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Published: December 29th 2010
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After our trek, we returned to Kathmandu to soak in the mountain city and the sites it had to offer.
Nepal is similar to India in many ways, but much more relaxed. The touts aren't as vicious, the weather not so intensely hot and the roads, despite being equally crazy, were not so dirty. Much of our time in Kathmandu was spent in an area called Thamel. Thamel consists of an area of small inter-connecting lanes crammed with shops selling trekking gear, CD & DVD copies, hats, bags , incense, decorative masks, tiger balm salesmen and books to mention but a few. In between these shops, Thamel boasts a large number of cafes, bars and restaurants with a huge variety of international cuisine.
The city's congested, dusty roads cause many respiratory problems as cars kick up plumes of dust, mixing with exhaust fumes which causes many locals to wear dust masks around the streets. There are only proper pavements on a few of the roads and most of the time we were forced to walk in the road, and attempt to avoid the motorbikes, taxis and cycle rickshaws rushing past.
The only proper roads appeared to be around
the soon-to-be vacant Royal Palace. We timed our visit to Nepal at quite a historic time for the country as the King had been told to officially leave his residence within 15 days. As a result, whilst we were there, Nepal officially became a Federal Republic. Each day many of the newspapers we read spoke about the division between political parties and the debate over what the structure of the new government should be.
One of the first, and most important things we needed to do in the city was shave my (Mike's) beard off. There are plenty of barbers in Kathmandu to choose from and each barber shop consists of a small box-like room surrounded by mirrors. A hair-cut and shave turned out to be a lengthy process, taking about 1.5 hours in total which was a little over my original estimate. We were quite confident though as the barber looked old and full of experience. However, he then summoned a 15 year old boy from outside - with 6 fingers - to work on me.
I was extremely nervous to have the trainee wield a sharp blade on my face and spent most of that time
fearing for my life. One slip, and it was curtains. He did actually turn out to be quite good - even if his extra finger did keep hitting me in the face. The boy also felt I needed a mustache, and it took quite an effort to explain to him that I wanted it 'all off'. This included much gesturing. At least I now know that I do indeed look ridiculous with a mustache. After the whole hair-cut and shave business he decided to give me a massage for about 20 minutes, which was nice. All the extras cost more in the end, but was quite a bargain at only 4 pound for the lot.
Freshly shaved and looking, well, -about 12, we got round to checking out what the city had to offer. The main sites that we saw in Kathmandu were the Swayambunath Stupa (Monkey Temple), Durbar Square and Bodnath Stupa.
Swayambunath Stupa was just a short taxi ride from our hotel and once there is a short hike up a hill. The temple commands an excellent view of Kathmandu Valley and is a very atmospheric place. There are wandering monks, dogs and monkeys mixing with
the smell of incense and Buddhist prayer music. Many people come here every day, young and old, making the journey up the steps to pray to various idols around the stupa and spin the spinney things around the stupa.
Durbar Square was where the King used to live and where his coronation took place. The palaces were moved to its new home earlier last century. Durbar Square these days is very busy with traffic weaving in and out of the ancient temples and monks engrossed in conversation. This was a little strange considering its status as a World Heritage Site. It was a very interesting place to wander round however and the architectural style of the buildings is impressive.
We also saw the Bodnath Stupa, which boasts the largest stupa in Nepal. The stupa is the large semi-cylindrical base that the main column protrudes from. Bodnath is the a very important place in Kathmandu for Tibetan exiled monks and as we walked around we saw many of them. The center-piece is very similar to the Swayambunath Stupa but much larger and less congested. However it is similar in the sense that the area is very spiritual with prayer
flags flapping overhead and the familiar sound of Buddhist chants booming from each gift shop.
Finally we had a look at the grounds of the current Kings residence - he was still holed up in hiding at the time of writing. Near the new palace is a cinema that we found which was actually showing the new and much-anticipated Indiana Jones film! The most exciting cinematic event of the decade!! Our ticket price was very cheap and incredible value for what was an epic movie. We even bumped into a nice Chinese man we met on our trek here.
Kathmandu is a mountainous country, steeped in religion and history with wonderfully ornate buildings surrounded by congested and dusty streets teeming with life. And overall Nepal has been an awe-inspiring and utterly enchanting experience. We're now leaving the dusty sub-continent - next up is our first taste of the orient - Thailand.
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basu
non-member comment
hi
hi man. i read ur article fullly and really pleased and excited about ur 7 days in kathmandu. Myself being a nepalese and permanent inhbitant of kathmandu find ur article more informative though (lol) i mean you wrote it well... and best wat i like is ur pic out there. i love reading articles this way. i live jut few km away from thamel. well jsut wrte me in my mail if u get time.. (thumb up :))