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Both of us let out a long low sigh of relief as we stepped off the plane onto the Nepali tarmac. After the stifling heat and pollution of Delhi, the cool mountain air of Kathmandu was an immense relief. We had heard that Kathmandu was a polluted and chaotic nightmare and that we should get out of there as quickly as possible...but those people had obviously flown in from somewhere other than India. As our cab pulled away from the airport towards the backpacker district of Thamel, we both couldn't help commenting on how clean and peaceful the city seemed. We immediately knew that we were going to love it in Nepal.
For those that don't know, Nepal is a small mountainous country to the north of India. Although there are areas of hot steamy jungles, most of the country is covered by the Himalayas (Its home to something like 8 of the 10 tallest mountains on earth, including Everest). In many ways it is very similar to India - including the fact that most Nepalis are Hindu. Nepal is often described as 'India Light'...and many people come here to warm up before going to India. We want to emphasize
right off the bat for those readers who don't get through this whole blog entry - YOU MUST GO TO NEPAL! It is a truly amazing and to date it’s our favourite country.
One of the first differences we noticed in Nepal was that women were once again a part of public life. In India you don't see women all that often, and you are almost never able to interact with them. In Nepal women are on the streets laughing and chatting, running businesses and taking care of their families. Becky was also ecstatic to be a 'person' once again. While in India she was generally ignored (If she asked an Indian man a question he would either ignore her or direct the answer of the question to me). Becky was downright giddy with her newly regained status!
Our first night in Kathmandu was spent in an excellent little bar drinking good cheap beer and toasting to the good life in this mountain nation! Thamel is filled with souvenir shops, bakeries, internet cafes, garden or rooftop restaurants offering great food and cool bars. Lots of people complain about Thamel being too touristy and unauthentic. Sure, we agree with
both comments, but we loved it. Loved the veggie burgers, loved the music, loved the cold beer, loved meeting other travelers. It's nice to come back to all this after our more 'authentic' experiences!
We spent our first full day wandering the narrow streets lined with shops, stalls and ancient intricately carved wooden temples (which generally had three-tiered roofs). Occasionally we would step off a street through a low doorway into long courtyards filled with life - kids playing, mothers doing the washing and old men chatting amongst themselves (wearing distinctive Nepali hats). As it was only a few days before the first democratic election in the country's recent history, the streets were alive with political rallies, flags, music and chanted slogans. It was predicted that the Maoist Revolutionaries, who had, until very recently, been leading an armed rebellion from rural Nepal, were going to win the election...which added to the nervous excitement on the streets. It was definitely an interesting time to arrive in Nepal.
We quickly realized we were going to have to buy some warmer clothes as there were nightly thunderstorms, which often included a little hail! To be realistic the temperature was probably only
in the mid-twenties, but to us it felt frigid. Luckily for us, Nepal is famous for the 'North Fake' clothing sold on every street corner, next to the yak wool shawls and brass singing bowls. For those that don't know, 'North Face' is a very expensive outdoor clothing company and Nepal is full of "quality" knock-offs at a fraction of the real price. Bex outfitted herself head to toe for under $20!
Despite the fact that most Nepalis are Hindu, Kathmandu is filled with Buddhist stuppas (temples) and monasteries. 2500 years ago Buddha himself was born in southern Nepal. Now Kathmandu is one of the centres of Tibetan Buddhism and is home to (I believe) the largest Tibetan community outside of Tibet. On a very high recommendation from our friend Andrei, we decided to go to Bodhnath, a large Stuppa at the centre of the Tibetan community, on the outskirts of Nepal. The massive stuppa itself is beautiful, but it is only part of what makes this place so special. It is at the centre of a huge courtyard surrounded by world heritage buildings, filled with shops and rooftop restaurants. In the late afternoon the courtyard begins to fill
with the local Buddhists, monks and nuns of different sects in costumes of varying styles and colours and of course tourists (who were a very small minority). Everyone slowly walks clockwise around the stuppa, spinning the hundreds of prayer wheels, chanting their prayers, or just socializing with each other. At its busiest, around sun set, there was a really powerful energy. Maybe there was such a great feeling there because of the casual and social feeling surrounding the stuppa and prayers, which is unlike other religious places we've been. Whatever it was, we really enjoyed our time at Bodhnath. We spent hours walking, watching and chatting. Afterwards, we walked through the Tibetan community, and even stopped to watch 6 or 7 child monks, dressed in their orange robes, play a pick-up game of soccer. We went back to Thamel feeling very lucky to have had the chance to take this trip to Asia.
While in Kathmandu we also visited the two Durbar Squares, which are really each a series of connected squares containing numerous beautiful temples, monuments and palaces. An interesting aspect of the squares was that they weren't just tourist sites; instead they were living portions of the
city, filled with Nepalis of all ages. My description could never do the squares justice, but I will say that they should not be missed on your upcoming trip to Nepal, no matter how brief.
As you may know, Nepal is a bit of a Mecca for all outdoor activities, from mountain climbing and whitewater rafting to paragliding and jungle safaris. With only three weeks in Nepal, we really needed to plan out what we were going to do. Luckily for us, my friend Keith hooked us up with his sister Kelly, who had been living in Nepal with her husband for several years operating a rafting company. We met up with Kelly in Kathmandu, and she was nice enough to show us the ropes - filling us in on all the must-dos. One night we met her and her husband at New Orleans, one of many bars offering great live music. It was a great night because we had the chance to chat with some of Kelly's friends who were setting out the following day on Everest Expeditions (Nepal had just opened Everest to expeditions after temporarily closing it). It was crazy to think that some of those
people would soon be on the world's highest mountain.
After getting the low down from Kelly, we decided to hit the road for Pokhara, Nepal's other major centre, before the election shut the whole country down.
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annavowles
Anna Vowles
wonderful!
What wonderful photo's you have taken. This has really inspired me to take so many pictures when I arrive in Nepal next week. Many many thanks. Anna