Kathmandu and beyond

---

Even though I hardly slept due to a horrible bout of hayfever, I managed to drag myself out to explore Kathmandu's sister cities - Patan and Bhaktapur. And yes I did have cold & flu and hayfever tablets to pack - but in typical Casey fashion, I left them at home along with my panadol, sunscreen and my hat! Awesome effort! Haha!

Myself and another "Builder" from Sydney set out with our private tour guide and driver at about 9am.

A 20 minute drive had us arriving in the Kathmandu Valley city of Patan.

Patan has a population of approximately 200,000 and is the third largest city in Nepal. It is a World Heritage Site and home to the former royal palace (Nepal was a Kingdom until 2008 when it became a Republic).

To get into the city there is an entrance fee of 200 rupees (about $3).

Patan is an enchanting mixture of palace buildings, courtyards, statues and pagoda temples that date back to around the 12th Century. The photo opportunities were just sensational and Patan gave a glimpse into the "real Nepal".

There were Nepalese praying at all the temples and I'm sure the smell of incence would have been overwhelming to someone who could actually smell - unlike myself today - and was not used to it!

I was doing fine until I decided that I needed to go to the loo. Found one at one of the temples and very quickly decided that I could wait until tonight when I got back to the motel!!!

It took me most of the morning to find an ATM, but once I did I finally got to do some shopping!!! Woohoo!! That certainly made me forget about needing to go to the toilet!

It was then time to jump back in our car and head towards Bhaktapur.

Bhaktapur is the second largest city in Nepal with a population of approximately 225,000. This city dates back to the 12th Century. 60%!o(MISSING)f the revenue for this city comes from tourism.

I definitely did my bit for the local community and got stuck into some shopping!

The pagoda and temples in Bhaktapur are grouped around the 55 window palace which served as the royal palace up until 1769 when the royals relocated to Patan. The palace has elaborately carved windows and doors and is now home to the National Art Gallery.

After lunching at the Peacock Restaurant there was more shopping to be done and more photos to be taken... until the rains came. All of a sudden it was just bucketing down, the thunder was phenomenal and the city square was cleared of people in about 2 seconds flat.

Being out in the wet certainly didn't do my cold any favours, but it was lovely and refreshing!

We made our way back to the car and drove 20kms (in 1.5hours!) back to Kathmandu.

I went straight to my room, had a shower and was temporarily saved by Pauline (fellow Origin-ite and my soon to be roomie in Pokhara) who gave me some cold & flu tablets to get me through the night! Yay for Pauline!

Am heading off to Pokhara tomorrow - I chose to travel by land rather than air. 200km trip that is expected to take about 6-8 hours. Should be interesting! But a totally awesome way to get to see the countryside!!

---

Photos

Toilet
Umm... no thanks. I can hold it!