- Namaste from Nepal
We’re in Kathmandu, Nepal.
🇳🇵🇳🇵🇳🇵🇳🇵🇳🇵🇳🇵🇳🇵
So far Nepal is great! The people are friendlier than Bangkok! Everyone tries to help us and people are not super pushy about selling us everything. Already I’m so glad we decided to come here especially as it wasn’t even part of our initial itinerary.
We’re staying at Alobar1000 Hostel right now. Everyone in town seems to know it. It’s super cute because there’s murals and decorations everywhere. The common area is on the roof and it’s such a maze inside! There’s lots of stairs and bathrooms and rooms everywhere. It’s not the cleanest but it has a good vibe going.
Kathmandu just feels like a little busy town in the mountains. Theres thousands of shops on the streets but the views are great. I found a rooftop restaurant for our first night to try some Nepali food recommended by the waiter. We had dinner on the roof at sunset by ourselves! It was just perfect to kick off our first night in Nepal.
We booked a driver to take us all around Kathmandu today. We saw so much and had so many fun experiences.
The monkey Temple was my favorite by far! I got attacked by a monkey, really he just grabbed my arm and I freaked out. An old Nepalese woman pulled us in, she had us spin prayer wheels, light candles in a temple and she decorated our foreheads with red, gold, and yellow paint. We had a man, who had us try this spiritual bowl noise therapy (not actually sure what the bowl therapy is called) where he banged a bowl that made a strong noise and moved it all along our body. It’s meant to be a type of healing ritual. Of course after he wanted us to buy the bowl from him which we didn’t do but still incredibly cool to experience. The monkey temple itself was very cool too, there are prayer flags and colors everywhere! There are monkey moms and babies just about everywhere you turn.
The second place we ended up is Lalitpur/ Patan. Which is a fine arts village. The temples and almost the entire town was destroyed by the earthquake in 2015. They are still rebuilding it so it’s very much still in rubble. We went to the museums and learned all about the place. They keep rebuilding the temples because it’s such a valued place for the gods/kings and the people of Nepal even though there have been several devastating earthquakes in the area.
The third place we went was Pashupatinah and it was very sad in a way. First of all we had no idea which direction we were supposed to be going in so we went for a nice long wander and checked out some tombs and monkeys, cows, and deer. Mostly we just got lost but we found our way back. The temple is a Hindi only temple so we didn’t get a chance to go inside. The temple is one of the most sacred places in the Hindu faith. There are many legends about this place. It was a very powerful and intense experience. We witnessed several ritual burnings/funerals here. During this ritual for the dead, the person who passed away was burned. There are people weeping in the streets. Even though people are dead and bring it has an effect that draws you to watch. It seems as though we are all nothing but ashes at some point.
The last place was the Great Boudha Stupa. We didn’t spend too much time here because we were so so tired from everything. There was a ceremony for monks and plenty of people getting blessed.
The cool thing about all these places is that they are all UNESCO world heritage sites. Everywhere was really touristy but it didn’t take away from any of the culture. It was a great day and we saw and experienced so much!
After all of this we met up with Elizabeth’s old friend, Katie and her Nepalese friend. We got some dinner (on a rooftop of course) and where all the waiters are deaf!Then went out for hookah and drinks. It’s great to hear tips from locals and have a night out. Everything is super cheap and the food is so good. Our favorite food so far are MoMo’s.
It was a great day and we are really taking in all of Nepal that we can get! Round two tomorrow with a hike in the hills!
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