Arriving in Kathmandu, Nepal
Recently my wife, Ashley, our friend, Allix, and I hiked the Gokyo Lakes Trek in Nepal. It was a breathtakingly incredible trip! (in more ways than one). It was an adventure to get to the beginning of the trek, which starts and ends in Lukla. Before we could get to Lukla, we had to get to Kathmandu, the Capital of Nepal.
Our first flight from Seattle to Doha, Qatar, took just over forteen hours. Doha is currently the host of the 2022 World Cup, and they made sure we knew it! The airport was immaculate and decorated with World Cup Logos everywhere. We flew with Qatar Airways, and even our in-flight desserts also served as advertisements with cute little Fifa World Cup 2022 chocolates placed on them.
The second flight from Qatar to Kathmandu was short four hours. The flight was packed full of a ragtag group of people in outdoor gear, ready for adventure. We arrived in Kathmandu at 2 am and were exhausted. After making it through customs and getting our bags, we were greeted by our guide from Kandoo Adventures and proceeded to our hotel. This was our first introduction to the crazy roads and driving in Nepal. There are no lanes, and it's utter chaos. In a dazed sleep-deprived state, I stared in horror as our driver narrowly avoided multiple head-on collisions with ease. Meanwhile, motorcycles and scooters passed us as stray dogs, and people weaved their way through traffic. Despite being exhausted from travel, the time difference kept us awake, and none of us slept well.
The next morning we got our first glimpse of the city. We intentionally spent the first day at our hotel adjusting to the time difference and taking it easy to acclimate to the altitude for our upcoming hike. We live precisely at sea level and would be going to nearly 20000 feet! Due to a misunderstanding on our part, we had an extra day in Kathmandu before departing and spent the whole day visiting some of Kathmandu's famous religious sites. These were all designated United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organizations. (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites.
Stupa at Swayambhunath, aka The Monkey Temple
The monkey temple was our first stop, and unsurprisingly was covered in monkeys! I jokingly asked our guide why it was called the monkey temple...he did not get my humor. Anyway, It is one of the oldest religious sites in Nepal, dating back to the 5th century. Interestingly this is both a Buddhist and Hindu sacred site. This was a common theme at many of the sites, and we were told many Nepalese are respectful of both religions.
Big and small, stupas have a common architecture and underlying symbolism.
Patan Durbar Square
Our next stop was Patan Durbar Square, adjacent to the emperor's old palace. This was filled with intricate wood carvings and metal statues. Many windows featured a lattice that allowed people inside to look out, but people outside could not see in, a sort of ancient one-way mirror effect. This was my favorite of the heritage sites. There was so much to see and explore.
Pashupatinath Temple, aka The Crematoria
This is a very active site where Hindus from all over come to take care of their dead. The families are very involved with the cremation. The way it was explained to us was; there are 14 platforms next to the river, all of which sit below the main holy temple, Pashupatinath. The platforms closer to the temple are reserved for more privileged and costly cremation ceremonies. Workers build and light a large wood fire on the stone platform. Meanwhile, the family washes the body of their dead relative in the river before carrying them to the pyre for cremation. Once the body is thoroughly burned, the ashes as swept into the river. This goes on continuously every day. The air was solemn and filled with ash.
Boudhanath Stupa
This was the largest stupa we saw by far. It is hard to tell exactly how big it is from the photos. This area also had a Buddhist monastery where monks prayed. It was something to witness the monks in prayer, but there were many tourists, and it was crowded. We got a much better experience later on in our trip at the monasteries in the highlands. I did meet a group of bike packers riding the Annapurna circuit, and we instantly hit it off. Coming off the Tour Divide, it felt like running into old friends.
This was the last stop for the day, and as you might imagine, it was a lot to take in. There were people, monkeys, and stray dogs everywhere! By the end of this tour, we were experiencing information overload, and we were ready to get on with the hike.
We got back to our hotel and then went out to eat at our first risky place of the trip, a tiny but popular Indian restaurant. They ended up not having any vegetarian options that we recognized, so we settled for a pile of nan and watched the chaos of Kathmandu traffic through the window. That was when we spotted the first man of many carrying ridiculously heavy loads on their back. In this instance, it was a refrigerator! We made quick work of our nan as it was incredibly delicious, and a very sickly brit sat across from us, coughing everywhere, adding to our haste. We skedaddled back to our hotel a few blocks away.
At the hotel, our trekking guide Laden met us, and we were told to meet in the lobby at 1 am for a 5-hour van ride to take us to the regional airport that would then fly us into Lukla Airport, the "world's most dangerous airport." This was inconveniently the only way to start our trek. With that bit of good news, we were off to bed.
If you want to learn more...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swayambhunath
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patan_Durbar_Square