Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
We crossed over into the tiny border village of Kodari, Nepal and after immigration made our way to the hillside resort of Dhulikhel. En route were beautiful countryside valleys with rice fields, narrow, bumpy roads, and buses with people sitting on the roof!
Dhulikhel is a hill station outside Kathmandu, where we stayed for the night. The resort had a good restaurant with Nepali and Western food and the rooms were nice and comfortable. We even had a balcony view of the Himalayas as we chilled out and relaxed! It made a nice change from the days of roughing it out in Tibet!
The next day we drove to Kathmandu, where we stayed in Thamel, the touristy backpacker area of the city. Thamel was noisy and busy with several shops lining the streets selling all kinds of souveniers while blasting loud music from big speakers. It was a huge contrast from China with a lot more English spoken, many more foreign tourists, but still the same pestering! It was quite bizzare walking around but fun to stroll through the hippyish streets; Declan and Christie were even offered hash!
In the afternoon we went to the Kathmandu Durbar Square, a public square where foreigners have to pay to enter! A random dude walks around the various street entrances and directs you to a ticket booth (scam? maybe! but it is legit!). The square houses several elaborately decorated palaces and temples including the residence of the former Nepalese Royal Family (Hanuman Dhoka Palace), and it is where important festivals such as the coronation of the king take place.
One of the buildings is Kumari Chowk, which houses Raj Kumari, the living goddess. A centuries-old tradition dictates that a pre-pubertal girl is chosen to be the human incarnation of the Hindu mother goddess, Durba. The girl lives here with her family in total seclusion, worshipped during religious festivals as a living goddess, until her first period.
It was nice to walk around this atmospheric square, mingling with the Nepalese and trying out the various street foods. Claire tried her first pan masala and spit it straight out! There was even a priest all dressed up in orange for you to take photos with (for a fee of course) and we saw our first monkeys here!
In the evening we had our final group meal with Zjoka and co. before we went our seperate ways. There were hugs and goodbyes over giant burgers and everest beer (beer from the top of the world!). The next day we flew to New Delhi, India! Nepal has many outdoor activities to offer, and it definitely deserves another visit.
- comments