A visit to Nepal would not be complete without going to Pokhara. You can either take an eight hours drive from Kathmandu or a 30 minutes flight from Kathmandu’s local airport.
On the dawn of the fourth day, we drove back to Kathmandu and took the express way there since our trip was only a short one. The plane was the smallest one I have ever been on!
Once there, we checked into Grand View Hotel with a breathtaking view of the Annapurna range.
Attractions in Pokhara:
Davis Falls
Waterfall that abruptly plummets into a crack in the earth.
Named after a tourist who fell into the waterfall while swimming in a nearby lake. Her body was never found. We tried walking around the waterfall to find a way to see how deep it goes, but we could only see the view below. However, the sound was deafening. Stand close enough and you can feel the breeze.
Gupteshwor Mahadev Cave
Across the street from Davis Falls lies the entrance to the bottomless pit (Not recommended for claustrophobics). Most of the locals visit this place for worshiping. As you enter, you get a waft of cow-ish smell and immediately you see the sign “cow shed” to the left and a huge stalagmite worshiped as Shiva. We continued straight on (downwards!) as the pathway gets smaller and smaller until you see Davis Falls waterfall.
We didnt take a lot of photos in the cave because #1: a bit out of breath because the climb down was quite an adventurous one, and #2: half claustropobic , half just plain terrified (what if the cave collapse? what if the way up got blocked?..somehow).
World Peace Stupa
Ah, this is where we hiked up to get a beautiful sunset with a view of the Phewa Lake & Annapurna range. The 20 minutes climb from the foot of the hill felt like an hour. But as we witness the sun setting in the back and the gentle light glow of the Annapurna range, the “treacherous” climb seemed like nothing.
Paragliding
There are no other better places to paraglide than being surrounded by the Himalayan range, a few of the most tallest peak in the world! It was our first time and you can imagine the fear flowing through our veins. For me, take-off was nerve wrecking (“what if i dont run fast enough? What if the wind didnt catch us? What if we ran out of take-off area?”); few seconds later, I was already up in mid air, amazed by the scenery.
For more info on Paranova Paragliding in Pokhara, visit their FB page here Paranova Paragliding
“Someone” on the other hand, just found out that he is actually afraid of heights. ;p
Check out our short video.
Fancy some Tibetan food? This is a must try. This small little restaurant is usually packed with tourists after dusk. We only got the chance on our last day here. I tried Tibetan tea out of curiosity and it is like drinking hot melted butter. It is worth a try.
And finally, some faces that we met in our trip.
Up in World Peace StupaOverpriced fruit juice right outside our hotel.Mudassir from Kashmere selling CashmereTibetan with his trinkets
On the way back to Kathmandu, we saw a poster at the airport promoting Ayurveda Health Home. Still having a few hours to spare before our flight back to KL, we decided to visit this health home. They have a variety of massages as well as health consultancy. We did not have time for massages so we went for health consultancy. Walked out with quite a few bottles of herbs at quite a reasonable price.
Discovered my Ayurvedic constitution there. I’m a Pitta, element of fire+water. Apparently, characteristics of a Pitta includes getting grumpy when hungry, a perfectionist, doesn’t enjoy hot weather amongst other things. Interesting stuff (not qualified enough to write about it further) but here is the link for the German-Nepal joint venture Ayurveda Health Home
OK, The End.
Definitely looking forward to visit Nepal again. I miss it already! Maybe next time will aim for Everest Base Camp.
We didn’t know what to expect from Nagarkot. We only decided to go because this place is known to have a spectacular view of the Himalayas which promises a beautiful scenery at dawn and dusk. Plus, our taxi driver, Visnu, said that he is well acquainted with people there and could help us find a good deal.
Situated 32km east of Kathmandu and on higher grounds (also closer to Mt Everest), it is definitely THE place for panoramic views of the Himalayan range, specifically the Langtang range. The drive up a rocky uphill winding road takes approximately two hours. And let me just tell you, the view high up in Nagarkot is indeed magical.
We spent a night in Unkai Resort which is a cozy little resort with direct view of the Himalayan range. If you are racing with time, a night spent in Nagarkot is enough. Just enough to catch the sunset on the day of arrival, and to witness the most beautiful sunrise the following day. It’s not a commercial area so do not expect a lot of activities.
Things to look forward to:
1. Meditation and some quiet time facing The snow capped Himalayan range.
2. Ideas & inspiration.
3. A little bit of adventure!
4. Beautiful sunset.
5. Epic sunrise – Standing on the lookout tower, you get to see a 360 degrees view of snow capped mountain over the horizon. The moment you see the sun pop out from behind the mountains, you immediately understand why the ancient used to worship the sun. A ray of light, a ray of hope, that today is going to be another day, that the heat would warm our shivering bodies (yep, i forgot to wear socks so the picture of me here is me freezing my socks off)
Silly me forgot to wear socks in freezing temperatures.
Stars! – I know you see stars everyday but have you seen the entire sky filled with stars?! What about the milky way? This was definitely a feast to my eyes. Lucky enough to see a shooting star 🙂
Nepal was never on my ‘to-go-to’ list. This time last year, I didn’t even know where Nepal was. After stumbling upon the majestic view of the Himalayas on Air Asia’s page, my Bubu and I were immediately hooked! From then on, we started doing our homework on the beautiful country & we started planning our travel routes.
Situated in a landlocked state North of India and South of China, Nepal is the home of the himalayan range and of course, the tallest peak in the world, Mt. Everest. The best time to visit is in Autumn (September to November) where temperatures would be between 20C to 30C. Autumn in Nepal also promises a clear weather because the monsoon season would have just ended.
We were there for only 6 days (including day of arrival and departure) and we were definitely racing against time. An overview of our trip was this:
Thamel is the heart of Kathmandu city. It is a well know area for backpackers from all around the globe. I feel that this place is so well known because of the centralised area for shopping and the accommodating night life with decent restaurants/bars. Hikers would chill here before their expedition towards the Himalayan range, gathering supplies. Simple words to describe Thamel: Loud, dusty, crowded, LIVELY!
Streets of ThamelNepal Police
It is also a good place to shop!
The first thing we did upon checking into our hotel was to hunt for some Momos! Momo – dumpling native to Nepal, Tibet and neighbouring countries. Meat/Vege filling in momos served either fried or steamed is a must try. The chewy texture of the dough on the outside and the taste of spices inside can simply make your day.
Steamed Momos
Boudhanath Stupa
Boudhanath Stupa is known to be one of the holiest Buddhist Stupa in Kathmandu. Buddhist from all over the world would visit this holy site to perform Kora (pilgrimage) where they would walk in a clockwise motion around the stupa while spinning the prayer wheels and chanting mantras. Drown your senses with sounds of soft mantras both from the people circling the stupa and also from nearby shops which has the mantras playing on repeat on their music player.
Prayer wheelsBoudhanath Stupa
Surrounding this stupa are shop houses mostly with rooftop cafes where one can dine while having a nice view of the Stupa and at the same time feel the cool breeze on a sunny clear day. We were fortunate enough to watch as the caretakers bathe the stupa with Safron (yellow shade) which from an aerial view forms a pattern of a double lotus flower.
Bubu & I ; taken from one of the rooftop cafeSafron-ing the StupaBiodegradeble Teak leaves. Handmade into plates. Go Green!
Surrounding the stupa are also handicraft stores selling Buddhist & Tibetan related items such as statues, paintings, praying flags, costume jewelries, trinkets and more. We were particularly impressed with Thanka, painting on cotton sheets. Most of the paintings are on Buddhism and patterns on the path to Nirvana. Others hold a more symbolic representation (of the universe for example).
View of stupa & surrounding shops
Bubu’s Nat Geo shotThanka Shop
Thanka painting of our Universe
I find it captivating how you get to see people from all walks of life gather here, celebrating life. Tourist with their DSLRs and shades, locals who come here to pray or simply to hang out with other locals, young Tibetan monks running around the vicinity of the Stupa, often distracted by Thankas while an eager tourist(me) tries to get her photo taken with them. Tada!
Young Tibetan Monks
Pidgeons here are also an attraction because they occupy quite a large designated space by the stupa and you see people sitting on benches either feeding the pigeons or having their eyes fixated on the stupa. Caught a picture of this cute little girl chasing after the pidgeons.
Check out the following video for some slow motion pidgeon goodness.
Bhaktapur Durbar Square
We took a taxi from Bhoudhanath to Bhaktapur Durbar Square. This was a significant point in our entire trip because this was when we met Vissnu, our taxi driver. He was very quiet two thirds of the drive to Durbar Square. But then I asked him a simple question (I wasn’t even sure if he spoke English) “Are you Hindu?” , he immediately transformed into this chatty Nepalese friend which we grew quite fond of. His English was not excellent but enough for us to understand. We exchanged experiences , contact number and he suggested a few places to visit (Nagarkot & Pokhara – which I will be writing about in my next post).
More than 80% of Nepalese are Hindu. Boudhanath Durbar Square clearly shows the Hindu side of Kathmandu. We were greeted by a registered tourguide who offered to take us around the square with a minimum fee which we were ok with.
This used to be a royal palace but now it has been converted to a National Gallery. I like how you get to see the olden and modern architecture merge into what it is now. There are a few temples clustered together near this gallery; The Hippie Temple, Kumari’s Shrine (Living Goddess), Kamasutra Temple.
Kumari is considered the living goddess by Hindus. We learned that Hinduism and Buddhism are intertwined or closely related to each other here. Take Kumari for example. To be selected as Kumari is not an easy task. A Buddhist female child born under a certain bloodline under a few predetermined condition (alignment of the moon etc.) are put to test. This child will then be tested physically & mentally such as making her walk through a dark room and scaring her with masks, making her witness animal slaughtering, and a thousand more gruelling tests where she is forbidden to radiate out the slightest sign of fear. After surpassing through all that, only then she will be considered Kumari, a Hindu Goddess. She shall continue becoming a goddess, worshiped by others until she reaches puberty.
Kumari’s shrine
Modern architecture
There is an interesting story behind Kamasutra temple which I think is worthy of a mention. It was once said that a long time ago, people were always busy praying to fulfill their spiritual needs that they completely ignore their physical wellbeing. They did not take care of their health and soon a deathly disease starts to spread throughout the entire nation. But they didn’t care. They just kept on praying. So the king at that time had to find a way to fix this problem. He decided to build a temple with sexual woodcarvings on it to divert their attention to other things in life. And it worked. (Don’t quote me on this because I fail to find any legit sources confirming the above description.)
Finally, the Hippie temple! Manage to get a nice shot of this hippie with his guitar with 2 birds in flight. Winning shot!
Hippie Temple
Cows are considered sacred animals to the Hindus. This one right here is right in front of the entrance of the National Gallery. And that is me just being a cow.
Moo~!
Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple)
Another 30 minutes taxi ride took us up to Swayambhunath which was on higher grounds and we had to hike up a bit more to get to the main stupa. Being very unfit, the climb up was a great challenge for us. But the view on top is spectacular. The whole Kathmandu city stretches out as far as your eyes can see. And for this, the climb was worth it.
Known as Monkey Temple for obvious reasons.
End of Day 2. A day or two here would be enough for you to experience the true Nepalese culture, taste their food, experience their humbleness. One guy even know how to speak Malay. Most of the Nepalese we meet do think of going to Malaysia to work, but I’m quite surprised that some actually made an effort to learn Malay beforehand.
Oh and if you are worried that you don’t speak their language, that’s not a problem. Most of them can converse very well I must say. Tourism is a large part of their economy, so yeah. Go~ *echoes*
More stories & photos of the Himalayan range in my next post.
camera:mira 