State language – Nepalsky.
Currency – Nepal Rupe (1 NPR ≈ 0.55 RUB).
Local time – GMT +5: 45 (the difference with Moscow is 3 hours 15 minutes).
I visited many cities, but I will remember the capital of high -mountain Nepal for a long time. The unique flavor, many old temples, silent Buddhist monks, bike bike rings and street sellers in everything in a row, noise and dust – this is all about Kathmandu.
The capital of Nepal often serves as a transit point for further traveling around the country. If this is your first trip to the country where the Buddha was born, I advise you not to stay in Kathmand for more than 3 days, the city can be seen very quickly and not everyone can like it.
Life hacks:
- Since the dust is everywhere and there are a lot of it, take a cotton-gauze bandage with you, breathing without it is not always easy.
Masks can also be bought on the street. And most stores are located here right on the street.
You need to bargain everywhere. Do not rush to buy souvenirs in the first store that fall, go several, compare and then tell the sellers what you saw and cheaper.
- It is better to take money with you in dollars, you can change it everywhere. Maps are not accepted almost anywhere. The best exchange rate, according to local, in Nabil Bank. There are enough ATMs, especially in the Tamel area, where you are most likely stopping, because there is a very large hotel concentration.
- Do not be fooled by local offers to show you one or another place, most likely you will be taken to the store or ask for money for a mini-excursion. In general, stock up on, since there are a lot of sellers in a row for tourists on the streets and they are incredibly bored.
- Do not rush to pay money for visiting a particular attraction – you can go free almost everywhere.
- Download offline cards to the phone in advance or ask for a paper card at the hotel. Remember the guidelines of your hotel (a large sign of a cafe in English with a spelling error, a rusty bicycle, the most prefixing seller of bracelets in the whole world). The city is the same everywhere, you can get lost in it at a distance of 30 meters, verified.
- In a cafe, order Dal Bat. The normal price for it is 300 rupees (about 170 rubles). Rice is based, different additives from vegetables and meat (optional). The main feature of this dish is that you can ask for a supplement to it in all Nepal for free, with the exception of chicken meat :).
- Locals eat at Yangling Restaurant (the coordinates of the institution: 27.7160 ° N, 85.3071 ° E): adequate prices, very tasty momo (Nepaler dumplings. The dough is thinner, more vegetables in the filling). Wi-Fi password: 12345abcde.
- Take tees or extension cords with you. In hotels, as a rule, a maximum of 2 outlets and they are very shattered. He lived in four hotels, not super -deeds, everywhere there was the same thing.
What to see in 2-3 days
Tyel district
A large area in which everything is mixed. There are places where everything is only for tourists, and places where everything is for local. I recommend a walk here for the sake of a great opportunity to make many beautiful and colorful photos. Feel free to go to all yards and temples, to souvenir shops-here they are more reminiscent of mini-museums.
Durbar Square (Palace Square)
Locals call her “Durnbare Square” – ask so. Coordinates of the area: 27.7042 ° N, 85.3056 ° E.
You can get free, for this it is enough just bypass Ticket Office-there are no fences or security meters from it. Or pay 1000 rupees (approximately 550 rubles).
What to see:
- Square itself. Pretty spacious, forced by shelves with souvenirs and is shed by guides trying to sell their services and guess your nationality in appearance. (I was a Norwegian, a Pole and an Argentine man. I had to open the truth that I was from the free peoples of Middle -earth.)
- The palace of the living goddess Kumari. All Nepal worships a little girl: she is forbidden to step on the ground, and she leaves the palace only on big holidays – 3 or 4 times a year. She will be the goddess until she reaches puberty, after which another will take her place.
Her Dvarets house is located on the territory of Palace Square. It is considered a great success to see the goddess in the window of her palace. You can ask the locals at what time it approaches the window. The clock of its appearance is usually fixed (± 30 minutes).
- Buddhist and Hindu temples. Indoustists in Nepal are about 90% of the population. But they are very proud of the fact that the Buddha was born in their country. Do not be surprised when you see at almost every step the inscription “Buddha Was Born in Nepal”.
- The consequences of the 2015 earthquake. The country is poor, so the ruins are simply neatly fenced with small fences and still has not been removed much.
Pile
Locals call this place pile or timeline (coordinates: 27.7150 ° N, 85.2905 ° E).
One of the most famous Buddhist temples in Nepal. It is located on the top of the hill, where two paths lead. One of them is exactly 365 steps (verified). The staircase is quite steep, calculate your strength.
On the other way, the rise is much easier (it is on the other side of the mountain) and there is a workaround past the ticket office. It is enough just to go to the right along the fence, where you will see another staircase upstairs. Nobody looks at this way, no one checks the tickets anywhere.
What is happening here and what to do here:
- At the top there is a large stupa with eyes drawn into the distance. There are many believers and the same number of tourists. In the evening there is almost no one, if you want to calmly see everything, come in the evening.
- Twist Buddhist drums with mantra.
- Make a selfie with the monks – they do not mind.
- Beautiful panorama to the city, come in the evening before sunset.
- Immediately there are a lot of monkeys, they are not cute, they look more like gopniks from the outskirts. Do not try to stroke them or approach them sharply, they can call friends 🙂
Pashupatinath
This is the old Hindu temple of the god Shiva (coordinates: 27.7105 ° N, 85.3487 ° E). There are services, there is a park with deer and immediately cremate the dead. It is believed that the funeral in the territory of the temple is a very large plus to Karma.
I advise you to go here if you are ready to see something and really wild and, of course, without children. Honestly, what was happening did not shock me and I did not feel some bad energy there.
You can also get to Pashupatinath for free (in general, the entrance costs 1000 rupees, about 550 rubles).
The temple is divided into two parts. Burials take place in the lower, in the upper – chants in honor of the god Shiva; There are very calm and many monkeys.
The lower part
Burials are held on special pedestals, they can’t pass by tourists, they are allowed only to local. Everything goes calmly, no cry and groans, there is a different attitude to life and death, because, according to Hinduism, everyone is reborn. The whole process takes about 3-4 hours. At the end, the ashes are dumped into the water. Downstream, people wash, erase things, look for golden teeth and rings.
The upper part
It is strikingly different from the funeral part of the temple, although in contrast with the lower part everything will be strikingly different 🙂 Hindu chants are held in the upper temple, a lot of old temple buildings, monkeys, two or three cows walk, there is a park with real deer, they can be viewed due to the fence and even feed.
Another sights
1. Baudnath (the same pile, but not at the top of the mountain and more).
2. Frick Street (a waste of time, now there are only tourist stores and two or three hints in the form of acid signs, that the hippie movement once began here).
3. Dream Garden (just a park with palm trees).
What to bring from souvenirs
Masks, flags with mantra, herbal tinctures and ointments, jewelry.
My advice
Just walk around the city, take pictures of everything you see, bargain everywhere, do not take off the respirator and absorb the color of the capital of the highest state in the world.
