Long hours of nothingness, long weekend, long work-day of nothingness. This is starting to get unhealthy.
First weekend away from the city and it was lovely. Took a two hour taxi (paid 14 bucks all together :0) up to the village of Nagarkot - a lovely site for amazing sunrises - to not see an amazing sunrise. It was an exciting car journey, the four of us and the taxi driver jammed into a white suzuki, half asleep and unwashed, jerked awake in terror by careening mountain roads and monstrous tourist buses charging to overtake us. It was best to just close your eyes and retreat to a happy place.
Left at 8, an hour and a half later we were up in the mountains surrounded by pine trees and fresh air, stuck behind pick up truck and its billowing black clouds of exhaust fumes. Talk about irony. A couple of wild turns and near death experiences later, little Susuki chugged to a stop on the particularly steep hill that led to our pink monstrosity of a hotel. A rude receptionist man ignored us beyond awkwardness and directed us to the restaurant where we were asked to wait half an hour for our rooms to be tidied. An hour and a half, two English breakfasts, two Special breakfasts and four pots of coffee later, our rooms still weren't ready. It took four stubborn, whining females to get two clean and prepared rooms in an otherwise empty hotel. Despite the distinct unfriendliness, I thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in a comfortable bed and the luxury of the albeit luke warm water in freezing temperatures shower.
We hiked, walked, trekked and explored. Saw the backyards of villages, an infinite number of goats, chickens and kids playing and frolicking in the sun. The view wasn't amazing, it was too hazy to see anything, but the sun was warm and the exercise a welcome relief from keyboard workouts and bad posture. Seeing as it was a holiday weekend most Nepalis seemed to be in a particularly good mood, music and singing echoed through the mountains the way it does during festival season of the British summers.
Sunday was an early start, 6:15, to catch the (un)amazing sunrise. Mountains were visible to the naked eye, but virtually invisible through a lense. This didn't stop hordes of Chinese, Japanese and Korean tourists from setting up mini portable studios on the hotel viewing tower and chirpily snapping away. It was amusing to watch the crowd dynamics. As soon as one discovered a new sight in the scenery - the emerging glow of the snow covered mountains, or the orange crescent of the rising sun - the rest would quickly follow, running from one corner to the other, external flashes, tripods and telephoto zooms in hand to capture that one perfect moment which never arrived.
The feeding of the masses followed and the hotel made sure to profit as much as possible by serving us leftover potatoes, toast, boiled eggs and instant coffee. We were ready to go and soon enough embarked on a 4 and a half hour hike from Nagarkot to Changu Narayan a world heritage site north-east of Kathmandu. For 100 rupees you get to go in and see an exquisitely preserved village with its tall intricate wooden temples and and metal idols, the faces of which are smudged in yellows, reds, and flower petals; incense and candles decorating the shrines on an otherwise peaceful Sunday. The initial idea was to hike all the way to Bhaktapur then catch a bus or taxi back into the city, but as the day wore on, and our feet grew weary of the sun, dust and mountains, our plans slowly evolved. The visit to Bhaktapur was abandoned and an orange, red and blue boombox of a bus decorated with all the appropriate hindi paraphenelia and blaring bollywood music drove us short of a half hour walk to our houses. Kathmandu city greeted us in all its glory of congested traffic, and suffocating air.
The pink dots on the map below are the points to which my group traveled to over the weekend. Starting in Lalitpur (Patan), taxi to Nagarkot. Spent the night, hiked to Changu Narayan. Collapsed in a heap for lunch, took the groovy love bus of perpetual happiness down to Bhaktapur, looked out the window and continued out journey back to Kathmandu where we were dropped off next to the river. In case you were wondering the bus journey from the world heritage site to Kathmandu cost a whole of Rp 30 - 40 American cents, 30 Euro cent, 25p. Amazing.
First weekend away from the city and it was lovely. Took a two hour taxi (paid 14 bucks all together :0) up to the village of Nagarkot - a lovely site for amazing sunrises - to not see an amazing sunrise. It was an exciting car journey, the four of us and the taxi driver jammed into a white suzuki, half asleep and unwashed, jerked awake in terror by careening mountain roads and monstrous tourist buses charging to overtake us. It was best to just close your eyes and retreat to a happy place.
Left at 8, an hour and a half later we were up in the mountains surrounded by pine trees and fresh air, stuck behind pick up truck and its billowing black clouds of exhaust fumes. Talk about irony. A couple of wild turns and near death experiences later, little Susuki chugged to a stop on the particularly steep hill that led to our pink monstrosity of a hotel. A rude receptionist man ignored us beyond awkwardness and directed us to the restaurant where we were asked to wait half an hour for our rooms to be tidied. An hour and a half, two English breakfasts, two Special breakfasts and four pots of coffee later, our rooms still weren't ready. It took four stubborn, whining females to get two clean and prepared rooms in an otherwise empty hotel. Despite the distinct unfriendliness, I thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in a comfortable bed and the luxury of the albeit luke warm water in freezing temperatures shower.
We hiked, walked, trekked and explored. Saw the backyards of villages, an infinite number of goats, chickens and kids playing and frolicking in the sun. The view wasn't amazing, it was too hazy to see anything, but the sun was warm and the exercise a welcome relief from keyboard workouts and bad posture. Seeing as it was a holiday weekend most Nepalis seemed to be in a particularly good mood, music and singing echoed through the mountains the way it does during festival season of the British summers.
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| Sunrise |
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| Viewing tower |
The feeding of the masses followed and the hotel made sure to profit as much as possible by serving us leftover potatoes, toast, boiled eggs and instant coffee. We were ready to go and soon enough embarked on a 4 and a half hour hike from Nagarkot to Changu Narayan a world heritage site north-east of Kathmandu. For 100 rupees you get to go in and see an exquisitely preserved village with its tall intricate wooden temples and and metal idols, the faces of which are smudged in yellows, reds, and flower petals; incense and candles decorating the shrines on an otherwise peaceful Sunday. The initial idea was to hike all the way to Bhaktapur then catch a bus or taxi back into the city, but as the day wore on, and our feet grew weary of the sun, dust and mountains, our plans slowly evolved. The visit to Bhaktapur was abandoned and an orange, red and blue boombox of a bus decorated with all the appropriate hindi paraphenelia and blaring bollywood music drove us short of a half hour walk to our houses. Kathmandu city greeted us in all its glory of congested traffic, and suffocating air.
The pink dots on the map below are the points to which my group traveled to over the weekend. Starting in Lalitpur (Patan), taxi to Nagarkot. Spent the night, hiked to Changu Narayan. Collapsed in a heap for lunch, took the groovy love bus of perpetual happiness down to Bhaktapur, looked out the window and continued out journey back to Kathmandu where we were dropped off next to the river. In case you were wondering the bus journey from the world heritage site to Kathmandu cost a whole of Rp 30 - 40 American cents, 30 Euro cent, 25p. Amazing.
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