Ramesh’s blog This is Me!!

My visit to Kathmandu and Pokhra

    The name Nepal just brought to my mind glimpses of slit eyed people and definitely that of the Himalayas. Other than that I did not think much of that mountain country to our North East. So when my wife suggested about going to Kathmandu with some friends of hers who knew the place well, I said okay in a half hearted manner. In hind sight I realize it was good that way because it had kept my expectations down. The short flight from Terminal 3 of IGI airport got us into Kathmandu in an hour and fifteen minutes. When we arrived, there were two old battered looking taxis to transport us to a three star hotel. Don’t know what got into one of the friends for she started speaking in what seemed like a Russian  accent behaving like a thorough tour guide and went about calling each of us “Toooorist” each time she addressed us from then on.

Having checked in, we were out in no time to sight see the place on foot and we were being guided by our able “tooor guide” through dusty crowded market places. And I was thinking that if this all there was to Kathmandu, I am  very hopeful of my next four days being all that exciting. Just a waste of time or so I thought.  It was not far from there that the street opened up to what might be the city square and with that so did my hopes. To one side of the square, where numerous people had congregated, was the house of the living Goddess. Sadly, it was just past the visiting time and the little Goddess had finished sitting by her window for the visitors to catch a glimpse of her. It was most interesting when our friends told us that us that very place where we were turned bloody each year during the festival months of October when several bulls were sacrificed in keeping with an age old tradition.

For the remaining three days we had our visits more or less chalked out and looking back I must admit it worked to clock work precision except for the four odd hours we lost due to a flat tire enroute to Basanthpur. Our Hotel Manager of Hotel Marshyangdi did nothing to help us out except make false promises of sending another car. During the days that followed, we travelled to Bouda – the world largest stupa, visited the Swayambu atop a hill and I looked around for a Khukri. By the way the coffee shop Flavor’s at Bouda has some yummy cakes that I highly recommend. For the ladies there is a shop selling some fine jewelry and precious stones.

On the third day after much eating and shopping and sightseeing not necessarily in that order, we rented a  van out for two days to take us to Pokhra – a place that was six hours away by road.  Enroute, after a two and a half hour long drive, we stopped at Mankamana 125 Kms to the West of Kathmandu. There are some lovely places by the river to photograph before hopping into the cable car ride to the top to visit the Mankamana Temple at the height of 1250 odd meters above sea level (by my latest Protrek watch which I am hoping was  accurate enough). The view from the temple is good but it could have been better ,I feel, had it not been for the hazy cover. The cable car ride was steep but nothing compared to the one I experienced at Langkawi. By the time we got to Pokhra we could barely see anything outside. Surprisingly though even in that dim light the snow capped mountains reflected enough light to make itself noticeable and the increased sound levels inside the van on sighting the mountain was indicative of the heightened excitement levels. That night, after checking in into the hotel all of us just strolled for a walk generally getting our bearings about the place straight.

The next morning at four we were ready for a short bus ride to a the sunrise point is called “Sarangkot View Point” located at 1600 m above sea level. As we got there we could only make out the silhouettes of other tourists gathered earlier than us all expectantly waiting to see the sunrise. It was not long before that spectacular event happened just before our eyes and I must admit watching the Machhapuchare  or the Fish Tail Monuntain as its called turn from a dark silhouette to a crimson orangish mountain was a sight in itself. That done we spent the rest of the day going boating on Feva Tal lake and spent a lot of time eating and shopping.

In all it was a good trip and considering that I went in with very little expectation, was I think the primary reason why I came back very satisfied. As my wife observed this was one visit when I was not my edgy self and seemed more relaxed. I guess it is purely attributable to the excellent guides we had to take us around. Not only did the guide treat us well as “Toooorists” ought to be but left no bit of planning to chance. So would I want to go back to the Magical kingdom of Nepal again? Well, with the same set of friends/guides… sure, why not? 

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