After a week at the Potala Guesthouse in the tourist haven of Thamel. Kiersten and I decided to head out and spend a few nights in some of the other towns the Kathmandu valley has to offer. An obvious first chose was the medieval city of Bhaktapur, located roughly 25km east of Kathmandu. Bhaktapur is home some of the finest and most intricate architecture in all of Nepal. To get there we took a taxi out of Kathmandu rather than brave the chaos of the Kathmandu bus depot (yeah we're kinda lame in that regard). We ended up staying couple nights at the Shiva guesthouse near the centre of town, which was recommended by the one of the front desk clerks at Potala. After arriving, we wasted no time before hitting the town and seeing what it had to offer.
After coughing up the relatively steep 1500NPR entrance fee to basically get into the entire town, and running the gauntlet of "tour guides," we wandered aimlessly through the brick and stone streets admiring the countless temples, buildings, and carvings that make up the town. What was interesting was that once you left the main squares there was hardly another tourist in sight. The town was filled with locals milling about, shop keepers selling pretty much anything, chickens, goats, and farm animals that often didn't seem to belong to anyone, and children playing any number of games.
One of the main industries in Bhaktapur and surrounding area seemed to pottery. They were selling it everywhere and all the locals ate out of dishes made out of it (and often seemed to leave them smashed in alleyways and along the street).
Our guesthouse turned out to be really nice. Not only was the room clean and cool, we had a nice little balcony overlooking a small courtyard and some nice buildings.
Another interesting aspect of Bhaktapur were the numerous man made pools that seemed to be located every couple blocks or so. One of the larger ones even offered "boat trips" for 10 NPR. Coming from an island this "boat trip" seemed little ridculous because all it entailed was going around in circles in a pool that maybe measure 25m by 50m. The only people at all interested in these tours seemed to be locals.
Anyways. there isn't really that much exciting to say. We basically just walked around and looked at things. I could try and describe it in detail but I would probably just bore you to death. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. One last thing worth mentioning is the yogurt like delicacy that is only found Bhaktapur called juju dhau (or King's Curd). It is basically a sweet unbelivably creamy yogurt that is sold everywhere in Bhaktapur. If you ever make it to Nepal you have to try it, words don't really do it justice (this is coming from a guy who doesn't really like yogurt).
One of the main industries in Bhaktapur and surrounding area seemed to pottery. They were selling it everywhere and all the locals ate out of dishes made out of it (and often seemed to leave them smashed in alleyways and along the street).
Our guesthouse turned out to be really nice. Not only was the room clean and cool, we had a nice little balcony overlooking a small courtyard and some nice buildings.
Anyways. there isn't really that much exciting to say. We basically just walked around and looked at things. I could try and describe it in detail but I would probably just bore you to death. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. One last thing worth mentioning is the yogurt like delicacy that is only found Bhaktapur called juju dhau (or King's Curd). It is basically a sweet unbelivably creamy yogurt that is sold everywhere in Bhaktapur. If you ever make it to Nepal you have to try it, words don't really do it justice (this is coming from a guy who doesn't really like yogurt).
Awesome updates guys! Looks like you are having an amazing time. (Henry)
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