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Okay, so I arrived on Friday 25th in Kathmandu around 3.50pm, leaving Bangkok at 13.55pm. Flew with Royal Nepal Airline. Had a long queue to process the visa on arrival... you need to prepare 2 passport photos to do this. Local staffs looked at me and asked me to move to Nepali passport control line (they must have thought I were Nepali now!). This is what happened with my adaptable face, I can be local everywhere I go. Visa on arrival costed around 30 USD (or 40??), I forgot already.
Taxi to Thamel area is around 400 Rupee. There are so many tourist hotel in Thamel and Jathaya area, and I chose to stay at Jathaya since it's not as noisy as Thamel. It's both close by anyway... I have 2 days time to explore this city. This exotiq city, well... you can smell incents already everywhere... and Thamel street is like a crowded ancient city with small road (enough only for 1 car while there's no one way sign so you will see cars have to be reversed just because there's another car coming from opposite direction)... not to mention bikes keep horning to get away from pedestrians... and
They worship bird too!
I heard that the locals believe that feeding birds will bring luck on you! So you can also see may happy birds in this city! also the Nepali Tuktuk (almost like Becak in Indonesia) driving passengers so proffesionally... then you can hear loud music every where. So it's exotiq right? Taxi here is usually a small car, and the traffic here has no rules whatsoever. Yet on the mainstreet, you can see happy cows every where sleeping and walking in the middle of the street. Yes, they are prefectly happy! Who wouldn't be happy if everybody worship you?
I had my first dinner at a rooftop restaurant, eating Nepali food... in this kind of spices adventures, I'm not that adaptable. I can barely eat my food due to weird taste of various spices they put in my first vegetarian momo. I did not easily give up anyway, I'll give it a try again tomorrow! May be they just cooked it wrong!
Anyway, the first morning I tried to explore Kathmandu Durbar Square since it's walking distance only from my hotel. It's very interesting seeing how the locals start their day in the morning with lots of offerings along the way to Durbar Square. After taking some compulsary pictures, and trying to see the Kumari 'Living Goddes' that resides in this area (I managed
Local kids going to pray
It's part of the daily life of the locals to pray in the morning, and it could be in the temples or any statues they built for that purpose. I was on the way to durbar square, and one of their morning routine is praying and prepare offerings. to see this little Kumari with her colorful makeup and attributes), I hopped in a cap going to Pasupathinath Temple. This Kumari is believed by Nepali as a living reincarnation of their Goddess, and a little girl is chosen from a goldsmith family after a long process of selection with over 50 criterias has to be met from several candidates. After that, the little Kumari then has to reside at her official house provided by Nepal government, and do her daily official duty as arranged for the devotees. The Kumari is not allowed to go outside her house, and can only be seen outside maybe once or twice a year when there's a big religious festival. She is fully protected, can play only inside the house, and can't be bleeding. The end of the assignment as Kumari Goddess would be finished as this little girl reach her puberty, then the same process will be done to find another living goddess that match the criterias.
A little bit history of Pasupatinath, it's said to be the highest holy temple in Nepal where all the deaths got cremated here and the ashes were thrown away in the river. At that area,
Having tootaches problem? Feel free to punch nails to get healed.
Locals believe that if you have toothaches problem, you can be healed by this figure! they also provide 'Dying House' that is provided for the dying people so that would be easier for them to be cremated here. Every day, you can see a few people got cremated. It's a big temple complex, the only part you're not allowed to enter is the temple. The temple complex is full of devotees that come from all over Nepal and India, also tourists. I stayed at this complex for about 2 hours in the middle of the days, the smoke from the cremations, plus the dust and pollution, also the heat... and seeing the death bodies... well, it's not really an enjoying and relaxing experiences. However, it's quite interesting so I managed to get some close pictures of the cremation and temple complex.
Finish with Pasupatinath, I was heading to Budhanath. It's a more Tibetan temple than Hindu's, here you can relax a bit having lunch or coffee in a few restaurants overlooking this big stupa, after getting exhausting at Pasupatinath Temple.
My last of the day temple to visit after Budhanath is Swayambunath Temple, built on the hill overlooking Kathmandu Valley. I stopped for a while along the way to Swayambu at Tibetan Campaign
Post, signing the petition, then walking around Swayambu guided by Tibetan little monk.
TIPS; going for one place to another place is quite easy here. Just hop in a taxi, it's lots cheaper than renting a car. If they don't want to go by meter, ask for the fix price first.
That's the end of my day at Swayambunath, i went back to my hotel finding out that I didn't get my tourist bus ticket to Pokhara the next day. So I have to spend another day in Kathmandu...
Well, got nothing to do I decided to rent a jeep to go to Bhaktapur and Nagarkot. It's quite costly since I ended up having to pay around 2400 Rupee (around $40) just for half day tour. I didn't know that... anyway, you can do this Bhaktapur and Nagarkot tour for about 10 dollar by bus with well arranged travel like Greenline. Greenline also provide tourist bus to and from Pokhara for the cost of $ 15 for tourist and $ 10 for local. Everything here is charged differently between tourist and local.
Well, with $10 entrance ticket to Bhaktapur Durbar Square complex, taking some compulsory pictures,
astrologers and clients around temple area
Part of daily life... consulting astrologers on your fortune. and heading to Nagarkot... well... I found it quite boring since I have seen Durbar Square in Kathmandu although it's smaller than the one in Bhaktapur but it's more lively. However, if you have plenty of time to spend, taking detail pictures with Bhaktapur original architecture from mala dinasty would be quite interesting. Also seeing the making of clay pottery is quite nice. FYI, there's no point to go to Nagarkot unless you do it early in the morning when sunrise and the sky is clear. You won't be able to see the mighty mountains if it's cloudy... so it's a waste of time right?
Anyway I was glad to leave Kathmandu and went to Pokhara... and I was quite nervous to meet my trek companion (Dipu) for the first time (I've never met him before, he flew from USA to do the Annapurna Circuit together with me). And Pokhara sounds like a nice small town that fit me well, with Phewa Lake and a few nice hotels to relax. I need to relax before starting my Annapurna Circuit, so I chose to stay at Shangrila Village... quite a nice hotel with swimming pool.
The next day, I
met Dipu and his family... and 2 days after, we started the Annapurna Circuit!
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Jan
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It looks like a great adventure
sofar. You have written a nice blog. I'm looking forwards for the next episode. I didn't go to Flores after all, but went for a break to Italy. I hope to see Flores in November now. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Lake-Garda/blog-276257.html