Kathmandu

My friend and I took a bus from Pokhara to Kathmandu. We took the Tourist Express bus which was about half the cost of the Greenline and the only difference was the lunch meal was not included in the price. We still had AC which was really nice and the bus was fairly new. Again the ride was 7 hours long and the traffic gets much worse close to Kathmandu. The country side is gorgeous and it is pretty fun to people watch along the way. From the bus stop, we made our way to Thamel where we got a hotel. Thamel is the main tourist destination in Kathmandu and is home to dozens of shops selling counterfeit trekking gear, clothing, spices, brass platted decorations, hand carved wood decorations, crystals, Gurkha knives, and other random things. There are 3 main streets in Thamel that are crowded with tourists and local shop owners, and it is difficult to get used to the cars, bikes, and motorcycles driving down the narrow streets and passing within inches of you. My friend and I developed a habit of walking in single file to be safe.

One of the main streets in Thamel

Street in Thamel

Foot traffic in Thamel

Thamel area

Just south of Thamel on our way to Durbar Square

On our first day in Kathmandu, we went on a private tour to see some of the main sights in and around the area. We made four stops around town including Swoyambhu, Patan, Boudha, and Pashupati. Swoyambhu is a large Buddhist stupa (temple) which is set on a hill overlooking the valley.

Swoyambhu stupa

view from Swoyambhu stupa. There are 365 steps to represent an entire year of your life to reflect on before getting to a place of Buddhist worship

view from Swoyambhu of Kathmandu valley

One of the busy streets on our way to Patan

 Our next stop was Patan, which is an ancient city that was annexed into Kathmandu many years ago. Patan was founded in the 3rd Century BC by one of the ruling dynasties and was the seat of power for the area and housed the ruling King and his family. It is a beautiful area World Heritage Site with a museum and original ancient buildings surrounded by the more contemporary city all around it. The area still remains sacred for Hindu followers.

view of main Patan square area and temples/buildings 

One of the squares inside the palace with a temple. The wood post to the right is where animal sacrifices would be made during important ceremonies. 

One of the courtyards in the palace

The handmade wood carved posts and struts were amazing. 

Looking further down the main Patan area. Our guide is the one in the red and white plaid shirt. 

The local town people still collect their daily drinking water from the well in Patan square. 

Our third stop was Boudha, which is the largest Buddhist stupa in Nepal. There are several shops around the area and its a fun place to people watch. There is also a Buddhist painting school where you can buy beautiful Thaka paintings. We had lunch on a roof top overlooking the stupa.

The artist in yellow is a Master Painter and has been painting for 16 years. He has been working on this current piece for 3 months and is adding the final touches in 14K gold paint. He says he will finish in about 20 more days. 

Our last stop on the tour was Pashupati which is another ancient Hindu temple. The Bagmati River runs through the ancient temple grounds and is said to be one of the holiest rivers in the world. The Hindu people bring their loved ones here to be cremated at the river's edge and then the ashes dumped into the river. It was fascinating to watch the ceremonies from across the river and walk around the large temple grounds. One of the other interesting things is to see the wild monkeys roam around on the streets almost like stray dogs or random begging squirrels.

Walking around Pashupati 

Monkeys at Pashupati 

Bagmati River

Bagmati River

Pashupati 

Getting our picture with the Yogi's. These are men who have left their family and dedicated their lives to Hinduism 

The next day we did our own walking tour around Thamel, Garden of Dreams, the Royal Palace museum (they do not allow any photos at all here), and eventually down to Durbar square.

Garden of Dreams

One of the interest points in the area is this thing called "Wood with Coins." The legend is that you nail a coin to the wood to help relieve a bad toothache. It's a pretty cool looking piece of history. 

Wood with Coins

The streets can get pretty narrow in the old part of town

Durbar Square

All in all this has been an amazing trip and experience of a lifetime!! I've made friends and great memories here and learned a great deal about the people, culture, medical practice, everyday life, religions, and language. We only have one more day left of exploring before we head back home.

Thanks for following along with my blog and reading about my experiences here. I owe a huge thanks to Dr. Malya and UT Houston Emergency Medicine Residency Program for making this amazing opportunity possible. Also a huge thanks to Dr. Asis De and Dr. Bishnu here in Nepal for organizing this and teaching me, as well as my colleague Emily for being a liaison and coming before me.