Namaste, Nepal! - Part 3: Kathmandu Reunion

After saying goodbye to our group in Pokhara, John and I boarded another 25 minute Yeti Airlines flight back to Kathmandu, where we met up with our friends Alex, Will, and Angela who had just returned from a safari in Chitwan National Park.

We had a sunny day in Kathmandu ahead of us.  Our first stop was Swayambunath (the Monkey Temple), where we climbed a seemingly endless flight of stairs to the top of a large hill.  Swayambunath was like a mini-Boudhanath Stupa, but with way bigger crowds and lots of monkeys jumping around, stealing garbage out of trash cans.  There was an awesome view of Kathmandu from the top of the hill.

View of Kathmandu

Crowded Swayambunath

Prayer wheels

After the Monkey Temple, we wandered the streets of Thamel some more and had lunch at a cool restaurant called OR2K where we amused ourselves playing "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" on John's phone.  John and I ventured out to Kathmandu Durbar Square but didn't want to pay the entrance fee, so we just walked around without going into any of the buildings.

Streets of Thamel, Kathmandu

Lunch at OR2K

Durbar Square

On the way back to our guesthouse, we found the famous hole in the wall lassi place that a colleague had told us about.  The place is located on the way to Durbar Square near Indra Chowk.  It was basically just a guy serving up lassi drinks from a counter, with people lined up on the side of the road.  The cool thing was that you received your drink in a real glass, drank it there, then handed it back when you were done.  Yummy and cheap!  Definitely worth my 50 cents.

Lassi guy!

In the evening, our group met up with one of Will's brother's friends who is a Kathmandu local.  We had some interesting conversations about Nepal and life over some momos, among other tasty dishes.  It was a relaxing way to end the trip.

Last dinner in Nepal

Potato and cheese stuffed momos!

The next day we would fly back to Kuala Lumpur, then eventually back to Ho Chi Minh City.  On the flight from Kathmandu to KL, John and I were able to move to window seats when we realized the row behind us was unoccupied... score!  We had beautiful views of the highest mountains in the world... so high that all the clouds were below their peaks.  We even got to see Mount Everest... amazing!!!

Mount Everest, the tallest peak in this photo!

Nepal was an intriguing country which I'd like to spend more time in.  One week was truly not enough time.  Even though we didn't get the weather we had hoped for the entire trip, we had some amazing experiences.  I left feeling that I would be back again... there was definitely something special about Nepal.