Today is our last day in Kathmandu “by ourselves”. We slept in a bit & had a late breakfast. Then off to do some more exploring of the local area.

Judi & Louise, our new Australian friends from the last tour group had recommended for us to go and visit the Kathmandu Guest House which was within a short walk of our hotel.

We found it without much difficulty and it was indeed worth the effort to go there.

The guest house used to be a Royal Palace & is now an iconic modern hotel with many notable previous guests such as George Harrison, Jimmy Carter & famous mountain climbers including Tenzing Norguay.

The hotel has a beautiful courtyard with small restaurants, a coffee shop & a bar associated with the hotel – all in a beautiful garden setting.

We enjoyed a light lunch at the patio restaurant and while we were eating we visited by a Kathmandu cat.

In the center of the courtyard was a large brass sculpture of a Vajra, which, according to the sign on the display, is a tool or weapon used by Lord Indra to cast thunderbolts against the power of evil demons. I wonder if it works on politicians.

After lunch Catherine did some shopping at the small gift shop where there was a lady weaving small ornaments made from recycled materials.

We met up with our next tour group at 5:30pm & had an orientation meeting with Manu, our tour guide. After the meeting Manu led the group on a walk to a nearby restaurant for dinner. This was one of the few times we ventured into the city streets at night.

Tomorrow Catherine & I fly to Pokhara. The rest of the group will follow in a bus. That’s a 7 hour – 200 kilometer trip that we have already done twice – so we are looking forward to flying instead.

Cheers!