Welcoming New Year 2015 in Nepal

31st Dec-3rd Jan 2015

The new year 2015 has long since passed, but only today that I managed to write something about our recent trip to Nepal. I blame it to my severe addiction to watching Running Man nowadays. Tee hee..

 

When we arrived at the international airport,  the surrounding was crowded with many Nepali men. It was quite hard to see female Nepali around, unlike other places we went before.And seeing them who mostly were wearing dark jackets made the sight was a bit gloomy in my eyes.  It was almost the same sight when we were waiting for boarding in departure hall back in KL.  The hall felt like a gloomy place with mostly Nepali men in it wearing dark outfit. Nevermind, we wasted no time and headed straight to our first lodging at Nagarkot.

If you are wondering which part of Nepal that a Must-go, Nagarkot is certainly one of them. Apart from its location that is quite close to Kathmandu, for a short trip, we still can enjoy the sunset and sunrise at the Himalaya Range.

Just perfect to suite the guest's expectation, most of the lodging in Nagarkot hillside has their own roof top overlooking the Himalaya range. So we went up there to get the best spot to capture the sunset moment. Seriously I never put my eyes on something as picturesque as the scenery  here.

In the morning, we woke up in the wee hour of the morning to ensure that all of us are ready to wait the sun rises at the roof top again. plus, we need to secure a good spot before other guests joined in. The wind was cold , that we waited in shiver to see the beautiful sunrise showed.

And certainly our patience were worthwhile. Ooohhhh...prettyyy..

On the way to Kathmandu from Nagarkot, we stopped by at another attraction, Bhaktapur Durbar Square.

There are a few durbar squares around Kathmandu city, and this is the one that must-visit when you are in Nepal. This is one of the UNESCO Heritage site where ancient palace is located.

We spent two good hours for a full course guided tour around the place, when our feets started to wobble as soon as we handed the tips to our guide at the end of the tour.

It was when we went to the remote part of the square, I was awed upon seeing very huge cow at one side of their worshiping area . And that's not it, when I turned to other side of their so-called sacred area, an old woman was seen spreading the cow discharge with her bare hand. oh man!! That was too much, I was thinking we were in a very ancient age. But it still exists now. Huhu.

 

Some experiences with nepali people,  we found that they can easily recognized us as not indon or philipino, but malaysian!Yes, I could feel the pride glow when our country received that kind of acknowledge here.

They like malaysian people, so we can easily get connected with them, consequently the bargaining process became easier. Some of nepali guys look like chinese, perhaps coming from tibetan origin , while some of them, we might mistaken as Tamil, or hindustani.

The weather in December is nice, cold but not snowy. I love  that part of the country. The road is badly paved here and there, thus made our journey a lot bumpier than ever. Nonetheless, having brought up in hardship, I found that they are skillful driver in the massive traffic jam, and close to scary to death ,sometimes. Huhuh

We arrived and checked ourselves into Hotel Nepalaya , get refreshed, and went for shopping afterwards. The market is just a few minutes away, in Thamel road.  Apart from it, we spent the remaining hours in daylight navigating the city area ,and found  another Durbar Square. But we have had enough with previous durbar square tour experience, snapped a few wefies, and we were off to the next attraction.

On the following day , the next attraction we went was Swayambunath stupa which is also known as monkey temple. And as its named after, the ancient temple which is situated on top of a hill was fulled with monkeys.

Apparently these monkeys also have some sort of "abang long kawasan" , whereby we grabbed the chance to watch them fighting and scratching each other till  bleeding to rebut kawasan and perhaps, to get the attention from female monkey. Scary..

We also went to Boudhanath stupa, but most of the time there,we enjoyed doing the shopping there. The selection is vast, and I loved it!

The local tibetan was seen moving the tin,  symbolizes Tibetan prayer everytime they passed this fence. And we run to the fence to pose, as always...

Shopping for souvenir and being the first customer of the day, we got a handsome bargain. Yippi~~

On the last night in Kathmandu, we were having our dinner at fine halal restaurant in Annapurna road, even though it took forever to wait for our meal to ready. Fuhh~

Capati was our main meal throughout the trip. Indeed, the authentic taste with dhal will never match the best capati in Malaysia that I ever had. But on the last meal before depart, we opted spicy yet fulfilling beriani for our brunch. Heaven.. Alhamdulillah..

Peaceful Cottage & Cafe Du Mont,Nagarkot & Hotel Nepalaya,Kathmandu , Nepal

If you plan to enjoy sunset and sunrise scenery at Nagarkot, Peaceful Cottage & Cafe Du Mont  is just almost perfect accommodation to go for. 

It is located at the hillside facing to the Himalayan range. Reaching to the top of the hill was another adventure ride, thank God we have an expert local driver to maneuver the hill side and bumpy route.

There is nothing extravagant reception that you can expect in this premise, but the warm smile and service received from the hotel staff were good enough for make ourselves comfortable.

We dumped our luggage in the room and took no time to rush to the roof top of the building. It was about time to see the sun set.  Did I tell you how awestruck we felt upon seeing the scenery? Wait till the next entry comes out. He he.

But one thing that was not  so pleasant to bear on the night time was the cooooold night like we were sleeping in a roofless house on the icy floor.  The heater was not provided,with only a hot pouch  to give our feet some warmth, with considerably thick but-still cold blanket, we went through the chilly night with sound sleep.

 

The room is clean, and so is the bathroom. All necessary amenities are provided, including towels. And the water heater is also provided, aaahhh,, heaven.

In Kathmandu, we chose to stay at Hotel Nepalaya. It is located very strategically at the center of Kathmandu city, Thamel road. Which means it is just a few walks away from their popular market. Yes, good bargain means good shopping. Wink!

The stay comes with breakfast, and I learnt a good  recipe to bring home, cornflower fried with egg. Yumm~Seriously, you might want to give it a try yourself.

The room is clean and its hygiene level is satisfactory.  The flip side of the stay in Nepal is that the intermittent electric supply which has caused us to sleep in cold for a few hours and got the heater on the next. Nothing much that they hotel can do to satisfy us, despite our complaint, as it is due to the government policy of on the electricity supply. Anyway, despite the minor hiccup, it is still a good place to stay.