Showing posts with label nepal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nepal. Show all posts

Thursday, January 5, 2012

The Monkey Temple


View from the temple

The Monkey Temple ( originally named Swayambhunath) is one of the main tourist attractions and a holy place for locals in Kathmandu. The temple itself is ancient and around it is a whole village with monks, shops and cafe's. It takes easily few hours just to walk around the area and enjoy the mystical atmosphere.
Small stupas in the temple area

Area got it's nickname from the hundreds of monkeys living in the area as well as the monkey statue which is one of the holy statues there. Monkeys leave people usually in peace but the guide told us not to get too close for the adults are very protective and might bite.

One of the two entrances to the temple - 365 steps uphill

Roll for good luck. Ancient sanskrit scripts

Shops in temple area

Where: in Kathmandu
How: Take a local taxi to get there and away
How much: Entrance fee 200 rupees (1,8 Euro)


Wednesday, January 4, 2012

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.