80s night

It started off as a movie night but morphed into a costume party when the theme of 80s movies was decided. 80s movies, 80s hair, 80s clothes and 80s food.

Goodbye Kathmandu

A few more pictures of this beautiful hotel and then off to the airport to catch our flight back to Dubai – the land of cement, irrigation and sand. I quickly missed the natural lush green hills and fresh air of Kathmandu Valley and Nagrakot.

Nepali culture show

The last thing on our agenda was a Nepali culture show where we were served more Nepali favourites while dancers performed different types of dance in various local dress– oh and a Yeti and peacock came to see us too (some would call this a tourist trap).

Back at Dwarikas

Sigh, back at Dwarikas. We decided to go for a walk around the area in search of a local restaurant to each lunch and take in more of the local scene but after a short walk we decided that we would pass on the street-side roasted corn (pictured above) and go back to Dwarikas to have lunch in the courtyard. We sat in the courtyard and enjoyed an organic meal al fresco – now this is civilized and I was hoping it may put balance back into my digestive system.

Back to the city

Breakfast was very much the same as dinner and all of this Nepali food had at this point taken its toll and I decided to opt out of our morning trek to Telkot. We drove back into the valley and passed many restaurants, cafes and cottages; I took photos of them so I could look them up when we got back home. I was less than thrilled to be back in the polluted city limits and started breathing a bit more shallow when I wasn’t laughing at the cows resting in the centre of the streets with no care in the world as motorbikes, trucks and cars etc weaved around them at high speeds.

Saying good morning to the Himalayas

At Niva Niwa Lodge there is no menu and you eat what is served at the time they serve it. I did have choice of beer though. The lodge was a beautiful old building that needed some tender loving care but the sunrise made the stale beds worth it. We got a wake-up call for sunrise. climbed to the rooftop and only then did we realise we were surrounded by the snow-capped Himalayas. The view was awe-inspiring and I recommend it!

Kathmandu Valley

The views of the Valley were amazing and the air was fresh. Above are pictures of a few of the things to see in the hills of Nagarkot. The last picture was taken from the balcony of our hotel room over Kathmandu Valley. We didn’t know at the time but we had a fabulous view of Himalayas – they were hiding behind clouds at the time we arrived.

Through the Old Town of Bhaktapur

The air started to smell fresh as we weaved along the beat up roads in the tiny rattling car and came across the Old Town of Bhaktapur. They have apparently warmed up to the tourists in this area and charge $10 if you want to tour the town. There were various signs declaring this policy but it was unclear who you were to pay. We kept going and then started to climb into the hills to Nagrakot.

Durbar Square to Nagarkot

As you can see from the view out of the driver’s window, we passed the usual rustic buildings, through town, out of town and then into the country where the ratio of cows to cars was more balanced.