Kathmandu... The Tour Begins

Day number one in Kathmandu really sucked at first; I was not having a good time AT ALL (except the plane from Pokhara was the cutest) so I will skip over the first few hours. I later managed to be cheered by Durbar Square and bumping into an Aussie while stuffing my face with mo mos.

Day number two saw some big improvements. I visited the Narayanhiti Palace Museum – my absolute favourite kind of museum – a stickybeak into the life of someone else. I took my time winding around the palace rooms taking in the beautiful artwork, carvings and furniture that I would have loved to have walked out with me. The downside of such museums though is the feeling of window-shopping – beautiful things you can’t buy and will never own. Sigh! Unfortunately no cameras were permitted inside so my words will have to suffice.

I then found the most wonderful beer garden with a dozen gazebos under big trees. I cheerfully ordered myself an iced cappuccino and started what was to be a lovely lazy afternoon. I eventually paid my bill and left, only to head down the road to the ‘Garden of Dreams’ – a divine garden that has been restored in recent years by the Austrian Government. I grabbed some cushions and plonked myself on the lawns with my book. However I started chatting to a woman from Holland and made very little progress on my page turning. Afterwards we both went and had a late lunch in the garden cafe, making it to shelter just before the afternoon rains set in. Lunch was delightful and I later moseyed off back to the hotel to meet the tour peeps.

The tour thus far has been great – the people are a really fun bunch and after some cocktails the next night at the rooftop Reggae Bar – we all were well acquainted and between my roomie and I, we had everyone’s names memorised. We also had a sightseeing tour (which thankfully lacked the tacky commercial tourist bus tour feel) which took us to Pashupatinath – a Hindu Temple complex on the Bagmati River, a common place for Hindu cremations. Seeing dead bodies on fire on the ghats definitely served up a good dose of culture shock. The process of grieving is very interesting – bodies must be cremated as soon as possible after death, the funeral is then a couple of days later. The first stage of grieving lasts 14 days where they dress in white and spend most of their time with family at the temple. In the year following a parent’s death, it is also important there are no celebratory events such as a wedding – all very intriguing... We then we headed to Bodhnath Stupa, the Buddhist temple, of which its’ structure

represents the five elements. It was fascinating to learn about. We pottered around the area which was surrounded by small shops and dropped in on a Tibetan Thangka Painting School. The intricacy of their artwork is incredible!

The afternoon was spent at a rooftop restaurant (7 flights of stairs) eating mo mos, then a rest before hitting the reggae bar. It was definitely a few days well spent. Bye, bye Kathmandu...