Kathmandu, Nepal

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Favorite thing: Take a bus from Pokhora to Kathmandu on a Saturday and you'll see most of Nepal doing their washing in the himalayan rivers.

The Swayambunath Stupa in Kathmandu is an absolute must, but watch out for the cheeky monkeys - they'll have your lunch!

Favorite thing: Kathmandu is one of those cities where a map just goes straight out of the window. The easist and best way is just to wander, especially in Thamel. There are so many side streets and shops, that you will probably take a wrong turn even with a map so it is best to just go with the flow.

Fondest memory: The cultural mix of people in Nepal is great, with Hindus and Buddhist happily living together, mingled in with some expats and a load of tourists, it is great.

Favorite thing: lot of beggars.. street kids or whatever u call them , i made a mistake by giving some nepalese rupes to a little funny lookind kid..MAN few seconds later, i was surrounded by 10s of them LOL

Fondest memory: People are cool and the weed too lol

Favorite thing: The Kathmandu valley is a capital of the tiny Himalayan country Nepal, which has borders with India in the South and China (Tibet) in the North. Kathmandu Valley is situated at an altitude of 1336m above the sea level and covers an area of 218 sq miles. The rich tapestry of the cultural heritage of Nepal is synthesized in the Kathmandu Valley, the home of the ancient Newari culture; the skillfully built temples and palaces, delicately carved stones and wooden columns are really a unique. Pashupati – Nath, Shayambhu Nath, Boudha- Nath, historical palace of Hanuman-Dhoka and Patan Durbar Square are the remarkable monuments of Kathmandu; UNESCO has listed these places into World Heritage Site. It's an opportunity to view one of the fine architectures of the Hindu Kingdom of Nepal in Kathmandu. Kathmandu offers top class touristy facilities to the budget and very cheap staying accommodation around the cities.

Favorite thing: wander! Especially in Katmandu: the sights, the smells, the sounds are all likely to be different from anything you have ever experienced. Katmandu is definitely not a small city--taken together with its surrounding valley, it is home to 750,000 people. And, it is important to remember that it was essentially closed to the West until about 1950. So it now has the dubious distinction of being a modern city without many modern conveniences, primary among which might be its absent sewer system. Garbage is thrown in the streets and mingles with the smells of burning incense and burning oil and smoky cooking fires--pollution laws are virtually non-existent. You will find cows in the streets together with seemingly thousands of abandoned dogs. Holy men wander, dependent upon the charity of believers. Every third building seems to be a temple or a shrine. And everywhere there are people. I have been to Cairo, a very large 'Third World' city. And though the cities share many things, they are distinct and impossible to confuse. Katmandu is at once the filthiest, smelliest, oddest, and most magical city I have ever visited--and I cannot wait to return!

Favorite thing: visit kathmandu, capital of nepal -
experience the culture of nepalese, stroll through the little streets of maze in thamel district, check out how local people do business in the oldstyle but interesting shops. the place is also alive with many archaic yet gorgeous temples, all with different personality. choose the right time so that you can witness their religious ritual such as funeral, animal scriface, all of these will definitely impress you for rest of your life.

Favorite thing: KATHMANDU
Famous for being a hippies centre in the 60s, Kathmandu is now a mix of backpackers, trekkers, old hippies... and people from Nepal too! Kathmandu's core is Durbar Square, protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the Vishnumati River to the west and Ratna Park to the east (There is an entrance fee of Rs. 250 for foreign visitors. Your ticket to the Square entitles you to visit all the museums). The Bagmati River forms the southern boundary, while Thamel, the budget travellers' hangout, sprawls to the north. This is the best place to do your shopping; and don't forget to bargain!!

Fondest memory: 30th May 2001

Namaste for the last time from Nepal. A beautiful month is over and we have to move on to our next destination. The last couple of days we spent sightseeing in the Kathmandu valley. On day trips from Kathmandu we visited the 2nd and 3rd largest cities of the valley, in random order Pathan and Bakthapur. Both ancient cities offer a magnificent number of temples and culture sites. But, we have to admit it, after seing nearly 500 temples during the last 30 days we felt enlightend, had enough, we were overtempled so to speak. Both cities offer great walking tours for a day, the only drawback is, that Bakthapur charges $ 10.- to enter their lovely city. Trish, Steve, Sandra and I felt that this is a total ripp off... all city official and merchants in town had to suffer under our verbal attackes. Most of them are certain now, that if they ever visit Germany, Switzerland, UK or Australia they have to pay a steep price for every city they will enter (especially Trish will monitor this). After Trish and Steve left to continue their trip onto a Gay Cruise, the country felt into a 3-day strike. Not because of their departure, but rather because a particular politician increased the income tax. That was the first time that we saw Kathmandu without smog and our constant caughing got better with every day. It was a real pleasure we finally found a beautiful hotel (oh, I think we forgot to mention that we really thought we had a speacial deal at the hotel The Earth, a large room with bright windows and 3 beds, for only $ 4.50/night, only to find out that this room was a flying cockroach stronghold and they attacked us relentlessly during the night to defend their home court... you can call me 'Tapferes Schneiderlein', I killed 7 with one wipe and was on alert all night to defend my sleeping honey - end of the story was another hotel change) and 3 days of no noise and smoke in the city. Kathmandu is normally a total chaos of noise, traffic, polution, smells, hussle, people, buses, taxis and Tuk Tuk's and it almost felt like a ghost town with the striking effect. Most of the people adhere to the strike, we witnessed only 1 riot against a store next to us, while the youngsters destroyed the store they left us alone. So we drank beer, walked around, met people (like Dietmar who gave us good Thailand tips or Mimicat5 who is waiting with Michaels Sunglasses in Tokyo...) and wrapped it up. After 3 days of hanging around we were ready to move on. Worth to mention was the Cafe New Orleans, which was our favourite place to hang out, but also gave me and our german friend Dietmar the stomach flu... so you have to weight the pro's and con's when you go there.

Thanks to all the people that made Nepal an adventure and a great time for us, we close out with Arnold's favourite saying: I'll (we'll) be back!!!