It was 2 weeks before Christmas.
The flights back home were too expensive and I didn’t have enough leave days to take a long holiday. The best I could do was to book a flight to somewhere closer to Singapore and to try and be back to the red dot just in time to buy a chuck cut to prepare a Brasato al Barolo to share with friends on Xmas day.
Following a bit of thinking, I understood that Nepal was a great option. Within 8 hrs of travel, filled with culture and stunning natural features, it’s the perfect vacation spot for me.
After booking my business class ticket to Kathmandu (shoutout to Malaysian airlines for having business ticket at a cheaper price than economy), I realized that I hadn’t told anyone that I was going there and that I might have needed a companion for the trip. I already knew my target audience and I texted just a couple of friends. The first reply was a “nay”. The second one was a “what’s your seat number?”.
The show was on.
Flying into Kathmandu was already an experience by itself, with the Himalayas being literally side by side to the plane instead of being below it. Also, it was the beginning of a trip filled with dust.
The first stop of the trip was a rather gruesome one: Dakshinkali temple, the animal sacrifices temple dedicated to goddess Kali. (Un)fortunately, we got there too late and all that was left was people washing out blood from the temple floors and walls.
Then the first hiccup of the trip.
As usual we thought about how to reach the place, but we had no plans on how to go back from there to our next stop, Patan. Now, keep in mind that Dakhshinkali is in the middle of the mountains, reachable by barely paved roads and that most of the people already flocked away from the temple because it was way past the celebratory time.
That’s when my friend started to get really worried. After reassuring him that people in those places are usually really kind and helpful and that they would call a friend/relative to bring us to Patan, I started going shop by shop asking for help. Eventually, I found a guy that could speak broken English that gave us a lift to Patan. It was all good.
The first morning in Patan was one of the many that started before dawn and it was just magical.
Quick tip: visit any site in Nepal before 8am to avoid paying the whopping 15USD foreigner ticket.
Quick tip 2: Nepal before sunrise is a beauty. There are people everywhere, some going to the market, other roaming around temples and praying.
The signs of the 2015 earthquake were still very visible in the whole Nepal and the view of half destroyed houses and temples would accompany us throughout our journey.
At 8 am we got out of the Durbar square and started exploring the rest of the town.
After a bit of walking, a local artist approached us and started asking us questions. It turned out that he studied in Italy for a while and that he could speak perfect Italian. Having lived in Asia long enough, both my friend and I knew that we would end up in his local shop and be held hostage for a while until we bought some art, but we were ok with it. The reason was that this guy took us around the city as a private guide for a good couple of hours. We visited his friends’ temples, private houses and private monk dormitories and shrines. What a stroke of luck!
At the end of the tour we were more than happy to buy some art from him.
Few hours were left before sunset, so it was that time of the day again to wrap it up with a visit to a couple more neighborhoods before looking for a ride to our next destination, Nagarkot, where we would take a closer look at the Himalayas and where we would hopefully spot Mt. Everest.
Patan turned out to be true to its Sanskrit name of Lalitpur, the City of Beauty.
We arrived at Nagarkot late at night after an extremely bumpy ride. After settling in a family managed hotel, we sat down under the stars around a campfire with the hotel owner and had mutton, chapati and Nepal-ice Strong beer together. Nothing better to build up our excitement to see our first sunrise on the Himalayas the next morning.
At around 3 am, we got a lift to the Everest observation deck. The view from up there was absolutely stunning although brief, as the clouds quickly came in to cover the red peaks. Half frozen, we got down from the observation post and headed to my favorite town in Nepal: Bhaktapur.
Filled with squares full of towering temples, it vaguely reminded me of the old medieval towns in Italy.
For 2 days, we got lost in its tight alleyways and fine temples, overwhelmed by the beauty of everything that surrounded us.
Our hotel was in one of the three main squares, Taumadhi square, with a full view on the main pagoda (one of Nepal tallest), on the local market and on the local animals wandering around.
While in Nepal we soon learnt that in any city you go to you can be sure to find an incredibly well put together Durbar square. Bhaktapur one in particular, although quite badly hit by the earthquake, exhibited a very clean although complex architecture and vivid colors. My favorite feature in the Durbar was the gold gate, set on a red wall backdrop. It was constantly guarded by the military and it was pretty often the meeting place for many local girls that seemed to have a special interest in the guards rather than the gate itself. After all, Gurkhas are famous all over the world, why wouldn’t they be in their own country?
About 4 days in the trip, we were impressed by the quality of Nepal architecture, culture and people. But we were yet to see the Himalayans giants in all their majestic, humongous charm.
That is why the next stop on our journey was Pokhara. We debated a lot about whether to go there or not due to the terrible stories we read online about the Kathmandu-Pokhara bus route, but after a few days of consideration we decided to go with it anyway.
Pokhara is mainly known for two things, namely its vast lake and the fact that it is the main base for most of Annapurna massif treks.
Not having time to do any treks, we spent the first day strolling along the lake shores.
After a nice chill day around the lake, we went to sleep quite early, ready for a 3.30 am awakening to go see the Annapurna massif at sunrise from the Sarangkot observation area.
We started the walk to the observation area in pitch black.
Once we reached the top, we tried to find a spot not too crowded, but it seemed like a mission impossible.
And then the waiting started.
The first light of the morning was shining in the background of Pokhara when we realized that the Annapurna massif was exactly on the opposite side of where we were looking at. Quickly, we moved to a different location, trying to find a place where we could set our cameras down to take a picture of the mountain. As everyone always says, preparation is key in the photographers’ world. But I am no photographer.
We still couldn’t see any peak popping out of the clouds, until we heard an old lady yelling to the top of her lungs “the light is coming!!”. Thankfully she wasn’t a jeovah’s witness, but just another excited outdoors lover. We looked where she was pointing at and we just went “wow”. There was nothing else to add but to enjoy that natural show.
At about 8 am the show was over and the sky got overcast again. We then went back to town and started the long hike to reach the World Peace pagoda. The walk took many hours through small villages, dusty roads and rice fields. We also witnessed a traditional funeral in the river and seen a lot of animals including falcons and new born goats along the way.
Finally, there it stand the pagoda, where silence is sacred and the views are out of this world. The momo restaurants up there weren’t bad either.
We spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering around that idyllic place. Not one thought on our mind. Not a wow spared.
The way down was way shorter, straight through the woods to the lake shores. Once we reached the lake, an old woman took us on a boat ride to reach the other side.
It was sunset time. Around us there was only the sound of the paddle touching the water and the chants of devotees coming from a temple nearby, set on a small island in the middle of the lake. And in the sky, the most stunning sunset was lighting up the clouds over the massif.
It had been a long day and by early night we were dead asleep, with our bellies full of food and beer and our spirits as light as the snowflakes up there on those snowy giants.
See you soon Pokhara, possibly for an ABC trek.
After 8 hours on one of the most treacherous roads I have ever been onto, we set foot back in Kathmandu. We both immediately decided to get some face masks to protect ourselves from the city dust before heading to the “Monkey temple”, Swayambhunath stupa.
Towering on the top of a hill, it is reachable via a steep staircase filled with monkeys. If I learnt one thing in life, it’s to never trust monkey. Seriously, just don’t.
The stupa itself was stunning, overlooking the whole city. It reminded me of a small version of Shwedagon paya in Yangon, probably due to its location, to the gold wrapping the pagoda and to the purple hue sunset that I’ve enjoyed in both locations.
Here is the funny part about the ride back. I wasn’t feeling good and I had a fever that started the day prior to our arrival in Kathmandu. Anyway long story short, I wanted to get to the hotel quite fast. I have a hint for hotel owners and that is to never, ever put your hotel in the same road where there is already another one with basically the same name. And the reason for that is that people, especially those in a hurry, might go into the wrong one. So yeah, we basically entered the wrong hotel and we got a room immediately, so of course we didn’t think twice about whether that was the right hotel or not. The morning after, I received a mail from the actual hotel that I booked asking why we didn’t stay for the night, to which I promptly replied with a paraphrased “are you kidding me? you checked me in and I am in the room right now”. The realization followed soon thereafter. We saved few $$ though.
Thanks, wrong hotel.
It was the beginning of the last day of the trip. Also, it was again around 5 am when we started the walk towards the durbar square.
With pretty much everything we had planned covered, we were still missing 2 of the main Kathmandu attractions, namely Pashupatinath hindu temple and Boudhanath stupa.
In the former, we went to see a traditional funeral consisting in body cremation along the river shores next to the temple, however we reached the place too late and all that was left were big fires on their way to being extinguished. Seemingly being late to rites was a recurring theme of our trip.
We reached Boudhanath right on time for another gold tinted sunset right after a quick KFC refill.
Boudhanath can be summed up with a word: movement.
Movement coming from the wind and the rotating prayers. From the incense smoke and the people walking around the three layered pagoda. I have tried to convey that movement as much as I could through my photos below. Enjoy.
For a last minute trip destination, Nepal turned out to be the dream of any traveller. Soaked in culture, embraced by nature, filled with people’s smiles.
That’s all I need.
The Voyaging Snapper 
Brilliant report. I felt I was in Nepal, while reading.
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