Central Kathmandu, Nepal

After a brief stop in Bangkok, we arrived in the first stop of our Asian adventure - Kathmandu. We arrived at around lunch time and after dropping our bags at the hotel set off to explore the city.

Our transfer to the hotel was a first look at transport in the weeks to come - chaotic and noisy to western eyes. As far as we can gather, traffic joining the road has priority over traffic already on it and horns are the only method of indication - blow the horn can mean get out of the way, I'm passing you, I'm turning off, I'm behind you, or any other possible message. With cars, buses, tuk-tuks, bicycles, and trucks all sharing the road, it leads to a cacophony of horns at all times.

We walked in to the centre of the city through Thamel, the main tourist drag with its array of restaurants serving "Nepali-Indian-Continental-Mexican-Thai" fusion food and shops selling all manner of souvenirs and trekking gear. Along the way the occasional hash dealer would sidle up and whisper "smoke hash?" (now illegal in Nepal but obviously still available).

Durbar Square is the central destination in the city - a world heritage site with a host of Hindu, Buddhist, and royal temples. The temples date from various centuries and are in many different styles, creating a maze of beautiful architecture, amazing stonework, and wood carving waiting to be admired.

 

For afternoon tea we found a roof-top cafe (one of many) overlooking Durbar Square and the surrounding city (the picture at the top of the post). From here we could see temple perched on the top of a hill within the city limits and decided that it would be worth a trip to see. The temple, Swayambhunath, sits atop a hill on the western side of Kathmandu, reachable after climbing a heck of a lot of steps. At 30C/86F it was a sticky climb, but well worth the effort. On the long way up monkeys keep you company and attempt to pilfer food if they see it or smell it on you, hence Swayambhunath's unofficial name "monkey temple."

 

On clear day you can see the mountains which circle Kathmandu valley. We had to settle for smog covered but still impressive views of the city and great close-ups of the temple itself:

 

The views from the top of our hotel weren't bad either: