“The snow and the storm destroy the flower; but its seed they cannot kill”
Khalil Gibran
24 April 2015, Katmandu, capital city of Nepal woke up in a chaos. An earthquake, 7.9 on richter scale, hit Nepal, the strongest one since 1934. The city needs to heal, to stand up and continue the way to development.
When we decide to go to Nepal, we don’t really know what to expect. Lot of newspapers or travel forum would recommend to not going immediately. “Nepal is still on reconstruction”. Indeed, tourism figures are not very good. Since mid-2015, tourism decrease slightly.
Going to Kathmandu by bus
Decided to not stay on « media » opinion, we cross with enthusiasm the border on the east side, at Kakarbhitta. Noticing short differences between India and Nepal, we find a night bus for the capital. After 17h of bus, plasma screen and music on, we arrive in Kathmandu… a sunny Sunday morning.
In spite of a constant dusty cloud, we fall in love with the architecture of the city. Everything is so well conserved. If some of the oldest building of the main square had been touched by the earthquake, the old city stays exceptional. Around Karmel area, it is common to find fine-sculpted wooden building/houses, small ancient doors and temples (Buddhist, indhuist)… Everything is so intense, so alive. Wahou!
Discovering history – something with Thousands and One Nights
Kathmandu, more than a step before a trek in Himalaya (have a look to Tintin in Tibet 🙂 ), is also an immersion in a part of the history we are not used to. The modern capital city of Nepal is in reality 3 old capitals, 3 ancient kingdoms neighbors from less than 10km: Kathmandu, Bakhtapur, Patan. Today, these cities are registered on the humanity heritage list, every alley being a single invitation to our thousand and one night dreams.
Under a heavy sun, we lose ourselves with pleasure in the streets, meeting sometimes some people living in this standing part of the history. In Nepal, history surrounds the atmosphere despite the location between the 2 giants which are China and India.
A bouddhist atmosphere
In Patan, we visit a museum of Buddhism history. We take the opportunity to test our knowledge and of course learn more. This “religion” was born in Nepal and spread all over Asia the last 10 years. Around Himalaya, it is maybe the place where we found the strongest mysticism and an indescribable deep.
Ah Nepal, what a country! Even though difficult to access in a lot of part, the country is absolutely lovely and without any doubt stays one of the pearls of Asia…
We are Ela & David, 2 citizens of the world. In quest of a new way of living, more respectful from the environment and the Humans, we travel slowly to discover new cultures, to look for inspirations and with a wish of sharing. Wants to know more?
