Amazing Nepal

The friendliness of Nepalese people also gave us a good traveling experience here. Although they are living in poverty, they are self-sufficient, sincere and down-to-earth. Even the shopkeepers are nice to deal with, they did make extra effort to promote their items, but without being too pushy. We also had a very good tour agent – Mr. Dhruba of Marvel Travels & Tours. He is so kind to us to the extent that we even felt guilty accepting all the things he has done for us.

Bhaktapur – the ancient ‘City of Devotess’, is my favourite sights around the Kathmandu valley. The city exudes a sense of medieval atmosphere, burning an overwhelming impression of an ancient Newari village that has retained its 15th century splendour over urbanism. If you have a local guide that knows the village well, you will get the chance to see beyond the tourists attractions and walk through all the quaint back streets where the residents of Bhaktapur lives. Bhaktapur is as unique as it can get. Do not miss it!

Quick Tips:

When taking a flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara or anywhere else in the west, choose the seats on the right side of the plane to have better views of the mountain ranges and vice versa. The view from the plane is superb!

Shopping at Thamel is a challenging game to play. If you are good in haggling, the price of your prize could be 50% or more off from the tag.

Best Way To Get Around:

For people with no extra time to burn, the easiest way to get around Kathmandu valley is to get a car with a guide/driver. Simply ask any travel agent that spores around Thamel and everything is set. It should cost you around US for the car and driver for a day tour around Kathmandu Valley, including Bhaktapur.

The room might be a little bit noisy in the morning when the Nepalese have started their day early whilst we tourists still fast asleep.

The hotel is centrally located, just a short walk from the main throbbing heart of Thamel, but minus the hype and noise.

Overall, I would highly recommend this hotel for a budget stay.

Lake Phewa is right opposite our hotel -- Majesty Home. It is one of the first few guesthouses along the road from the bus station to Pokhara town centre. The heart of town that houses most of the restaurants/cafe/souvenir shops is just a short 15-minute walk away. This gives Majesty Home a tranquil atmosphere with no loud music blaring late into the night.

The room is spacious, with cable TV and attached bathroom with hot water. There are no complaints about the facilities as room rate is only US$10 for a triple room per night. This place is highly recommended for a budget stay.

This trek starts from Nayapul, about a half-hour from Pokhara by bus. From there we trekked to Tikedhunga for the night. This day's highlight was the river crossings, with beautiful river and valley scenery.

The next day, we started early to climbed up to Uleri, the steepest part of the entire trek. There was no shade, so bring lots of water. The afternoon part of the trek was more interesting and shaded. We reached Ghorephani around 4pm for the night. The scenery in Ghorephani was breathtaking, but it was freezing at night.

We got up at 3am the next day to climb Poon Hill for the sunrise. After the sunrise, we left Ghorephani for Dhurali Hill, also a fine sunrise spot, then headed to Ghandrung. Along the way we passed through woods. It was an easy trek on the third day. Ghandrung was the biggest village we encountered the entire journey. The mountains are just opposite our guesthouse, and we could see the whole galaxy looking down at us that night. The final part of our journey was mostly downhill and exposed to the sun. It took us half a day to reach Nayapul.

There are many sights in the Kathmandu Valley. We went on a 1-day whirlwind tour organized by our travel agent ($6 per person). We had a car and driver to bring us to the sights, but the driver was not a guide.

First, we went to Monkey Temple and Bodhanath. It was interesting. After that, we went to Bhaktapur. Bhaktapur was a UNESCO World Heritage Site that actually had people living in it. It was very impressive!

It did help if you had a local to bring you around Bhaktapur. In our case, our driver brought us around the back lanes, and we got to see how the Newari people live and how their houses look. We also saw the pottery-making process at the Pottery Square. Bhaktapur is also famous for its handicrafts, especially wood carving.

We went to Patan after that. In my opinion, Patan is overshadowed by Bhaktapur. The sights are more or less the same, but Bhaktapur was far more impressive. We returned to Kathmandu to see Durbar Square at the end of the day.

We took Green Line bus to Pokhara and took a flight back to Kathmandu. Green Line bus only catered to tourists. We passed through checkpoints smoothly. For other local buses, the army would examine each passenger in the bus to check for Maoist.

The scenery along the way was magnificent, yet dangerous. The bus twined down narrow roads with gorges right beside you with no barrier. Traces of landslides still not cleared from previous rainy season narrowed the road into 1 lane! However, the highlight of the bus journey overshadowed our fear. We get to catch a glimpse of the village life in Nepal. The most memorable was how the Nepalese kids cross a river fit for class 1 rafting. They actually used aerial runway with a basket attached. The kids who wanted to cross the river jumped into the basket and another kid from across the river pulled the rope of the runway over a pulley. We also witnessed how they wash trucks in Nepal. They actually drove the truck INTO the river and wash the truck INSIDE the river itself.

Worth a mention was the buffet lunch at a very luxurious hotel along the way, which was included in the bus fare. To return to Kathmandu, we took a scenic flight. Remember to sit on the left side of the plane to have better view of the Annapurna mountain range. The Pokhara airport is extremely primitive. We had to carry our check-in luggages to the bottom of the plane itself before boarding. The funniest thing was, there were quite a few old planes with broken wings, etc., abandoned in the airport compound! How encouraging for tourists that just took off in the propeller planes!