Trifter

DAY 1: Arrival and Tour of Kathmandu City, Nepal

In the company of one another, me and my hubby boarded a local airline and flew to Nepal, arriving at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. Prior to our arrival, we had booked a hotel in the heart of the market palace, otherwise known as Thamel district and upon heaving our bags in the taxi, we headed towards our abode. Throughout the way, we were hammered by small talk from another hotels representative, who rode shot-gun and constantly insisted that we avail his over-priced tour package. 

Upon our descent, we headed straight to our rooms to freshen up and then hurried off to lunch at the local Green Olive Restaurant, located within walking distance from our hotel. After a hearty lunch and a mug of the local Gorkha beer, we surveyed the market merchandise and were thrilled by the statuettes, paintings and souvenirs of the celebrated Gautama Buddha on display. After some hasty purchase we headed towards the Royal Palace Museum but were sadly late as it has already closed for the day.

Our next destination was Pashputinath Temple also known as the famous Hindu Monkey Temple, sacred to the Nepalese as they burn their dead there and house Saddhus and Pundits of the Hindu and Buddhist faiths. On our arrival there, we were ushered to a stall and decided to purchase a Rudhraksh Mala which according to myth possesses magical properties and has dramatic affects on lowering one’s blood pressure.

Within seconds of wearing the Mala (Necklace) we were attacked by Hindu pundits and hawkers who were looking to make fast money out of foreigners as they excitedly handed us a well-prepared steel plate for worship or Pooja Ki Thali which consisted of Red Powdered Sindoor sachet, yellow powdered Chandan sachet, a bottle of Milk, Chrysanthemums weaved together into a garland, whole and drained coconut, sweets,  loose local flower petals, sachets of rice and wheat grains. The next thing, we knew, we were being guided into the temple of the unknown with a pundit and street hawker in tow. I guess the Gods read our minds because soon after, it started to rain heavily and our stalkers rushed to find their umbrellas leaving us with our partially soaked Thalis. We gladly welcomed the rained and paraded shamelessly bare feet, in wet attire around the temple bearing red and yellow markings on our foreheads. Monkeys and stray dogs pranced around the temple while religious fanatics sang praises, chanted, danced or bowed and kissed their God Idols.

Our tour of the temple lasted an hour a half and we then headed out to hail a cab. The eager cab driver was a friendly and educated local, who upon our curiosity,  drove us straight uphill towards the Buddhist Monkey temple or Swayambunath in Nepali language. As expected we again saw hoards of monkeys, stray dogs, foreigners and pundits. In addition we were awed by the orange clad Buddhist monks and half a dozen Hindu Poojaris singing bhajans (psalms). As their music serenaded the temple, we tried throwing some coins into the Buddhist wishing well and then set about clicking pictures of Buddha statues and the monastery. The monkeys at the temple are worth a mention, since they were busy playing and seemed to be blissfully unaware of the people around them but wild dogs on the other hand, were growling and fierce, so we wisely stayed at an arm’s length and instead opted to click photos of the beautiful Kathmandu Valley below us.

On our steady drive back to the hotel, we contemplated on pre-planning our 5 day trip with the hotels travel and tours management as we had exhausted our limits and our aching muscles screamed for a good night’s rest.