Kathmandu Valley: Slowing Things Down

Our travels have been a little rushed ever since we left Africa. We breezed through northern India in three weeks packing in as much as we could, then we arrived in Nepal and headed straight into our 2 week trek on the Annapurna circuit. I can't really complain, we've seen and done some pretty amazing things, but we had not stayed in the same place for more than a night or two in 6 weeks, and everything was getting to be a bit of a blur. So while I was a sad that Colleen would be leaving me for a couple of weeks to do her work in Ilam, a part of me was relieved to have the time to slow things down and really take in the Kathmandu valley.



Stuppa at Swayambhunath

The Kathmandu valley is really the heart of Nepal and has been for centuries. Three cities, Kathmandu, Patan (now more of a suburb of Kathmandu) and Bhaktapur vied for dominance until Kathmandu gained ultimate supremacy. The legacy of this competition is a wealth of ancient Hindu temples, royal palaces, art, and culture. The valley was also a major stop on the trade route to Tibet, so Tibetan and Buddhist influences abound (added to recently by refugees fleeing China's annexation of Tibet in the 1950s). Given this, it is no surprise that the valley has the densest collection of UNESCO world heritage sites on earth. There are seven sites within a 20 km radius: Katmandu's Durbar square and Hanuman Dhoka, Swayambunath, Pashupatinath, Bouddhanath, Patan's durbar square, Bhaktapur's Durbar square and Changu Naryan. I decided to use these sites as my roadmap to explore the valley. I also decided, in the spirit of slowing things down, to visit each on foot.



Kathmandu street

The choice to walk was not taken lightly. Most of the sites were pretty far apart, and finding them on foot would be a challenge as streets in Kathmandu are windy, confusing, and almost never labeled. However, exploring a new place on foot, at my own pace, is one of my favourite parts of travelling. It's difficult to describe, but I just love seeing new things. Not even particularly interesting things, just the day to day stuff, bus stops, schools, shops, parks, etc. I love wandering around and taking it all in. As a matter of fact, the UNESCO sites were really just a destination to justify the walks.



Rice fields at Bhaktapur

So walk I did. I must have walked between 10 to 15 kilometers each day. I would mostly get only a little lost (rarely a lot). I caved in and took a bus once, but it was local bus and an interesting if somewhat uncomfortable experience in its own right, definitely in the slow category. My days would consist of a late breakfast followed by an afternoon of exploring, dinner of steaming momos (dumplings) and thenthuk soup or dahl bat (rice and beans), then back to the hotel. My room had a tv with HBO, so if the power held (power outages occur daily, you just never know when or for how long) I would watch a movie, if not I would read by candlelight. The next day, I would get up and start the whole thing over again.

Buddhist Monks

The UNESCO sites were remarkable. The temples were impressive, the stuppas imposing and the statues of strange and wonderful Hindu and Buddhist deities were definitely worth the price of admission. However, the memories that will define Nepal for me will come more from my walks. The morning mist on the rice fields outside Bhaktapur, a father playing a violin and singing a folk song to his daughter, two very young Buddhist monks asking me to take their picture then giggling at the result, dusty roads with loud traffic that almost ran me over daily, side streets and back alleys crammed with shops, temples and people, and the ubiquitous “namaste” people would use to greet you with. These are the sights, sounds and smells that will stay with me.

Nepal has been great. We’ve actually been here 6 weeks. While we’ve enjoyed every minute of it, it’s starting to get cold, and we’re anxious to move on. We have one more stop (Chitwan national park), then we’re on to Bangkok where we meet up with Camille for a couple of weeks and start a new chapter in the adventure.


Namaste,
Michael
Tashey Darghey Hotel
Thamel, Kathmandu
Nepal