Kickin' it in Kathmandu

In continuation with our previous posting about our Nepal trip, after packing up our hiking boots for the time being, we headed back to the big city of Kathmandu. The sounds of donkey bells, roosters and rushing rivers were replaced with honking cars, barking dogs and loud music. Kathmandu is a dirty, busy, congested city surrounded by gorgeous mountain views, good food, and cheap beer. Its initial appearance and feel actually reminded us a lot of Tegucigalpa.
We spent some time wandering the streets and shopping – since it is the jumping point for many treks, the city is full of inexpensive North Face, Columbia and knock off jackets, sleeping bags, hats, mitts, etc. probably shipped directly across the border from China. Even though we live in Saudi Arabia, we couldn’t resist and both walked away with new winter jackets. Ridiculous, I know. They’ll be hanging in the closet for a little while.

We also did a little bit of sight-seeing to a Buddhist Temple that is perched high on a hill in the middle of Kathmandu with a 360 degree view of the city. This temple is nicknamed the Monkey Temple because of the monkeys that hang out in the park at the temple’s entrance.

Me with some monkey friends and the trio below was a triple decker that we spotted

Below are some of the fascinating looking people that we spotted around the city, carrying out their daily work/life

We also visited an ancient town just outside of the city called Bhaktapur. This town’s ancient temples, arches and cobblestone streets are closed off to vehicle traffic, yet the town is still alive and busy with local people living and working in these gorgeous ancient buildings. With the snow-capped mountains in the distance, we were in awe of this town’s beauty and character as we wandered around.






Too soon we found ourselves on the plane home – but with ‘Winter Break’ a.k.a. Christmas holidays just five short weeks away, we’ll be off again before we know it.