On August 21st, 2017 I arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal. The city itself is in the Himalayas so the flight in was beautiful. Like in India, monkeys are like squirrels so even in the airport I saw monkeys running around stealing people’s food and running away to eat it.
Arrival in Kathmandu, Nepal
In Kathmandu, I stayed at #ZostelKathmandu as well. The hostel franchise is primarily in India but it has started to expand a little bit to surrounding countries.
The air in Kathmandu is full of dust and dirt; to the extent that really you have to use a breathing mask in order to breath properly and not get sick. The side streets and the shopping district is very cool and everywhere you walk you end up running into some type and kind of beautiful temple and or statue. Most of the historical monuments are in one way or another from the earthquake, but for the most part, everything still has a lot of culture in it and is beautiful to explore.
What I Did
The first main day I was there I explored Durbar Square, a center in Kathmandu that is known for it’s historical monuments and statues. The sites were beautiful and had this eerie peacefulness to them.
The next day, I went and explored the monkey temple. This temple was different from the one I had seen in Jaipur. Our hostel told us that the temple was close enough to our hostel to walk. I asked a new friend from Germany if she wanted to join and we set off together to go and meet up with a woman from Spain. The walk was completely doable accept that it took us around 45 minutes to reach instead of what we were told was a 20 minute walk. Once we reached the entrance to the temple we had to climb up this massive staircase in order to reach the temple. It was exhausting but very fun. All around us, as we climbed up, monkeys ran around like they owned the place. You could see prayer flags blowing in the wind up above us and statues of Buddha were in all directions.
Once we were at the top, we walked around the temple to see what it was like. In Nepal, there are these Prayer Wheels that will bring you good luck if you spin them. The catch is that you have to spin them all and sometimes even walk around three times. Together, we went around spinning each one for good luck. At each wheel we said a short prayer to each of the gods and goddesses.
New Friends
After the monkey temple, we found Sara, a friend from Spain, and headed to try to find and go to Patan, another area of Kathmandu. We took the local bus which was cheaper but took close to 2 hours to arrive at our destination. Patan was a beautiful part of the city. It is technically not part of Kathmandu but the cities work together as if they were one. Patan was filled with statues and temples. We walked down one side street and ended up coming across a temple that was one of the most breathtaking places I have ever seen.
Inside there were statues, prayer wheels and prayer candles burning. An older monk sat on one of the statues watching people pass. At the same time a child monk ran around the area playing tag with a friend. It was a peaceful and serene experience.
Overall, my time in Kathmandu was a great success. I met wonderful people and got to see so many different temples and statues.
Want to Travel to Kathmandu?
If you are interested in traveling to Nepal and exploring Kathmandu check out this article by Full Time Explorer (www.fultimeexplorer)
