Day 1 – April 19, Friday
The trip was the coming together of a lot of ends; G going to Nepal on official work, Jeethu planning a visit there to meet her friend Sandeep since a very long time, and me just wanting to go see the Himalayas, and hopefully the famed Sagarmatha (Mt Everest). Somehow the trip fell in place over an extended weekend so we didn’t have to take too many holidays, G’s official trip just getting over, and at a time when it nicely coincided with Jeethu and Sachin’s 2nd wedding anniversary. So that’s how Jeethu, Sachin, Prabha, G and I landed up at Kathmandu, Nepal.
I came along with Jeethu and Sachin from Delhi where I landed the previous day from Bombay. G and Prabha came by a cab from Hitaoda where they were on official work in Nepal. We bought a lot of good booze from the DFS in Delhi before taking off, and Jeethu and I were wondering why we didn’t carry more cash, because nearly half the money we were carrying got spent at the DFS itself. We picked a lot of good booze though – Absolut for G and Prabha, Malibu for Jeethu, Gentlemen Jack for me and Sachin, and one JW Red Label for Sandeep. Of course, Jeethu also picked a lot of chocolates from the DFS that she couldn’t obviously travel without.
We landed at the Kathmandu airport at 1p.m, Kathmandu being 15mins ahead of IST, and were stunned to see the state of the airport! It was like the Andheri train station with a conveyer belt. It was a cramped place with paint peeling off the walls and empty telephone booths, and there were so many people that we just couldn’t figure which way to go. We found a line that said “without visa” and stood there, but realized there were only Koreans around us, while not one India who travelled in the Indigo with us. Then Sachin spotted some of the Indians going through a different line, and we noticed that line said “Special passports”. So this was the line for all the SAARC country passport holders, who could basically enter Nepal with just the passport and no visa, and so we just walked through till we reached the conveyer belt number 2, which was supposed to be where our luggage would come as per an announcement on the flight. Once again we found ourselves in a place with no Indians around, till one Nepali comes up to us and points towards a far end of the terminus saying “Indigo”. Once again we spotted some Indians standing at the conveyer belt there, which was conveyer belt number 1, and walked that way.
By now we realized that following boards that said “without visa” or hearing announcements regarding the luggage arrival belt was all a sham – all we really needed to do was follow the Indians!
So that’s what we did the rest of our time at the airport, till we got out and found Sandeep waiving at us. We were really glad he was right there, coz none of our phones were working, which was really silly of us to have not checked before we left India.
Anyway, Sandeep saved us then, and continued to do that on the rest of the trip, as he was the best organizer we could have ever asked for in a country that had so much to offer while struggling to keep itself together.
Sandeep was waiting with his girlfriend who we got introduced to, but just couldn’t catch her name, and it was only much later that I figured it was just as simple as Juni. They packed us off in a taxi and followed us on their bike, as we drove towards Sandeep’s aunts house. Sandeep himself didn’t stay in Kathmandu, but came down to be with us, and arranged one of his relatives house which was free for the weekend for us to stay in during the trip.
During the journey, I kept staring at the buildings and billboard advertisements, and chatting with the taxi driver in Hindi, which was quite impressive as I didn’t expect people to speak such fluent Hindi here. Soon I got to hear very fluent English too by some people, but will get to that. He was telling me how it was hot only on this day as it had been quite cold before this. We were wondering why people kept saying it would be cold here, as all of us were actually sweating. I was even glad I forgot my jacket back in Delhi, although that happiness was only ephemeral, as the weather changed quite rapidly in Kathmandu and even screwed up with many of our plans.
However, for now, it was dusty Kathmandu roads, en route to our temporary house. Once we got there, we were super impressed with the house. It had a beautiful garden at the entrance, wooden walls and carpeted floors on the inside, and we heaved a sigh of relief, as this was completely the opposite of all the dilapidated buildings and dust storm that we just passed through.
We sat down to discuss the plans, and Sachin brought out the collection of booze we had with us. We presented the JW to Sandeep and opened the rest of the bottles for us and I made everyone their drinks before we got down to serious discussion. G and Prabha joined us shortly, and they got KFC chicken for all of us, which we had with our drinks. The plan that finally fructified was a van being booked for the next day, to take us to a place called The Last Resort. Sachin kept wondering why we are making plans that is the last resort, and kept asking if there isn’t a better plan, till he figured the name of the place was called The Last Resort. Then G began asking why we should go there, and I told her it’s because it’s the Last Resort, and there isn’t one after that! That gave Sachin an idea to open one called the First Resort in Kanyakumari. Of course, it would never sound as cool as this one, and in fact, definitely not turn out to be anything like what Last Resort turned out to be.
Once we made those plans, we spent some time taking photos in the garden, jumping over a solitary plant in the middle of that garden and making funny poses all around. After all that romping, we took a van, a sort of tempo traveler, only it was a Toyota and hence way cooler than the tempo travelers of India, and drove to Thammel, a tourist hot spot of Kathmandu, and a place we were going to visit 4 times more in our short stay here.
The moment we hit Thammel, we were blown away with the place. So many little shops to shop from, so many cool places to hang out, it really was the most happening part of Kathmandu. While we walked around, we came across a corner shop that sold wraps. The place didn’t have any name, but it was bang opposite a famous bakery of Thammel called Pumpernickel – so that’s the landmark to finding this place, and it had some of the best shawarmas I’ve had. We just ordered one as we didn’t know how good the place would be, and continued walking, and that one wrap lasted less than 2 minutes, with all of us taking quick bites out of it. We soon reached the office of The Last Resort, and asked them for bookings for the bungee jump, and were really surprised to find that it was completely booked out. However, they had something called the Swing which they said could even booked at the venue and we decided to reach the place and try our luck with that.
We continued ahead and came across a banner on the road saying “Wish you a happy new year 2070”. Sandeep explained to us that according to the Nepal calendar, it had just turned 2070. We laughed so hard at that saying we just took a flight and ended up 57 years into the future!
We then reached a place called 18:47 The Factory, which was famous for live bands, and walked in to find a super crowded place with a small podium at one end where a band seemed to be packing off. We were late, but decided to have a drink there nevertheless as the place looked really nice. This turned out to be an awesome decision. We got lucky and managed to get a table right next to the podium which was now being setup with a DJ console, and ordered Carlsberg buckets that all of us began downing real quick as if it were a continuation from the afternoon’s drinking. We ordered some interesting starters too, and soon, began dancing on the podium, which was not what any of us thought we may do, but were sufficiently drunk to care less. In fact, it had been a long time since I danced as wild as that. I can remember times at NM, or early years of HUL when I danced as carefree as that. Juni and Sachin were providing all the entertainment; Juni dancing to songs replicating the exact video steps and Sachin singing as if he knew all the lyrics.
After a while, we decided to leave the place, but as we walked out to get a cab, it seemed the night life was really kicking in. Ladies looking as hot as they could were entering The Factory, and walking around the streets of Thammel as we walked out towards a cab. We were wondering why we are leaving when the party just about seems getting started, but Sandeep reminded us that we were to have an early morning, which remained the trend the next few days in fact, so we headed grudgingly back to the house and crashed for the night – an awesome start to the Nepal trip, as always, beginning with clubbing at one of the best places in the city
Day 2 – April 20, Saturday
Sandeep knocked on our door at 6:30 in the morning and told us sheepishly that we are getting late. I told him not to worry and woke up immediately to get ready and then wake the rest up. By the time we got ready to leave, post gobbling up some bread and marmalade with tea, it was nearly 8:30a.m, which was almost an hour late as per Sandeep, and indeed ended up shifting all the plans for the day by that much time.
We boarded the tempo traveler like van, and began our journey towards the China border, to the famous Last Resort. We stopped on the way to buy some snacks, which was basically Wai Wai, a replacement to the Maggi of India, but which serves a far wider purpose, coz people even snack on it straight out of the pack. I was really enjoying this and downed an entire pack on my own. We made a pit stop at one place on the way, and had more Wai Wai there, this time cooked in a dry fashion. There was also a wet fashion that we could have opted for. So there were three different ways to having Wai Wai against just the one of Maggi’s.
It was almost noon when we reached the Last Resort, and had to climb a metal bridge hanging across a 160mt gorge. Halfway between this was where the Bungee jump and Swings were being arranged, and we had to cross over to the other side and book our slot before making the jump. So we went ahead and paid 5700 Nepali Rupees for each jump.
I noticed a sign board saying “free wifi” and decided to ask the guy about it so that I could check my mail. The following conversation ensued:
Me: Do you have wifi here?
Guy: yes, no service
Me: oh u don't have wifi here?
Guy: we have. It's no service
Me: !!!
Sachin: (checking his phone) oh, their wifi name itself is noservice
Me: ahh! Ok, what's the password
Guy: free wifi
Me: that's good. But what's the password
Guy: free wifi
Sachin: (checking phone again) ya, the password is actually freewifi
What a place! Wifi name is Noservice and password Freewifi!! :)
Anyway, we began toying with our phones till it was time to head along for the jump. G was the only one who was not coming along, and we handed over all the stuff from our pockets lest it goes flying into the river beneath, and made our way towards the leaping point.
The weather began to get colder, and Prabha was the first to take the leap. She did it quite easily. Jeethu went next, and I was fairly impressed with her even agreeing to do it. Her rationale was that if Sachin can do it then so can she. Her jump was far more eventful than Prabha’s, coz she kept talking to the instructor and asking questions to delay the jump. The guy finally got bugged and almost pushed her out. The moment she reached the other end of the swing, she actually began waiving out to us. She really seemed to be enjoying this. Juni went next, and she too took off very peacefully like Prabha. Sachin followed, and he managed to twist himself halfway through his jump which made him look the wrong way while swinging. Sandeep went next and he too completed peacefully. I went last, and by this time the skies had opened up and it began to drizzle. The last time I did the bungee in Bangalore also it had rained just like this. I kept telling myself that I should enjoy this fall more than I had at the last bungee because at that time I really shat bricks the few seconds after taking off and really didn’t want to do that this time, but instead, actually enjoy the drop, just like the recurring dreams I had as a kid of jumping off a building and free falling towards the earth, enjoying the breeze across my face as I fell.
But this time too, it just didn’t happen. The moment I got on the ledge, I began saying “oh shit”, and I said it all the way till I felt the rope tug when I reached the bottom of the jump. I was so famished with those 3 seconds of adrenalin rush, that once I began swinging like a pendulum at the base, I just wanted to relax and watch the surroundings and make up for not enjoying the first few seconds of the fall.
There was a guy at the bottom who lassoed a rope my way for me to pull myself back to shore, and as I came back, I kept thinking how I ended up becoming more of a pansy as I grew up. There was a time I used to ride a bike recklessly, get wasted easily, and look forward to doing adventure sports. Today I dread sitting on a bike and drive my car fairly slow, don’t get drunk the way I used to, and actually get more scared doing these adventure sports. Guess I should complete the other stuff that I want to do, like deep sea diving, and sky diving before I completely chicken out.
Anyway, we had to trek our way back to base from the river at the bottom, and this turned out to be the trekking that we thought we weren’t going to be doing in Nepal. And once we got back, we were ravenously hungry. The cold weather, coupled with the trek, and most importantly the 3 sec adrenalin rush got me completely starved. I couldn’t even talk to people and tell them what I experienced till I had sufficient food in the system. Thankfully we made it to the buffet on time, as lunch was only being served till 3p.m and it was already 3:30. This was when we first realized that starting an hour early would have really helped.
Once we were done eating, we went and watched our videos. I was just too embarrassed to watch my fall which G made worse by saying that everyone could hear me say “oh shit” and kept laughing when I jumped. So the last thing I wanted to do was pay money to collect the jump video which Jeethu and Sachin promptly did.
Once we were done, we walked back to the car. G once again had a tough time crossing the bridge because of her vertigo. So for her, this itself was an adventure. She walked slowly, clutching my hand and holding the rope and looking straight ahead taking baby steps as we moved along.
We then began our drive to Nagarkot, which was the closest hill station and tourist spot from Kathmandu, and finally reached there by 9:30p.m, once again a little too late, as the driver had to negotiate the hilly turns in pitch dark. This was the second time we felt that starting early would have helped.
By the time we checked in at the Hotel Hill View, and completed the half empty bottle of Gentleman Jack, and gorged on the momos and chowmein we bought along the way, it was nearly 11p.m and time to hit the bed as we had to wake up at 5a.m to catch the sunrise, which was the main purpose of traveling to Nagarkot.
Day 1 – April 21, Sunday
I woke up at 5a.m and was surprised to find that it was already day break. So I quickly got ready and woke the girls up. There was no water at this place and hence had to fill bottles and finish our jobs. We then climbed to the terrace and noticed that we stayed at the hotel that offered the best view in Nagarkot, as it was higher than the other hotels giving us a full 360 degree view of what was to be our first glimpse of the Himalayas. I had read that you can spot the Everest too from here, but that was misquoted as the caretaker clearly told us that it’s not possible.
We then had breakfast and left the place by 7a.m to make it to the Kathmandu airport for our flight to Pokhara at 9:20a.m. We felt bad about leaving Nagarkot so soon, but Sandeep insisted that Pokhara was far more beautiful. So we got to the airport, checked in, and drove in the bus till the plane, when we got to know that the weather is too bad to take off, and the bus turned back to the airport. We then waited at the airport drinking expensive coffee and it was taking for ever for the flights to resume. They soon began operating some of the other flights, but Pokhara was being delayed as the weather at Pokhara was too bad. It was nearly noon now, and we knew that it was no point going to Pokhara now, considering we had a flight out of the place at 11a.m the next day.
So we called Sandeep back to the aiport and he helped us cancel our tickets for a full refund. Then we took a cab and went back to his place in Kathmandu and got to know there was no water there as well. So we once again had to skip shower, and we were all so famished with the travel, that I was just lying on the sofa when Sachin and Sandeep said they would go and pick some food for us, that I just crashed. I woke up when I heard Sandeep’s voice and was wondering whether they had not left as yet. I came up to find them sitting with all the food they purchased, and noticed that the rest of the girls had also crashed just like me. I woke them all up to have the food, which was more momos and chowmein, but this time with Gorkha beer from Nepal, and we had our fill and went right back to sleep.
Once we woke up, we decided to head out to Thammel again. This time everybody did some shopping. G helped me pick a Pashmeena that I wanted my travels, and she herself picked a lot of items to gift people. We went back to our wraps corner shop and just settled there, ordering wraps and Nepal Ice Beer from the friendly waiter, who even excitedly took a lot of photos for us when we asked him to.
After spending a nice time chatting, eating and drinking right on the street, we headed back home and crashed. The next day was to be another early morning start, to visit the famous Pashupatinath temple of Kathmandu, followed by some other local attractions.
Day 4 – April 22, Monday
We started the day at 10a.m, after I made Wai Wai for everyone in the same manner the dry Wai Wai was made at the place we pit stopped en route to the Last Resort. We took a cab that was booked by Sandeep and the driver was a real nut case. He was dressed like a Speed Racer and tried to speak fashionable English, but was really irritating us by changing plans as per his convenience. G and Jeethu took turns giving it to him every time he behaved funny, and somehow lasted the day with him with Jeethu not completely lashing out at him.
We visited the Pashupatinath temple just when the Abhishek was going on, after which the temple immediately closed, so we were just in time, and after this visit, the weather had completely changed and it was sunny the rest of our stay in Kathmandu.
We then visited the Patan Darbar Square, which was declared a world heritage site and used international funding to keep the place from completely falling apart after it was fairly badly damaged in the 1934 earth quakes with little support from the Nepal government on its restoration, when they clearly had better places to spend their money.
We took a lot of photos here, and then visited a restaurant called Patan De Café which Sandeep suggested is the best place here, and it turned out to be the best place we ate on this trip, as it served authentic Newari food, which is the local cuisine of Nepal. Most Nepali cuisine was very Indian, or at best momos and chowmein, and this was the first place we were ordering things that sounded different and tasted incredibly eclectic.
We started with something called Chatamari. This was an akki roti type of Dosa with chicken filling. G wanted to stick to a regular Chicken Shaslik and that came along next. Jeethu was wanting to eat Cheese Pakoras for a long time, and finally found it in this place and ordered that. Sachin and I ordered something Sandeep recommended called Choyala, which was basically Beef chilly, but it was actually the most amazing beef fry I had ever tasted. It was made up of some spices that really lent a nice tangy taste to the meat that I just completely enjoyed. We were quite filled with all this food, and to conclude our meal, we decided to order something called the Wo, which was the only thing left on the menu that sounded authentic and which we hadn’t tried. Now just like the Chatamari and the Choyala, there were different types of Wo, which were basically the meat fillings in the dish.
Sachin calls the waiter to order and the following conversation ensues:
Sachin: do u have wo?
Waiter: kyan wo?
Sachin: haan wo
Waiter: no no. Kyan wo (pointing at menu)
Sachin: oh, kyan wo means veg wo
Waiter: laa wo?
Sachin: haan, laao
Waiter: no no. Laa wo (pointing at menu again)
Sachin: oh, laa wo means chicken wo
Waiter: kyan wo? Laa wo?
Sachin: kyan wo laao
Waiter: kyan wo? Or laa wo?
Sachin: kyan wo kyan wo
2 mins later, waiter arrives
Waiter: kyan wo. Khao
We resumed our journey and headed to the Swaymbunath temple. This was another famous temple in Kathmandu, and just like Pashupatinath was to Shiva, this was to Buddha. It was really nice to see the same city offer wonderful temples to both religions this way. Swaymbunath offered a nice view of Kathmandu city from where it stood, so more photos began clicking away, and next we had an option of visiting Basantpur, which was another old city of Kathmandu like the Patan Darbar Square, or simply head to Thammel and then back home. Since we didn’t have much time on us with the driver making a fuss that his time with us was only till 7pm, and also because we were quite tired with the days travel, we decided to just head to Thammel.
This was our third straight visit to the place, and we thought people over there would start recognizing us by now. G was talking about a restaurant called New Orleans, and I thought we should visit that place on our last evening in Kathmandu. So I went there and placed orders for everyone and sipped on an Everest beer, while Jeethu and Sachin went to the Last Resort office to collect their CD’s and G and Prabha did some last minute shopping.
As soon as the food came, we left the place, which was a bit of a disappointment, as New Orleans was actually a very neat place to hangout. However, with the driver continuing to call us, and with Sandeep having booked an early morning mountain flight and ensuring we once again wake up early, fourth day in a row, we decided to head back soon.
When we got home, we found Sandeep’s aunt and uncle whose house this actually was had returned from their trip. So we spoke to them for some time, and I presented the bottle of JW to uncle, which was initially for Sandeep, but as suggested by Sandeep ended up being a gift for uncle. And we soon got down to eating the food that we had ordered. Aunty prepared some fried fish for us well which we ate, and soon hit the bed.
Day 5 – April 23, Tuesday
We woke up at 4:30 to get ready for our early morning Mountain Flight which was to take us to see the Himalayas, and really hoped that the weather would stay sunny the way it did post our Pashupatinath temple the previous day. We got late leaving, and reached the airport only by 6a.m for our 6:15a.m flight. We walked straight through the airport till we reached the bus, and this time, successfully made the trip inside the plane. What was even better was that the weather continued to remain amiable, and we got a very clear view of the Himalayas, which on many occasions turns a dampener as the clouds get in the way of the mountain view. We saw all the different peaks, with the pilots as well as the air hostess explaining to us what the different peaks were, and finally when the Mount Everest came along, everybody was out of their seats and staring out of the windows to capture photos of the worlds highest mountain. I was super thrilled seeing the one thing I’ve always wanted to. The pyramids and the aurora borealis are the next in line of a long wait.
Once we got back, we decided to spend time outside itself as we had already packed our entire luggage, and as always, decided to go back to Thammel. We went to New Orleans again as we hadn’t spent much time there the previous evening, and ordered a nice breakfast for everyone there.
I ordered a Nepali omlette which tasted very similar to the Indian masala omlette, while the others ordered bacon filled croissants which actually tasted really good. Once we were done with the food, I dropped Jeethu and Sachin home and came back to pick G and Prabha and head to the airport.
At the Kathmandu airport, the Jet checkin lady was really sweet to me and smiled nicely saying she would be giving me the first row. Prabha was ragging me saying she was hitting on me, and I ended up thinking it was true when she turned up at the boarding counter as well, and this time, upgraded me to Business Class. Once we were inside, G also got upgraded, and we ended up spending our first flight together in Business Class. The air hostess was really surprised that the 2 of us were randomly upgraded, when even our regular seats in the flight were not together. G’s was with Prabha while I was in the first row.
But anyway, we made the most use of it watching movies, while I bottomed 3 large Black Labels making me reasonably drunk. G was not at all happy with how high I ended up getting on the flight, but I just couldn’t help it. Not sure if it was the fatigue from the trip, the fact that I hadn’t showered in days, or just the thought of having to get back to office and deal with all those mails that I kept reading every now and then I got access to the internet.
But I was nice and high and crashed on our bed around 6:30p.m itself, only to wake the next day morning directly. It was the longest I’d slept in ages, and was a much needed break after a well travelled trip.
So that’s how the Nepal trip panned out. Some quick pointers:
1) Indian currency works everywhere, however, some people make a fuss about 500 and 1000 rupee notes – so better to keep 100 rupee notes
2) Weather is super unpredictable, so keep sufficient days during the visit here, and remain flexible, as plans are likely to change
3) Kathmandu is a city struggling to keep itself together, so it’s better to avoid the dusty roads and head out to the numerous scenic places to visit, all which are connected by local flights like Buddha Air, Yeti Air and Simtrik Airlines
4) Indulge in adventure sports like bungee jumping, rafting or just trekking. They are the best things on offer in Nepal. Of course, there is an option to gamble as well, which is open only to outsiders and not for local Nepalese
5) Definitely try out the Newari cuisine. They are like Dosas and Uttapams with meat and spices we may have never tasted in India.
6) Club late into the nights on the streets of Thammel. The world comes to party there and the atmosphere is electric, especially after mid-night
The highlights for me personally:
1) Newari Choyala
2) The 3 second rush doing the Swing. Wonder if I would ever do a bungee or a swing again, so this may as well be the last time.
3) Trying out 3 types of beer – Nepal Ice, Everest and Gorkha, and I think Nepal Ice takes the gold. It was real smooth beer with 7% alcohol
4) Getting to see the Mt. Everest from the skies, because the next time I see it, it would be from the Everest Base Camp
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