New Year in Nepal

I was lucky to get a flight to Nepal, where I had never been before but also a place that is one of the most thrilling places in this planet! I think most of us would love to see the Mount Everest ones during their lifetime.

This picture is taken in downtown Kathmandu. Which you could never guess of course. What is the first thing you see when arriving the city is the thick fog and darkness that covers the city. It's because there is no electricity in most of the buildings and even in our 4 star crew hotel we had electricity power cut offs all the time. So how does the people keep warm in this remote land?

By making fires. So the whole city is filled with this strong smell of smoke and sometimes it felt almost impossible to breath through it. Locals cover their mouth and nose with masks but us weren't that well prepared.

And because there's no electricity the city gets quiet quite early. It was a new year night but after 1 AM there was nobody walking on the streets than taxis and police cars.

We celebrated the new year by eating local food and as you can see from the picture it was delicious! Especially I have to appraise the local lassi drink which tasted totally different from what I'm used to in nepalese restaurants in Finland but it was delicious! And the whole menu was only about 8 euros for 2 persons! Place is called Anatolia Restaurant and you can find it in Thamel, J.P. Road.

The next morning we woke up with my friend at 5 AM, took a cab and drove an hour up to a place called Nagarkot. The small village is on top of the hill in 2000 meters above sea level. And the view is simply amazing! You can see the sun coming behind Mt Everest and Annapurna, lighting mountains little by little.. you get speechless. I think it was the perfect way to start this New Year, to see the light fighting it's way behind those majestic mountains. I truly hope this year will be like that, that the light will come and expose all that is hidden. And to give hope and future.

There are several hostels, lodges and even a nice hotel where you can stay overnight. We went to Club Himalaya Hotel for a breakfast after the sunrise and it was a great ending for that morning.