After 4 wild days in Delhi it was time to move on and start my next journey in Nepal. Nope, I did not have a crazy hiking plan and I did not have a tight schedule which I need to follow. I basically just booked a flight to Kathmandu without any plan. Just as always ;) I like to get inspired by people I met and locals I talk to. Worked always perfect so far.
Kathmandu, 10.04.2019 - 22:00 PM. I arrive at the super small and super convenient airport in the capital of Nepal. For the first time ever I saw Visa machines where you can print your visa after filling out a few lines. Goes super smooth and super fast. After printing it out you just go to one of the service desks and pay about 25 US$ for a 15 day stay. After 20 mins everything was done and I left the airport to take a taxi to my Hostel.
After check-In into my hostel which was located pretty central in Kathmandu I went out to eat some quick dinner and headed right back to take a shower and going to bed. I remember the first night was a pleasing! No AC needed as the temperature was about 15°C lower than in Delhi. Even it was quite hot during the day it cooled down at night which was perfect.
Kathmandu, Nepal
After having some eggs with potatoes and toast for breakfast I went out quite early at around 08:00 AM to discover a bit the area around the hostel. The very first thing what I recognized was - It was so much more quite than Delhi! No more noises and no more horns. The contrast was really big and I have to say that I enjoyed the little noise break for my brain.
Central Kathmandu is full of small alleys and roads which have all kinds of shops and market stands around. You can buy fresh herbs, fruits, veggies or what ever you like on the streets. And I have to admit that the quality of the products in Nepal is really high. Probably the highest I've seen in a long time.
As I had the whole day time and also a couple of more days to spend in Kathmandu I decided to do a day trip to a mountain village called Nagarkot which was about 1.5 hours away from the capital.
You can see on the distance that it wasn't that far - BUT the traffic in Nepal is incredible slow :D - Something you really have to be aware of when you traveling around.
Nagarkot
After negotiating a fair price with a taxi driver from Kathmandu I started my journey to the small mountain village. The landscape around the road was quite impressive. Full of green nature and very clean.
Even this road looks already a little bumpy - Trust me, when I tell you that this was one of the best road I saw in Nepal :D
On the side of the road and actually everywhere around I saw quite a lot of construction going on. After the heavy earthquake a few years back Nepal is still working on rebuilding a lot of areas and places.
When I arrived on top of the mountain village there was an absolute breathtaking view as you can see in the picture above. The sun was shining through the clouds and gave the strong green from the tea plantations a very special reflection of beautiful colors.
After enjoying a while on top of the mountain I decided to try some local food in one of the restaurants of the village.
Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the menu but I can tell you it was unbelievable good. I immediately fell in love with Nepalese food. Even thinking back on it right now make me starving! Also the local beer was really good - I mean, of course I had to try it! ;)
After eating and spending some time on the balcony of this little restaurant, I went out again to discover the village a bit more.
Some locals told me later on that day that there is a bus going down to Kathmandu at 17:00 PM which was perfect as I already was looking for a way how to get back to the hostel. While I was waiting for the bus some little friends visited me on the steps where I was sitting.
After saying Good-Bye to them it was time to get in the bus to take the ride back to Kathmandu.
It was a prefect first day for me in Nepal. After arriving in Kathmandu I went back to the hostel, looked through my photos and fell asleep quite early.
I hope you enjoyed the virtual trip through my first day in Nepal with me :)
Thanks for reading!
Best,
Chris
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://world-capture.com/2019/05/18/kathmandu-nagarkot-nepal-travelreport-day-1/