So many temples (all starting with “P”), so little time

We signed up with Royal Mountain Travel to take a day tour today of Patan Durbar Square and Pashupatinath Temple, the largest Hindu temple in Nepal. We were met at 9:00 a.m. by our guide Dilip and driver Subash, both very engaging young Nepalese men from Patan in a Toyota Yaris. (Dilip on the left, Subash closest to the car).

There was some confusion as we headed into the traffic as Dilip said he had been instructed to take us to Panauti first which is 32 km away, hence the hour plus drive. Having never heard of Panauti, we were going to say something but thought we might as well go with it.

Were we ever glad we did! It turned out to be a wonderful visit to one of the oldest towns in Nepal, once a trading capital with China, with the Nepal/Tibet-China border only 100 kms away. It is in the process of being recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Panauti’s most famous temple, the Indreshwar Mahadev Temple, is a magnificent piece of Newari architecture and one of the tallest pagoda style temples in Nepal, built in the 15th century.

Intricate carvings on the pagoda roof overhang supporting struts tell stories from ancient texts the Mahabharata and Ramayana.

Other smaller temples dot the complex.

The small museum had an interesting collection of artifacts from the area. We met up with a young school group in their blue uniforms diligently taking notes on the exhibits.

We walked back through the old town which was blissfully free of motorcycles and tourists. It was easy to imagine what the town would have looked like in its trading heyday.

Subash drove us on to Patan where we entered the city gates.

We walked up to the Durbar Square or the Royal Palace Square. Dilip was a font of information and we really enjoyed having a private tour guide! He told us that during the time of the Malla kings (14th – 18th c.) the rulers of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan all competed with each other to see who could have the most elaborate palace.

The scope of the square is absolutely breathtaking. Numerous temples and palace buildings make a fantastic vista.

Reconstruction is underway after the 2015 earthquake which tragically leveled several temples but many were undamaged.

It was fascinating to be able to see examples of the wood carvings up close in the museum on the second and third floor of the palace complex. These were part of the royal palace living quarters whose windows overlooked the streets on the outside and the courtyard on the inside

Steetside view

Courtyard view

Because of the rivalry between the kings, artisans and craftsmen had an elevated position in society.

There were also wonderful examples of stone & bronze statues in the museum.

While we were in one of the courtyards Dilip was explaining the significance of the bells on the eaves when the wind picked up and rang them for us!

Here’s a link to a 15 second video that I posted on YouTube with the bells ringing in the breeze:

https://youtu.be/65RrvPWrsqA

We were starting to feel a bit peckish so Dilip took us to a restaurant overlooking the square which is owned by his uncle and where he works in the evenings. Curried veg and veg fried rice haven’t grown old yet!

Fatigue and “temple overload” were setting in as it was now after 2:00pm. Knowing that traffic congestion would be very heavy on the way back, we decided to forgo Pashupatinath temple and head for home.

It took over an hour to travel the 6 kms back to the hotel, not just bumper to bumper but fender to fender with motorcycles squished into any gap!

We were glad to be home and grateful for such a superb day! Nepali chai for me and Wally scaled another Everest!

Today we had a small agenda. I contacted G-Adventures & requested that we make a slight change to the travel itinerary for our next tour.

Our group is supposed to drive from Kathmandu to Pokhara on November 18. We had already made that trip – a 7 hour journey (including breaks for lunch & fuel) to travel only 200 kilometers, so we were not anxious to do it over again, especially since we are still recovering from our colds.

G-Adventures kindly agreed to let us opt out of the drive & instead we will fly from Kathmandu to Pokhara (at our own expense) & then meet up with our group again at the hotel in Pokhara. The 7 hour drive will be reduced to a 25 minute flight – well worth the added cost.

In the morning we walked into the Thamel shopping district to find a women’s craft co-operative store that Catherine had read about in her copy of The Lonely Planet Travel Guide for Nepal.

It was a really nice store & Catherine found numerous items handmade by Nepalese women to bring home.

After lunch we walked through the city to the travel agency to pick up our airline tickets and book a local tour for tomorrow. The travel agency could not have been more accommodating and pleasant to deal with.

Photo below: a Ganesh statue inside the entrance to the travel agency office

By coincidence the Canadian Consulate was on the same street so we dropped in to say hello & to sign their guest book.

The sidewalks on the way to the travel agency office were separated from the vehicle traffic & much wider than in the older section of town. As a result we only had to navigate through the crowd of pedestrians going about their daily business.

Photo below: a statue in the middle of a busy roundabout in the upscale shopping district.

Some of the more unique aspects of sidewalk life included women roasting ears of corn on a charcoal fire in a pot on the ground, a man squatting beside a pink bathroom scale who we assumed was charging a small fee to know your weight and a wedding party posing for photos in an upscale shopping area, the women glittering like tropical birds. We certainly aren’t in Kansas anymore!

On the way back to the hotel we also stopped to briefly visit the Tri Devi (Three Goddesses) Temple. A little oasis adjacent to a very busy road, across the street from the Garden of Dreams we visited yesterday.

By the time the next tour starts we will feel like we know Kathmandu like backs of our hands! Well, about a dozen streets anyway!

Today was the first day on our own in Kathmandu between tours. We slept in & had a leisurely breakfast, enjoying the free time with no set agenda for the rest of the day.

After breakfast we returned to our room. Catherine had a nap & I updated the blog with details of our trip back to Kathmandu & our flight to Mount Everest.

Shortly after 12 noon we headed out to find The Garden of Dreams, which as luck would have it was only about a 15 minute walk from our hotel.

Photo below: Fuji Hotel

Photo below: one of the side streets close to our hotel on the way to The Garden of Dreams

The biggest challenge was getting across multiple lanes of traffic. We tried to catch up with a couple of maroon robed monks who were also crossing the road but they were too quick for us! We managed to find a break in the traffic and scooted across.

Entering the walled garden was like taking a deep breath – so peaceful and serene. The garden, built in the 1920’s was originally 1.6 hectares. It fell into disrepair until being restored by an Austrian financed team. It took 6 years to complete the now half a hectare space which was reopened in 2007.

We enjoyed a light lunch overlooking the garden and wandered around the many ponds, fountains and pathways.

There were several varieties of chrysanthemums in full bloom as well as bougainvilleas and tropical greenery.

There were many tourists as well as young Nepalese couples. Public displays of affection between men and women such as hand holding or embracing are not encouraged in this culture so young people use the garden as a romantic spot to cozy up to each other. There are large mats to set up on the grass as well as several benches.

It was a short walk back to the hotel where we had a restful evening.

We sat outside on our hotel rooftop patio & enjoyed the sunset & a snack.

While we were sitting there a flock of small sparrows came to the flower pots along the patio railing to eat the seeds of the flowering plants.

Cheers!

November 13 – Once in a Lifetime

We got up at 4:30am this morning for a once-in-a-lifetime activity.

Kalpana met us in the hotel lobby at 5:30am to give each of us the tickets we would need for our trip. Only five of us in our group opted for this excursion today but several others had already taken it before our tour began on November 4th.

Our taxi driver dropped us off at the airport. We passed through all of the routine security procedures & then proceeded to the domestic flight departure terminal.

At 6:30am we boarded a small plane for our scenic flight to Mount Everest and the Himalayan Mountain Range.

The plane was a small turboprop with about 30 seats on it. Everyone on board was guaranteed a window seat.

The plane took off just as the sun was rising over Kathmandu.

It wasn’t very long before the Himalayan Range was in sight. The plane flew along the range with the mountains on the port side so everyone on the side of the plane could see clearly. Our plane had a pressurized cabin so we were actually flying above all the mountain tops – including Mount Everest.

Everyone on board also had an opportunity to go up to the cockpit to say hello to the pilots & to see the mountains from their perspective.

After we flew past Mount Everest the plane turned around everyone on the starboard side of the plane had the chance to see the mountains.

Mount Everest is the pyramid shaped mountain top in the photo below – just off the wingtip of the plane.

This time the plane was even closer to the mountains & I was able to shoot a video of the flight past. Here is a link to the video posted on YouTube. It’s about 8 minutes long. Watch the entire video if you have the time. 🙏 🏔🙏

https://youtu.be/IxinC5PE7bo

What an amazing experience. The entire flight took about an hour & we were back at our hotel by 10:00am – just in time for a late breakfast.

We also managed to meet up with a few more members of our tour group in time to say goodbye. We were really fortunate to be on this tour with such nice people & to have an awesome group leader like Kalpana.

After breakfast we checked out of our hotel & took a taxi to the Fuji Hotel, where we would be staying for the next 4 days. We splurged & booked a nice room on the rooftop for only $80.00 / night with breakfast included.

The hotel & our room is much nicer than the last place we were at. It will give us a good opportunity to rest up & fully recover from our colds before our next tour begins on November 17th.

Cheers!

November 12 – Kumarwarti to Kathmandu

Today we travelled from from Kumawarti back to Kathmandu. It took 7 hours to cover only about 200 km. We have been on these roads before but this time we were climbing instead of descending & there was lots of slow traffic.

Our group had a hearty breakfast in the dining hall before starting the journey. The villagers presented each of us with a hibiscus flower bud wrapped in leaves as we boarded the bus. As the journey progressed, the flowers opened up into beautiful decorations. We will be returning here next week as part of our next tour and we look forward to seeing the villagers again.

There was a heavy mist in the air as we drove down the local roads. At that time of the morning the only traffic we encountered were farmers on their tractors and people on motorcycles going to their work.

Once we turned onto the main highway the traffic got much heavier with lots of big trucks and buses full of people intermixed with farm tractors pulling wagons.

Along the way we got small glimpses of locals going about their daily lives alongside the highway.

I finally got a decent photo of kids playing on the swings made from tall bamboo poles. We saw dozens of them all along the roads from Kathmandu to Pokhara.

Many of the people living along the highway have very little money and establish their own little business to support themselves. Some people sell food to the truck drivers. We saw a lot of roadside stops with small woodfired clay ovens.

Other people have little shops where they make decorations especially for the truck drivers to put on the outside and inside of their long haul trucks. The truck drivers are hardly ever at home so the truck is their home while they’re away from their families.

We stopped a few times along the way for bathroom breaks and fuel for our bus. There were lots of places to buy coffee & other drinks but no Tim Hortons. The drive through here is a wide spot on the road to pull over. We were often treated to an interesting view at our stops.

Some of our stops were in the middle of towns & others were in the countryside.

We arrived at our hotel in Kathmandu around 4:00pm. Everybody was road weary and ready for a little rest. Kalpana had arranged for a dinner at a nearby restaurant at 6:30pm. Catherine and I were still feeling pretty rough so we decided to stay behind. We were sad that we could not be with the rest of our group for the final evening meal but were pleased with a quiet dinner by the open wood burning fireplace in the dining room.

Tomorrow we have one last activity to mark the end of our trek/tour of Nepal. We need lots of rest as we have to be on the bus at 5:30am.

Cheers!