kathmandu and it’s surroundings
Nepal was a fascinating visit for many reasons. The country that boasts the tallest mountain on earth has many things to admire. The scenery is of course brilliant, but also the culture, the food and the pure fact that it is a mixture of different countries is something that makes observing it a pleasurable task.
6 days this February was spent however not admiring the beautiful and monstrous ranges of the Himalayas, but instead soaking in the everyday life of the locals in Kathmandu and its surroundings. Thamel was a vibrant part of town where I stayed and although it catered to mostly only tourists, it was nice having things clustered up in one area. Sometimes one would think that countries such as Nepal would be rather conservative, but a night out in a few bars showed me just how alive and heavy-metal the city and its locals can be! The bustling streets of people and markets were beautifully balanced by old and historic sites such as temples, shrines and palaces. The stunning architecture of these structures was lovely to witness. Something I could only compare to my visit to Japan - the intricate tiled roofs were curved to perfection to create a harmony between soft and hard lines.
The ancient city of Bhaktapur was a fun visit and walking around the old-city, with its squares filled with striking structures, gave my film camera a good run. The city of Lalitpur was also filled with very old buildings and narrow alleyways, which made navigating through it an exciting mission. The best way to experience a city is by walking through it and in doing so I bumped into many hidden gems. One of them was a carpark that had only what I could describe as a pop-up bbq restaurant and the food on skewers there was absolutely delicious. To wash this down and cool the tummy was of course Dhau, which is Nepalese Yogurt and all i'll say is, once you taste it, you never want to un-taste it.
The similarities between Nepal and India was very interesting. The Immigration officer upon my arrival said that Nepal and India were like siblings and I could definitely feel that. The closeness of food, religion, culture and features - this reminded me of my previous travels in the north of India, where there too was a mix of people from neighbouring countries.
A memorable experience for me in Kathmandu was while I was souvenir shopping, I had met a lovely couple with a shop that were very friendly - just like an older couple would be - and invited me to sit in their shop, enjoy a cup of tea with them and share stories about our history and life in general. This was a nice feeling. Another was sitting down and having a beer with the manager of the hotel I was staying at. Again, something that makes you feel like you really visited a place and got a taste of what it's really like. People here were quite simple and very friendly. My ability to speak hindi also helped here, especially when it came to bargaining for items as all tourists must do!
