Nepal – Our First International Adventure – Part 1 of 2

We were all of 26 at that time. The travel bug had hit my husband a few years back when he started exploring local places on his motorcycle. And some of that was also rubbing off on me. There was something about it which made our eyes light up. That still happens to date. The only difference been, that now probably we are more aware of why we love to travel than we were at that time.

We had never been outside India. And the proposition of crossing the borders to visit a foreign land was endearing to say the least. Close to September of 2013 my husband, I and two of our friends started brainstorming on what country we could visit given the biggest constraint we had. Apart from my husband none of us had a passport. Yes, you heard that right, I did not have a passport, yet wanted to travel to another country. Fortunately, we were not completely out of options, courtesy the diplomatic ties India had with Nepal and Bhutan. Considering our place of residence the logistics of getting to Bhutan was complicated.

So, Nepal it was.

In our heads the journey to Nepal involved an overnight bus ride to a land border of Nepal, followed by another 6 hr bus ride to the capital city of Nepal Kathmandu. This was not easy but we firmly believed that the excitement of setting foot on foreign soil would push us through the hardship.

However, it turned out infinitely harder than we thought it would be. Here is the series of events :

1. The overnight bus that was supposed to take us to the land border broke down and we were hit with a 6 hour delay till another tin can of a bus picked us up at 2am in the morning. This bus dropped us “close” to the land border in the heat of the afternoon
2. This “close” was actually not very close. We had to take another form of local public transport to get to the actual land border (essentially an ancient SUV type vehicle with no doors and 30 people hanging on to it)
3. Once we got there we had to walk across the border, which was pretty fun. Our first steps in a foreign land finally!
4. But, because of the sequence of events, we had missed our connecting bus to get to Kathmandu. After much searching around we were able to get a couple of seats on a overnight bus to Kathmandu.
5. This bus was not too confidence inspiring as well. Absolute basic box on a chassis kind of thing.

We finally got to Thamel (Kathmandu) around 6am in the morning.

So yes, it was tough. But there were a couple of things that stood out and turned out to be a very big learning experience for us as newbies :

1. The struggle was real. It was painful. It was frustrating at times. But it was all worth it. Lesson well taken, to get to your goal, whether that is your career or a mere journey to a destination, obstacles are inevitable. The fun is in getting over the obstacles.
2. All through this arduous journey we came across so many local people who probably face this on a daily basis. But what differentiated them from us, was the smile on their faces. We realized that one can find satisfaction and fulfillment with very little. Even when the external environment is not conducive. Why? Because inner satisfaction or fulfilment is not a temporary reaction to existential stimuli, rather they are a expression of our souls. If we are happy from inside, there is very little that the outside world can do to change or influence that state.

Okay, probably that got a little too heavy. Hahaha!

This photograph is of Nepal’s entry gate taken from the Indian side. We actually walked 15 mins to cross the border to enter Nepal.

Our Nepal trip began in Thamel. A place full of life and light, affordable good hotels, bars and restaurants and a shopper’s paradise. We randomly picked a hotel, bargained and checked in. Thamel has always been the hub for mountain loving backpackers. So you are sure to find affordable trekking and mountaineering gear in this area.

Since my interest lies in art work, I loved roaming around those alleys lined with souvenir shops, buying and bargaining on beautiful handcrafted Thangka paintings, Metal Statues, Pashmina Scarves, Metal & gemstone Jewelries, Khukuri (Nepali pocket knife). Thamel is a must-see for an art lover or a shopaholic traveler.

Apart from the part about getting to Nepal, the rest of the trip was pretty unplanned. We had decided to get to Kathmandu and then draw up a plan which would let us keep our options open considering we just had 4 days including travel time to see some of what Nepal had to offer.

My husband being an avid motorcyclist, proposed that the ideal mode of transport within Nepal would be motorcycles. They would give us the flexibility to play around with our schedule, are relatively cheap and a fun way of taking in the sights and sounds of Nepal. We agreed and picked up a couple of small capacity bikes from one of the many rental places at Kathmandu.

Kathmandu has a lot to offer. But due to our time constraints, we were able to cover very few places. Kathmandu is also pretty urban. An implicit goal of all our trips is to get away from the city. So not been able to cover much of the city did not disappoint us since we were looking forward to the next part of the trip which would be closer to nature, hills and mountains. We attempted to visit Pashupatinath temple which is dedicated to Lord Shiva, but it was unfortunately closed at the time we arrived. This is a very important religious site in Asia for devotees of Lord Shiva. We strolled around, checked out few shops and headed to our next stop.

Durbar Squares (Heritage of Kathmandu)

Next up, based on suggestions from some locals we reached Kathmandu Durbar square. We came to know that in the past Kathmandu valley was split into three kingdoms: (Kathmandu/ Basantapur), (Lalitpur/Patan) and Bhaktapur. Each of these three cities has a huge open palace complex, or Durbar Square, which has witnessed Nepal’s monarchical past. All three are listed as world heritage sites now. Everything is under Kathmandu city. Lalitpur is only a 20-minute taxi ride from Thamel, but feels distinctly different from the present city. It is known as the oldest Buddhist City in the world and it gives us a glimpse of the intimate lives of Newari people and have the finest collection of temples, palaces and small shops mostly made up of woods and stones.

If you want to know more about The Durbar Squares check out https://adventuresportsnepal.com/blog/the-three-durbar-squares/

Unfortunately the earthquake that hit Nepal in 2015 was devastating both in terms of loss of life and property. There was large scale damages to most of the heritage structures in the Durbar Square(s) and very few of the building still stand today. The following photograph presents one example of the extent of damage. We were fortunate to have had the opportunity to visit Nepal before this event.

Following our visit to the Durbar Square we retired for the day, as we wanted to get an early start the next day. We would be heading to a quaint little town in the Himalayan foothills called Pokhara. That was a completely different experience with its fair share of adventure, sights and sounds. I will cover that in the next blog post in this two part series about Nepal.

Have you been to Nepal in the past or are you planning to visit anytime soon? Feel free to leave comments about your experience or ask us any questions about Nepal!