Tag: Nepal

We visited ‎⁨Swayambhunath stupa on Saturday, a holiday in Nepal. It was packed with Nepali visitors and many tourists. It is located on prominent hill just a short taxi ride from Thamel. After spending half a day there we took another taxi to Asan Tole. We were looking for local spices and black Himalayan salt crystals. We spent the rest of the day just wandering around this part of the city.

Next day was all about Patan. The third of the old royal cities in the Valley: Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan. The old town is stil undergoing quite significant restoration after the 2015 earthquake. A lot to see. We returned to Thamel (by taxi) for dinner at Fusion Himalaya Restaurant (our favorite in Kathmandu). On Monday we just packed our bags and were on our way home in the afternoon (enjoying views of Annapurna from the plane), with o/n stop (just a few hours of sleep)  in Doha.

We spent all day in Bhaktapur. We first traveled by taxi to Ratna Park and then by inexpensive public bus to Bhaktapur old town. The bus was very packed and very slow, but we had an opportunity to watch Nepalis taking care of their daily chores. Bhaktapur’s Durbar Square was not too crowded, with tourists grinding around. Just like us. Some buildings have been already restored after the 2015 earthquake, there was quite a bit of construction work going on, much more restoration left to do. We visited a small museum in rebuilt section of the Royal Palace. We walked through the old city visiting Taumadhi Square with Nyatapola Temple, Pottery Square and Dattatreya Square. In the evening, we strolled around watching locals celebrating a holiday (?). We returned to Thamel by taxi.

We spent two days visiting different parts of Kathmandu, walking from temple to temple, but also watching people going about their daily business. The streets were crowded. On the first day, we walked from Thamel to  Durbar Square and back, no way to remember all the street names. On the second day we traveled to Boudhanath by taxi in the morning. The stupa was our favorite place in Kathmandu area, so peaceful. Then we walked over to Pashupatinath to meet new friends, a Polish couple we met in Lukla. We tried different restaurants in Thamel in the evenings.