Wednesday 8th April 2015
We got woken up this morning by a dude in the bathroom
next-door hacking up his lungs and snoting into the sink it was rather
unpleasant and went on long enough to disrupt sleep permanently.
We got up and chucked clothes on and made it across the road
where we had huge breakfasts and abused the Wi-Fi for several hours of chill
time. I had woken up feeling as though I had been hit by a truck so the
inactivity made for a beautiful morning.
When we finally got moving we walked through Durbar Square
to a shop so Mark could get a part for the bike and then headed to the
Dharahara Tower originally built in 1825 but destroyed by an earthquake in 1934
and rebuilt in 1936 the tower has 213 steps and a viewing platform allowing 360
degree views of the city.
Durbar Square
We paid for our tickets and headed in there is no sort of
control or regulation for how many people are in the tower at once or any sort
of curtesy walking up or down instead everyone just sort of pushes in a mad
scramble in either direction.
We walked right up to the top where there is a Siva Lingam
we had a brief look before heading back to the platform and making a circuit of
it and taking a few pictures along the way. The way down was as much of a
squeeze as coming up and it was a relief to be back out on the street in the
fresh air.
View from the tower
We walked to Thamel and got falafel wraps for lunch and then
checked out a few stores as I wanted some new trousers but didn’t find any that
really called my name. We walked back to the guesthouse where I read my book
while Mark worked on the bike.
In the evening we walked back to Thamel to a vegetarian
restaurant for dinner. All the tables were low so we sat on the floor. The food
was pretty spectacular but the whole meal I was struggling to stay awake as
lack of sleep caught up with me.
Thursday 9th April 2015
Today was a pretty blah day. Mark went off early to drop his
passport off at the Indian immigration office while I continued to sleep. We
had planned a few things but after breakfast and then a coffee we stopped back
at the guesthouse for a bit and I never left.
We came back to put some books on my e-reader and by the
time it was done I was ready to take a nap and not do anything for the rest of
the day as I felt all tired and grumpy.
In the evening we went to a place down the road and had
burgers for dinner before spending the evening watching movies.
Friday 10th April 2015
Today was another lazy-ish day we had a late breakfast and
then dropped off our laundry (as its only 50 NPR per kg it made way more sense
to just get it all done rather than toil about washing it in a bucket) with the
washing sorted we walked to Thamel and got new trousers, we had already looked
at some the other day and so just went back and got them.
We then walked a little bit further to the Garden of dreams.
We had to pay 200 NPR to get in but it was worth it for the peace and quiet of
the gardens. Built way back in the 1920s the garden was originally a private
garden for Field Marshal Kaiser
Sumsher Rana sadly in when he died in 1960 the garden fell into ruin
until recently when I was restored to its former glory and restored to its
glory it has been, although it is now only half of its original size.
The gardens are small but feature several ponds, fountains, decorative garden furniture, and verandas and
pergolas. We headed down some stairs to a terraced grassy slope where there
were plenty of mats and cushions to lounge on. The sun was shining and so we
retired under a tree and spent the afternoon contently reading (and trying to avoid
being pooped on by the crows that insisted in perching in the tree above us)
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A few pics of people lounging in the Garden of Dreams
Unfortunately in the late afternoon
we had to leave to head to the visa office for Mark to pick up his passport. Along
the way we stopped off at the supermarket and got a snack then continued on to
the passport office where we waited outside until they opened the gate then
headed in once inside the process went quickly and we were soon on our way out.
We went and got a coffee to
kill time and ended up staying in the café for dinner just getting a few things
we could munch on while chatting and reading.
Saturday 11th April 2015
After a long breakfast this morning we were going to head
climbing but realised we didn’t really have enough time as we needed to pick up
our washing at 2pm and couldn’t miss them as the shops closed on Sundays and we
planned to leave then. This meant we had a couple of hours that we needed to
kill so we headed back to the room and packed up a bit and then I sat about
reading my book while Mark entertained himself with various activities.
Eventually it was 2pm and with the washing collected we
headed to the Nayayanhiti Palace Museum. We ended up walking right past It and
had to double back on ourselves we made it back just in time for the last ticket
sales of the day.
The construction of the palace was completed in 1969 and in
its heyday I’m sure it was a marvel of modern architecture but now it just
looked tired and a bit tacky. (Although extremely interesting) I was expecting
it to be reminiscent of an old English manor house but instead was like walking
through somebodies tasteless grandma’s house. The palace had 52 rooms of which
19 are open to the public. It makes for some fascinating viewing to see all the
old photos on the walls and the old artwork on the walls.
The royal family lived in the palace up until they were massacred
by the crown prince (for not approving his marriage choice…ummm spoilt much?)
after they were all murdered (and he then topped himself in 2001) the crown
fell to some other dude but the Nepali people spoke and they were done with
royalty and so after a vote in 2008 the new king was given 15 days to vacate
the palace and become a commoner. The palace opened as a museum in 2009.
Unfortunately photography in the palace is strictly
prohibited because the whole place is great full of old tacky dusty furniture,
old portraits of royals, photographs of dignitaries, outdated TV’s, radios and
telephones and a whole zoo of stuffed animals including at least six tigers,
various leopards a polar bear, an alligator and several stools and umbrella
stands made from elephant and rhino feet as well as all sorts of heads mounted
on the wall.
Behind the palace is the ruins of a smaller building in
which the royal massacre took place after which it was torn down. It’s also
where the gardens are which are overgrown with weeds and unruly plants growing
all over empty fountains and crumbling lawn furniture and a children’s play
set.
The whole place while hugely fascinating feels stagnant and
full of the many deaths that took place there and I was quite glad to be back
out in the sunshine and on our way.
We stopped and had lunch in a trendy café before having a
mammoth walk across the city to see a Stupa. We never made it to the famous one
we set out to see instead settling on one we stumbled across. The courtyard was
full of a mix of people praying, kids playing and young guys just hanging out. The
mood was happy and the prayer flags that were fluttering in the wind were
bright and cheerful. We walked clock wise around the stupa and then headed back
into the city as the sun went down.
Hazy sunset in Kathmandu
We ate at the local Indian place and then got an early night
before our road trip to Pokhara.
Sunday 12th April 2015
Today we drove from Kathmandu to Pokhara. As is often the
case everyone told us how nice the road was and that it would only take about
six hours to get there. For once they were correct. Most of the way the road
was in excellent condition with just a few potholes and bumps here and there.
We got up planning to leave round 8.30am but true to our
normal fashion of not being able to get going it was 9.30am before we were on
the road. We got up went and had breakfast and then packed up the remainder of
our things. Once we had everything ready to go it didn’t take long to load up
the bike and hit the road.
Even though it was a Sunday morning traffic in the city was
heavy and it was a bit stop start until we reached the city limits and even
then we constantly got stuck behind trucks or buses but about an hour or so
into the journey the road opened up a bit and we started making decent
progress.
The drive was beautiful as we went through small villages
and towns all perched up on the side of the mountain. For the most past we
followed a river which was beautiful although very polluted looking. In stretches
the water was a thick brown colour (it was in one of these brown patches that
we saw a bunch of people rafting and I hoped for their sakes they didn’t fall
out)
We stopped a few times to stretch our legs but these breaks
were also a hazard as the road was very populated and as soon as we stopped a
dozen trucks belching out black smoke would careen by choking us where we stood.
The last 15km or so began to feel a bit endless as the road was
boring and straight but lined with traffic eventually we reached the turn off
for the lake and stopped at the first restaurant we came to for some veg chow
mein.
Feeling fuelled up we went in search of a guesthouse, as its
Nepali new year all the places in town are a bit more expensive than normal but
we managed to find a place right opposite the lake that seemed pretty decent.
We dumped our gear and went in search of a cup of tea. We found
a nice restaurant and chilled there until it was an appropriate dinner time
then had a long drawn out meal as the rain poured down outside. When finally we
were ready to leave it had calmed down enough that we didn’t get too drenched
on the short walk back.
Thankfully there was hot water and after a nice warm bucket
shower the world looked a better place.
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