30 October 2017, Monday
After resting for most of yesterday, I felt better physically today. In fact, I wasn’t aching as badly as I thought I would. I had a whole day in Kathmandu today so I took it nice and slow. At about 7:45am, I left my guest house to look for a nice place to have breakfast. I wandered into Mandala Street and stumbled upon a café called Tummo.
Mandala Street is supposedly the only walking street in Thamel and it is where Himalayan Java Coffee is also located at. It is a quiet street and a good hideout for chilling. The Tummo staff were just starting their day and I was their first customer, so I took the liberty to pick a table outside, where I could people-watch while enjoying my breakfast.
I ordered a latte and a Tummo Special, which was pancakes with caramelised bananas and maple syrup on the side. It was supposed to be topped with whipped cream, but they ran out of it so they substituted the whipped cream with ice cream, which was just perfect for me. I must say the coffee and pancakes were really good! The bill came up to Rs 550 (S$7.40), which was reasonable. It was a yummy breakfast and I highly recommend Tummo if you’re ever visiting Thamel.
After that, I took a taxi to Swayambhunath, arriving at 9:50am. The ride from Thamel took just 10 minutes and it cost Rs 250 (S$3.35). Swayambhunath is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most sacred Buddhist pilgrimage sites. It rests on a hill and can be accessed by climbing up a very steep flight of stairs. At the base, there are many prayer wheels and statues of Buddha. I stood for a moment to watch a devout pilgrim prostrate and carry out his morning prayers. The maroon robe he wore reminded me of the monks in Tibet.
As I made my way up the stairs, I also saw many hawkers peddling beautiful stone carvings and colourful embroidery work. I have a thing about these stone carvings and I always buy some back. Most of them come in standard designs incorporating the Buddha eyes, the word “Namaste” or the Sanskrit mantra “Om mani padme hum”, but you can customise them too, if you have time. But first, let me visit Swayambhunath first.
The staircase to the top of the hill was very steep indeed and I made my way up slowly, as I was still aching from the race. I was winded by the time I reached the top and had to pause to catch my breath. On the left side, there was a small booth where I purchased my entrance ticket. It costs Rs 200 for tourists.
As I ascended the final steps, the gleaming white dome and golden spire of Swayambhu stupa came into view. It was a breathtaking moment (literally) and it made the climb up worthwhile. As usual, colourful prayer flags fluttered with the wind and the smell of incense permeated the air.
From up here, I had a great view of Kathmandu Valley below. It was actually quite startling to see how many buildings there were – they stretched as far as the eye could see, housing approximately one million people in the nation’s capital. With the urban sprawl, it’s inevitable that there are overpopulation and pollution issues in Kathmandu. At that moment, I wished I was back in Sikles again, close to the mountains and nature, away from the mass of people and buildings.
The stupa itself is smaller than the one at Boudhanath, but equally impressive and beautiful. Besides the stupa, there are also a variety of shrines and temples here at Swayambhunath, including Hindu deities. The site is revered by both Buddhists and Hindus, making it a fine example of religious harmony in Nepal.
Swayambhunath is also nicknamed “Monkey Temple” because of the plethora of monkeys inhabiting the temple at night. In the day, you can still spot many of the monkeys climbing around and enjoying the attention from the visitors.
I spent about 50 minutes at Swayambhunath, slowly taking in the sights and visiting some of the shops there. I ended up buying an oil painting for Rs 2,000 (S$27) and two stone carvings for Rs 1,000.
After making my way down the stairs, I took a taxi back to Thamel, where I visited the real The North Face boutique shop. I say “real” because all of The North Face goods that you see selling in Thamel and elsewhere in Nepal are not authentic. But the quality of the knockoffs is often very good and they’re much cheaper than the original stuff. The intention of my visit was to buy the original T-shirt that states the country or city, and can only be bought from the official store. I already have the Kathmandu one from my visit in 2014 so I bought the Pokhara one this time. At Rs 2,999 (S$40), it is not cheap but it’s a nice souvenir from Nepal.
I spent the rest of the day wandering around Thamel, shopping for souvenirs for friends and buying some stuff for myself. I was as relaxed as I could be as I had nowhere else to go. I could browse the shops at ease and compare prices before making my purchase.
At night, I chanced upon a very cool shop called Beni, which sells recycled handicrafts. It is opened by a Nepali lady called Beni. She makes interesting and useful products out of recycled materials like rubber tyres and snack wrappers. The tagline for the shop is “giving Kathmandu’s rubbish a second life”.
Not only are the products environmentally friendly, a big portion of the proceeds goes to funding programmes to help the Nepali people. Beni also employs many Nepali women to produce the handicraft products. It’s a worthy cause and I felt moved by her good intentions.
I spent a long time in the shop poring over what to buy. Many items were made of the recycled snack wrappers, which were weaved tightly to form different shaped objects such as drink coasters, table mats, fruit bowls and wine bottle holders. The colourful snack wrappers made them all look very attractive. I ended up buying only the coasters because they were small and easy to bring back home.
After that, with my bag full from a day’s shopping and my wallet considerably lighter, I made my way back to Bag Packer’s Lodge to pack my luggage for tomorrow’s flight home. End of Day 6!
31 October 2017, Tuesday
When I woke up at about 8:20am this morning, the weather app showed that it was 14 degrees Celsius and predicted rain later in the day. At 9am, I went to New Orleans Café for breakfast, which was near my guest house. I didn’t go back to Tummo because I wanted to try something different.
As it was Halloween, the interior of the restaurant was decked with flags bearing the images of spiders, ghosts, black cats and bats, offering a spooky twist to the traditional prayer flags. I ordered a latte and an eggs hollandaise toast. It came with a very generous serving of hollandaise sauce that was frankly, way too much and spoiled the overall taste. The bill came up to Rs 383.53 (S$5.15) so it was quite cheap, but I think Tummo would have been a better choice.
After breakfast, I checked out of Bag Packer’s Lodge at 10:30am and I took a taxi to the airport (fare: Rs 400 / S$5.40). The forecasted rain fell as I made our way to the airport, which was good because it made the roads less dusty. The rain also forced the taxi driver to wind up the windows and switch on the AC. Most of the time, taxi drivers in Kathmandu leave the windows open and do not turn on the AC, so you’ll be sitting through a bumpy and dusty ride. Not a good combination.
When I reached Tribhuvan International Airport at 11:15am, there was a long queue of people waiting to enter the departure hall. There were security checks in place and the queue moved at a snail’s pace. It wasn’t until 11:50am before I finally got through. Luckily I came to the airport early.
My Jet Airways flight was scheduled to depart at 1:30pm but as usual, it was delayed. I got hungry as time passed but I had used up all my Nepalese rupees so I couldn’t buy any food. I only managed to scrap enough cash to buy a small cup of milk tea for Rs 100. Eventually, the boarding call came and it was 3:13pm when the plane finally took off.
There was a meal served onboard and it was actually pretty decent, though the portion of chicken was measly. Maybe I was just famished.
At 4:17pm (local time), the plane touched down at Delhi, India. I was alarmed that visibility was so poor and the air outside was so bad. As we were landing, I couldn’t even see the city and buildings till we were quite low. The air was smoggy and yellow, probably due to the setting sun. We had to transfer to a bus to take us to the terminal building so we were momentarily exposed to the air outside.
As I had a long transit in Delhi, I actually contemplated making my way to the city for a few hours to pass time. But with the current situation, I was happy that I didn’t have to step out of the airport and be exposed to the bad air for a prolonged period of time. I really cannot imagine living in Delhi with the air pollution being this bad. Clean air is really one of the most important factors for a good quality of life.
The Delhi airport is not too bad, but it cannot hold a candle to our Changi Airport for sure. I bought a magazine and some books (they’re much cheaper here compared to Singapore) and tried to while my time away reading and writing my journal. But I was so tired from the travelling, the waiting and the race that I couldn’t wait to get on the plane and go home.
Finally, at 1:05am on 1 November 2017, Wednesday, I departed Delhi and touched down at Singapore at 9am. It had been a very long and tiring day of travelling and waiting. I never felt happier to be home. There’s truly no place like home!