasions almost fell of the seat and i don't know how Dani actually managed to sleep on that thing. Well after surviving that we arrived in Kathmandu and because we did not really have an idea where we were we took a cab to the hotel. That cab cost us 200 Nepalese Ruppees (seems to be a fixed price here) and the driver had actually no idea where he was going and then we realised that the hotel was pretty much around the corner, so a short walk could have done it. ut it did not stop there. Arriving at the hotel, already a bit pissed off, we found out that they had no room, even though we had one book and pre paid, so they sent us down the road where they had another building. We went there, saw the room and marched straight back to the hotel asking what the hell they were thinking of trying to put us in there. So Dani kept on arguing and in the end they gave us a room in the staff area which was still nicer then the dodgy hostel one. After settling a bit in we started exploring and found a super nice restaurant where Dani finally got her Momo's which were absolutely delicious, so a bit more relaxed we went on to Durbar Square which was packed and loud due to the New Years celebration. The square could be gorgeous if it would not be like walking through a massive rubbish bin, but unfortunately thats the case here everywhere. In the evening we found the best restaurant ever here: Thamel House, which is a bit more expensive then most of the other (but still bloody cheap compared to the western world) but had the best food and service ever so we went straight back there the next evening.
Our 2 mornings in Kathmandu we spent getting as much of the Himalaya scenery as possible with 1 sunrise trip to Daman where you can see 400km of Himalaya from one viewpoint and the other morning we went up in the air with the mountain flight from Buddha Airline which took us past Mt. Everest (we even got a certificate). The mountain flight made Dani's day as she managed to get a picture of the Mt Everest from the cockpit. The last afternoon before heading back to Delhi we spent at the monkey temple which felt more like a shopping center then a temple due to the large amount of stalls within the temple area selling nepalese goods.
Oh, one more thing, we discovered that the Lonely Planet seems to be the bible of the backpackers and trekkers here as everyone has it, including us obviously.

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Part of trip: India and Nepal 2009

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