Nepal day 2: Sightseeing around Kathmandu

I got 12 hours sleep! Safe to say I’m well rested, although I missed the 9am Yoga which I was kinda looking forward to. I’m sharing my room with 3 German girls, 1 Indian and 1 Columbian which is pretty cool. I ate breakfast at a cafe and then started on my way.

Sightseeing

Today I was going to try and see as much as possible and I think I did alright. The first place I visited was Boudinath Stupa, it’s very high and the surrounding area is really interesting. I think they were supposed to be charging for entry but there was no one at the entrance.

It was here that I found out I forgot my camera battery! At least I had a smartphone… Stay positive!

The spire at the top fell off during the recent earthquake but it’s already been rebuilt. This place is also a UNESCO world heritage site and surrounded by monasteries.

I walked around, and there’s a nice viewpoint from above but otherwise it was really sunny and too hot to stand around long. I decided to leave and walk to Pashupatinath temple. Because I walked in from the back through the park I didn’t need to pay for entry.

There’s some old ruins of temples at the top of the hill and some functioning temples still. As you walk down the hill towards Pashupatinath there’s a tiny cafe and an awesome viewpoint.

There was actually a funeral procession going on where they burn the dead body in the open. Which was kinda different but I’ve seen it before in Rishikesh, so I wasn’t too taken aback.

After Pashupatinath I took a taxi to Swayambhu temple, otherwise known as monkey temple. It’s quite a climb to the top all in all 365 steps. And plenty of monkeys along the way so it’s easy to see how the nickname developed.

At the top is a stupa and various temples. But the most impressive was the sight of Kathmandu at a distance. Panoramic views across the city were beautiful. I went further on to Amideva park where there are 3 tall Buddha statues.

Travellers stories

After this I walked for half an hour back to my hostel where I had a chicken sizzler for dinner around 7pm. It wasn’t the best to be honest as the chicken was overcooked unfortunately. I met Jaya over dinner who was from Korea and she had been travelling for 3 months already.

After this I shared beers with Shing from London and Peter from Austria and they had plenty of travel stories to share. Well I mean after 17 months in South America you’re bound to have a lot of stories eh! I also met Shib whom I share a mutual friend with so that was great to find out. I was in bed just after midnight.