Day 1 (Arrival) - Kathmandu After alighting from the plane, the first place to visit was Boudhanath Stupa. It is a Buddhist stupa located 7 km East/Northeast of Kathmandu. Since the 5th century AD, Boudhanath has been a popular place of pilgrimage and meditation for local Nepalis and Tibetan Buddhists.  Bhudhanath Stupa Day 2 - Kathmandu We went to Swayambhunath temple by a public bus. Dropped by a Tibetan temple and had lunch there. Took a public transport, a small van, to Kathmandu Dubar Square. On the way, did some shopping at Kathmandu city. After the dubar square, again we took a public van to Garden of Dreams, a classical historical garden with a romantic restaurant.  Swayanbunath  Tibetan Benchen Monastry   Kathmandu Dubar Square Day 3 - Pokhara
At dawn, we took
a tourist bus to Pokhara and arrived there in the afternoon. The journey was much better than what we had expected. We checked in Green View guest house at
Damside (Pardi). After a short rest, we strolled along the streets at Damside. Finally, we stopped at Don't Pass Me By restaurant to feed ourselves with tasty local delicacies which included Momo, Thukpa and Dal Bhat.
 Damside  Momo (left) and Thukpa (right)  Dal Bhat Day 4 - Pokhara Early in the morning, we tracked from Damside, passed local villagers and headed to World Peace Pagoda. On the way, we greeted by children and had fun with a friendly black dog. We felt sorry for a little boy, ended up being scolded by his mom because he asked for candies from us. Still could remember how pitiful he looked when he cried, which was indeed a contrast from the happy smile when he got the candies from us. After taking a stroll around World Peace Pagoda, we had a nice lunch at a restaurant nearby pagoda, where we could overlook the gorgeous Phewa lake at Lakeside. It was really surprising that at that time there were not many customers at such a good restaurant - with tasty food and nice view. After filling up our stomach, we took another track to get down the hill to Lakeside(Baidam). At the foot of the hill, we had to take a boat across the phewa lake to Lakeside. We felt fortunate to have a few local university students who offered to help us to get tickets for our boat ride at local rate. We had a pleasant boat ride with the locals, their jokes and laughter. Upon arrival at the Lakeside, we shopped around there. Then, we took a local bus to Pokhara City Center (Mahindrapul). Before getting worn out after the long walk, we took a local bus back to our guest house at Damside (Pardi).  World Peace Pagoda  Phewa Lake at Lakeside  Day 5 - Pokhara Before dawn, we woke up and took a taxi to Sarangkot hill. The sunrise view was stunning. While walking up the stairs with shops and stores at both sides, we were enjoying the hill side scenery and doing our shopping there. We walked straight up to Sarangkot Hill Station before we took a long rest. Then, we went to a place where we could watch people doing paragliding. We did not do it as we did not book for the activity earlier. We only trusted the established companies which required the customers doing advanced booking at Lakeside (or via their website perhaps) before performing the paragliding. After we got down from the hill, on the way back, we visited Tibetan Refugee Camp.  Sarangkot  Sarangkot  Tibetan Refugee Camp Day 6 - Chitwan We took a mini bus to Chitwan. After checked in a hotel, a young jungle man called Maan took us to Safari/Chitwan National Park. We took a long jungle walk there. On the way, we enjoyed seeing sunset view. We got amazed when we saw a crocodile, a real, wild crocodile in the river in a short distance which Maan pointed to us. We also saw wild deers, wild birds and elephants in the Safari. At night, we went to see cultural show. At the end of the show, my friend participated in the group dance and I looked after her bag left on the chair.  Chitwan National Park - Jungle walk  Cultural show Day 7 (morning) - Chitwan The following morning in Chitwan, we took a jeep to the Safari with Maan. The driver stopped at a few places in the Safari. We encountered wild rhino and crocodile in a lake. I ran to the jeep at my fastest speed when I got to know rhino was nearby. This has become a topic of laughter since then. Though we did not really feel secure to get into the Safari (where there were tigers and rhinos) with an open jeep, a driver and a young jungle man with a wooden stick, we enjoyed the adventure. We dropped by Maan's house where his mother made coffee for us before we got back to the hotel.  Chitwan National Park - Jeep Safari Day 7 (afternoon) - Lumbini After getting back from Safari, we took a tourist bus to Lumbini. The bus stopped at Bhairahawa. No tourist bus would stop at Lumbini. So we had to take a taxi to Lumbini. On the way, we met two ladies from China whom we shared our taxi with. We arrived in Lumbini in the evening. We followed the two new friends to go to Korea monastery where we put up for the night. In the late afternoon, we went to Lord Buddha's birth place under the hot sun. We rested under a bodhi tree for quite a while while enjoying the peaceful atmosphere there.  Birthplace of Buddha - within Lumbini International Monastic Zone Day 8 - Dhulikhel After Lumbini, our following destiny is Dulikhel. To get there, we had to take a bus to Kathmandu and took another public bus to Dhulikhel. We reached Dulikhel in the evening. We strolled at the Newar town and the countryside. At night, we had our dinner and put up at Nawaranga guest house.  Newari Town Day 9 (morning) - Dhulikhel Early in the morning, we walked to Kali Shrine, which is a very small temple at a hill. Then, we took a public bus to go to Namo Buddha monastry, a huge, elegant Tibetan monastry. To get there, we took a scary bus ride along the cliff, with many passengers on top of the bus. After the long walk around the monastry, we had our lunch in a restaurant of the monastry. The journey to Namo Buddha monastery was long and tiring, we might not decide to go there if we had known this. Yet, we did not regret to have gone there.  Kali Temple  Namo Buddha Monastry Day 9 (afternoon) - Bhaktapur After Dhulikhel, our following destiny was Bhaktapur Dubar Square, which was on the way back to Kathmandu. Bhaktapur Dubar Square is one of the main attractions in Nepal where many tourists would not miss it. We took many photos at the Dubar Square during the sunset moment. After the sightseeing, we enjoyed our dinner which included Beriyani rice at a nearby restaurant at dusk. When we decided to leave the restaurant, the sky has already turned dark. We had to find our way to take a public bus back to Kathmandu. We felt grateful to a Nepalese family who pointed the way to us and walked with us to the bus stop. The young daughter was helpful, pretty and intelligent. She was willing to come back from working in Dubai to take care of her parents. We met many good people in Nepal and this family was definitely one of those.  Bhaktapur Dubar Square Day 10 (morning) - Kathmandu In the Morning, we took a public bus from our guest house to Pashupatinath temple. After so many days, we had known how to take the public buses there well. We enjoyed observing people and the scenes in the bus. Though people in Nepal were generally not rich, but when beggars got into the bus, most of the passengers were willing to give money to them. Once when we took a tourist bus from a town to another town, we noticed a beggar board the bus without anyone stopping him. I was quite surprised about this. Perhaps I could say that many Nepalese are sympathetic. We also witnessed a man refusing to pay when he got off of the bus. Since many Nepalese are not affordable to own a car, we could see many working people wear nice or formal outfits and took a bus to work. In Nepal, the conductor collected the bus fare only when the passengers got down from the bus. Pashupatinath temple is one of the most significant Hindu
temples of Shiva
in the world, located on the banks of the Bagmati
River. There is a small hospital on the bank of the river, less than 50 feet from the river. The dying people would be sent to the hospital to wait for their time there. When a person passes away, the remain would be carried to the river bank where cremation takes place. We could see many remains at the river bank. I did not really feel comfortable to see this sort of scenes, especially on our holiday. But we did not regret to get there.  Pashupatinath Temple Day 10 (afternoon) - Departure from Kathmandu We took a flight back to our country in the afternoon. My mind was full of memories in Nepal for quite some time since I came back from Nepal. Note: Bring USD30 for applying Nepal Visa at Nepal airport. It was surprising to know that the immigration officer would not accept Nepalese Rupee and Indian Rupee at Nepal airport. Large
currency note of Indian rupee will not be accepted in Nepal. If you have INR500 or
larger notes, you may find the notes are hard to be exchanged to Nepalesh Rupee
in Nepal.
USD is well accepted in Nepal.
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