JulesRules: We Flew To Kathmandu And Caught The Himalayan View - Part 4 : I fell in love with Bhaktapur...

DAY 1

We reached Krishna House, our B&B in Bhaktapur, at about 2pm, so by the time we finally went out to explore the ancient city it was about to get dark; sunset was around 5.30pm. And since it was exactly Deepavali or Puja Laxmi, our experience walking around Bhaktapur Durbar Square that night was truly sublime...

Getting ready to go out, mommy making sure everything needful is there, and everyone's all bundled up coz I wasn't sure just how cold it would get at night in Bhaktapur. Notice the super thick comforters? We slept with our pjs and fleece cardigans and thick socks and hats all bundled up under those thick comforters :)

Outside the main gate of Krishna House; Bhaktapur Durbar Square is only about 10 minutes walk from here

At the Guhya Pokhari, one of the famous ponds in Bhaktapur...

View of the eastern part of the Himalayas from the Guhya Pokhari...

I'm not sure which peak this is but I think it's the Langtang range...

A young girl preparing her kolum for the night's festivities...

Kolums and oil lamps lined the streets...

The whole city was in a festive mood...

Cheerful lights everywhere...

As with most festivities, children are the most joyful :)

I fell completely in love with Bhaktapur...

Children, girls and boys in traditional costumes, would carry a tray of offerings and go around from shop to shop, singing and dancing, and in return the shop owners would give them money as tokens. The children actually asked us for tokens too, but the shop owners told them that we're visitors and that they (shop owners) will gladly give them their tokens. Sweet huh? Everyone was practically dancing, singing and chanting prayers, and with all those kolums and oil lamps lining the streets, everything looked so mythically beautiful. The celebration is different from what I have experienced here in Malaysia.

Anyway, I've asked my goons to write in their own words their experience in Nepal. So here is Damascus's account of things ~ this is word for word from Damascus, mommy just made some punctuation corrections and time adjustment :)...

We got in Bhaktapur City, and then we wandered around and then when it was like 6.30pm we were so tired and hungry. We found a cafe named Himalayan Java Coffee where the three of us ordered this one thing called Oreo Cookie Shake and our mom and dad ordered coffee. My little brother ordered the vanilla muffin. Minutes later we went back to Krishna House and that's it for today!

Well, he forgot to mention that he did try to extinguish some of the oil lamps we passed, so geram to touch the oil lamps, in the classic Damascus way!

So, that night was the first time we experienced sleeping in cold weather without internal heating. Weeeeeeee! Yes, there was hot water in the shower but it took so long to come out, so we figured, eh, we didn't do anything strenuous and we're not so dirty, so we just wash our faces, hands and feet and that should do it lah. Oh, but I must mention one vital thing here, that the first thing Ajaya, the owner/manager of Krishna House, advised us was that we should use the bottled water they've provided in our rooms for brushing teeth and gargling. This is coz he doesn't guarantee that the water in Bhaktapur would suit us, as he, his wife and his father also use bottled water to brush their teeth! So, we kept to that and Alhamdulillah, everything went on well.

DAY 2

The next day we spent the whole day in Bhaktapur Durbar Square, where I found my favourite shopping alley, and where I bought my first memento from Nepal :)

As iterated by Esfahan...

Woke up at about 6am. Went outside and I could see my breath! Cool! We blew the whole day off in Bhaktapur City (Durbar Square). I saw a goat riding a motorcycle! And also a HUGE flash mob! They were all singing and dancing, while we climbed to safety atop a stupa (pix in previous post, the 5 storeyed Nyatapola Temple that was built by King Bhupatindra Malla in 1702AD.) After that we went to Pottery Square (pix in previous post). We saw lots of pots. After all of that we finally returned to Krishna House with some food. We ate and then went to bed. Another cold night.

My favourite shopping alley in Bhaktapur, it was the quietest and most peaceful street there, and it leads directly to Pottery Square...

There were beautiful pashminas everywhere...

The shop where I found my first Nepali memento, the Yak Wool shawl. I didn't buy any pashminas, except for my mum and mum-in-law, as our petite budget didn't quite place shopping in the agenda :) The pashminas were of course much cheaper there than here in Malaysia, but they are still available here, so I just got mementos that aren't widely sold here. The one I'm holding here is a yak wool shawl that was handmade by the shop owner's wife in their workshop upstairs, but since they were still celebrating Deepavali, there wasn't anyone working shawls that day...

This is 1 of the 2 shawls I got for myself; I didn't see that design anywhere else, as the shop owner said that it was their own design...my favourite colour combi, black, pink and all :) He also showed me the various shawls available, and pointed out the difference between handmade and machine made, those made in Nepal and those made elsewhere, ie India and China, 100% natural fibre, mixed fibres, etc. Very interesting!

This is the other piece I got, which is more neutral. This yarn too was designed by the shop owner's wife...and from what I saw in his stock, he only had one of each colour combi, so, that works for me!

It was especially festive in Bhaktapur that day as they were also celebrating their New Year...

Youths in traditional Nepali costume...

Part of the horns ensemble...

Esfahan's Flash Mob...young people cheerfully dancing in the streets :)

The goat on motorcycle...

The following morning we had a very early breakfast and then headed for the airport in Uncle Hari's van to catch our 9am flight to Pokhara.

We had a lovely time at Krishna House. Ajaya and his family were very warm and welcoming, and we felt completely at home. They were very polite and soft spoken, and they shared with us the ways and norms of a typical Nepali family, specifically in Bhaktapur. Their 2 teenage children attend private school, as do most children of families of certain means. The Krishna House may not look lavish on or from the outside, but inside is a lot of "richness". Ajaya's father had his education in Australia, so he is able to transfer much knowledge and wisdom unto Ajaya and his family. Here are some pictures at Krishna House...

The boys had an adjoining room to ours...

This is Marrakesh in mommy's and ayah's room, at the back is their room; the bathroom is on the right and it is perfectly nice, with hot shower, nice toilet, nice sink, nice tiles, hangers and toilet paper, and they provided us not only with bottled water for brushing teeth but also the toothbrushes and toothpaste!

The stairs to the balcony...

The front of the breakfast room...

The centre courtyard where they normally do the dishes in the afternoon. When we first reached Krishna House, it was about 2pm and they were washing a load of dishes. I was thinking how come these people wash the dishes so late? After I went to the bathroom the next morning only I truly understood why : coz the water is freaking CCCCCCCOOOOOOOOOLD!!! And they don't use water heaters in the common washes, so only with sunshine accompanying them that they can comfortably do the dishes :)

The sweet Mrs Ajaya bringing us breakfast...

A hearty breakfast it is, everyday! So, we load up on breakfast at between 7-9am before we go out to enjoy the sights, then we load up again during lunch at around 2-3pm, most of the time with dhal bhaat (vegetarian rice with dhal and vegetables, like our nasi daun pisang, but they serve theirs in the typical stainless steel plates), capathi or vegetraian momos, so by the time we're back at our B&B we only need a simple dinner of bread and some spread...that was also how we managed our expenses :)