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!