#HeyJo let’s go to… Nepal.

Nepal is very much an adventurers country. The grand majority of people that I met in Nepal chose it as a trekking destination.

It also has deeply seated roots as a stopover (or the final stop) on the hippie trail from Europe to South Asia. According to history, many hippies chose not to leave Kathmandu because they fell in love with the landscape and the relaxed attitude of the people. They also appreciated the free-thinking attitude there towards marijuana. Freak Street was known as the spot to go to and, although that area is no longer a destination for modern day hippies, there is still quite an impressive hippie culture in the north of Pokhara.

I’m writing this travel guide to give advice to anyone who wants to go to Nepal based on my own personal experiences, both good and bad. There are spots I loved and spots I disliked and spots I wished I had gone to, had I known about them ahead of time.

Kathmandu – In Two To Three Days

Kathmandu is loud, seriously dusty and busy. Many people I met during my time in Nepal chose to avoid Kathmandu as much as possible, myself included once I ventured out of the city. Kathmandu does have some impressive tourist sites though and they should not be skipped over.

I spent my time in the Thamel district of Kathmandu. It has pretty much everything you could need while in Nepal: pharmacies, shopping, trek-outfitting, and plenty of opportunity to find a guide to take you on the mountain.

It also has a lot of temples and stupas but, I found that after visiting quite a few that they begin to look the same after a while. A few stood out and have made it to my recommendations of places to go.

I would encourage you to go to the Garden of Dreams, the Seto Machhen-dranath Temple (Jan Bahal), and Swoyambhu Temple (the Monkey Temple). If you have more time, then you should also check out Tri Devi Temple and Durbar Square. All of this can easily be done in two days.

Garden of Dreams

The Garden of Dreams opens at 9:00 a.m. and it’s a nice spot to go to escape the city. The dustiness from the street is kept at bay because the garden is surrounded by high walls. It’s like walking into a calm, lush oasis. I personally spent an entire day at the Garden of Dreams. I wasn’t in a rush and had an infinite amount of time so I was happy to spend the day reading there. The garden can easily be seen within an hour (less if you’re not taking massive amounts of photos).

The entrance fee to the garden is 200 rupees (about $2USD).

I would recommend going for its opening at 9:00 a.m.  There are very few people there at that hour. In fact, there were three others when I first arrived at its opening. With so few people you can truly appreciate the calmness and peacefulness of the garden, admire the flowers and the stone elephant statues, all before the sun starts beating down.

If you choose to stay for the whole day, as I did, there are benches and grassy lawns to relax upon. Once the sun gets to its hottest point, shelter can be found at the cafe in the grounds, or under one of the many trees in the garden.

Seto Machhen-dranath Temple (Jan Bahal)

Before leaving on my trip to Nepal I had read that Jan Bahal was a great temple to visit, but when it came to my day walking around the city exploring the different temples, I completely forgot about it. I would have been disappointed if I had missed out.

Seto Machhen-dranath Temple is glorious for multiple reason. One is that it is massive. The second reason is that it is hidden away in a courtyard with no way of finding it or stumbling across it.

Looking back, I think I was very lucky to have stumbled upon this place.

I was taking photos of a different temple that was situated on a very busy street corner in Kathmandu, with tuk-tuks and motorbikes on one side and vendors selling fruits and flowers on the other. A lady came over and “told” me to go to the backside of the temple and walk through a teal archway.

Not sharing the same language, communication with her was very challenging, but her enthusiasm about where she was telling me to go (and her big camera) convinced me to follow her pointed finger to the other side of the temple.

I walked through the teal archway and came out at the Seto Machhen-dranath Temple.

There is no way of knowing there is a temple here because it is in the middle of a courtyard surrounded by eight-storey high buildings, which are very high for Nepal. The temple is completely hidden, and you have to walk through a teal archway and down a small alley to get to it.

It is incredible though and left me with my mouth hanging wide open. There’s so much going on outside of the temple, with motorbikes and dust everywhere, that it’s shocking to stumble into this serene place for worship. There’s still so much going on inside this courtyard but, in the calmest way possible. Locals praying and pigeons flying everywhere, different offerings being presented at every shrine, all in as hushed a manner as possible. And so much beautiful gold coloured decoration and architecture.

If you can find this temple, visit it. It is so worth it.

Swoyambhu Temple (Monkey Temple)

The draw of Swoyambhu Temple, for me, was that it was nicknamed the Monkey Temple.

It did not disappoint in being true to its nickname. The whole area of Swoyambhhu should be nicknamed “the monkey area” because the whole region has the little guys running about.

The temple itself is massive and, in a way, it’s unfortunate that the monkeys are the point of interest. The stupa is huge and sits on top of a hill overlooking Kathmandu, which is shockingly large. The temple covers a few blocks. There are so many different areas to the Swoyambhu Temple as well – different shrines, stupas, and places of worship scattered throughout the temple’s massive area.

It’s scale makes it big enough to be a small village and, with the clapboard buildings at the top selling knick-knacks to tourists as well as a coffee shop for snacks and refreshments, it very well could have been at one point. There are even stalls set up at the entrance with people selling trinkets. So as soon as you enter you have the feeling of it being a pseudo-village.

The temple also clearly suffered substantial damage from the 2015 earthquake and it is pretty shocking to see the rubble and broken down bits of structures surrounded by new bricks for the rebuild.

In terms of the experience with the monkeys at the temple (the whole reason I wanted to visit this temple in the first place), there were monkeys literally everywhere.

And they are aggressive little bastards.

I had been warned ahead of time to be careful of the creatures and to not have any food with me. They’re aggressive in the Swoyambhu area! They are accustomed to people. Not only that, but they are smart and will essentially perform tricks to get food from you.

Heeding the warnings and horror stories, I made sure I went over to the temple with nothing but my camera and some money.

It was pretty trippy to see people praying at the top of the temple with monkeys running around everywhere. You would be walking along and all of a sudden there was a monkey at your feet. Or one just hanging out inside a shrine, scaring you if you looked in. Who would expect to see a monkey chilling in there? Or swinging from the structures overhead? Or jumping from stoop to stoop?

Swoyambhu Temple is an incredible temple to visit simply based on its size, but the monkeys turn it into a unique temple experience.

Extras: Tri Devi Temple and Durbar Square

Tri Devi Temple is a temple dedicated to three goddesses. It’s across the street from the Garden of Dreams with no entry fee. Since it is very small, you don’t need much time to explore. I personally was a fan of Tri Devi Temple because of its dedication to “girl power” and, the lovely sense of calm and peace that washed over me during my visit. There are three little houses there with the statues inside, as well as a large bell you can ring to announce your presence to the goddesses. It is very small in comparison to some of the other temples and stupas I visited while in Nepal, but that’s also part of the beauty.

Durbar Square is a massive area with multiple temples scattered throughout. Many of the temples were damaged in the 2015 earthquake and look like they are being held up by pieces of bamboo, while others have been completely condemned. There are so many temples here that you literally need a map to navigate your way around. If you are willing to venture further into Durbar Square, you will come across Freak Street, the area of Kathmandu that used to be home to hippies making the overland pilgrimage from the UK to Thailand.

Durbar Square is also where the Living Goddess resides. She makes an appearance twice a day from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and again from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. My trekking guide informed me she is chosen by a selection committee, and then stays in the Durbar Square temple house with her family until she has her first period. She is only allowed to leave the temple house to make her twice-daily balcony appearances, and for religious ceremonies.

Pokhara – Three Days

Pokhara is the second largest city in Nepal, second to Kathmandu. I stayed in the Lakeside Pokhara area which is a smaller, tourist area of the city. It was a welcome change after the loud, dustiness of Kathmandu as it was much calmer and serene. I spent a week in Pokhara however, three to four days would have been more than enough time.

When in Pokhara I would recommend visiting the Peace Stupa and the north end of Lakeside Pokhara, with a stop at the Movie Garden or for a little paragliding adventuring. I found that the caves or Devi’s Falls were not worth the effort. And it’s definitely worth taking advantage of the calmness while you’re there!

The Peace Stupa

I know, I know… Not another stupa. The Peace Stupa is worth it though, I promise. It’s located across the lake at the top of a hill so even the journey to get there is pretty magical.

You can rent a boat for half the day and paddle yourself for about 700 RPs or you can rent a boat with a driver so that you can just enjoy being rowed across the lake. Once you get to the other side, it’s about a 45 minute hike up to the stupa. After a two week trek I couldn’t believe I was doing those infamous Nepali steps again, and this time simply to see a stupa. Upon reaching the top though, I realized it was worth it.

The views from the top up are pretty incredible, including the unobstructed sight of Pokhara. Again, it was shocking to see how big the city actually is. I realized again how much of a small pocket I was staying in at Lakeside Pokhara.

The stupa is big and white and gold. It’s glorious in its beauty, and at its height, it holds true to its name by being surprisingly peaceful.

There are four statues in the round walls of the stupa, each facing a different direction and representing different events related to Buddha. People can be seen sitting around the stupa meditating. It does seem like a fantastic spot to meditate as the energy there is very calm and peaceful.

After the visit, it was nice to hike back down and row across the lake in the calmness of nature.

The North End of Lakeside Pokhara

I stayed at the south end of Lakeside Pokhara but would walk north every day along the lake. I wish I had ventured further north though because I had heard there was an interesting hippie community in that area — kind of like the new Freak Street of Nepal.

The furthest north I ventured was to the Movie Garden, which I would recommend going to one evening.

Simple in concept, it’s essentially a big screen with a video projector, set up in a tropical garden, playing movies at night. It’s similar to a drive-in movie, minus the cars but with alcoholic beverages available for purchase at the bar.

The night I was there they were screening The Grand Budapest Hotel. It was pretty nifty watching it under the Nepali night sky, surrounded by tropical plants.

Paragliding

The adventure tourism industry in Nepal is pretty big and this includes Pokhara. Every morning, if you looked up towards the mountains, you could see the sky littered with dozens of people paragliding.

I regret not having had gone paragliding while I was in Pokhara. I can imagine it would have had some amazing views with the Himalayas not too far off. Plus it was only 6000 RPs and that included photos.

Where I wish I had visited

You would think that spending a month in a country would have given me enough time to see and do everything I wanted. After two weeks trekking, and one week in Pokhara, my flight out of Nepal was quickly approaching and that’s when it hit me that there were still quite a few things I wanted to do before leaving but, unfortunately, no longer had the time for.

For a return visit, I would include another trek (because you can’t go to Nepal and not do a trek), visit the birthplace of Buddha and spend some time in Bhaktapur. And of course, I would go paragliding in Pokhara either before or after the trek.

The Trek

One thing I learned doing the Annapurna Base Camp trek is that I actually really enjoy trekking. As much as I may have hated parts of it at the time, it’s quite enjoyable.

Doing another trek in Nepal and with limited money to spend, I would not use a tour company. I probably wouldn’t even bother with a guide or porter to be honest (although the porters were incredible and made the trek so much more enjoyable).

Nepal is pretty well set up for tea house trekking so there are plenty of spots to stop for food along the way, as well as “hotels” on the mountain. I met a lot of people who didn’t have previous reservations or bookings at the hotels and still managed to get rooms upon arrival. If there are no rooms available, you are put up in the dining hall with the guides and porters for the night or, you have to trek back down to a different hotel.

Returning to Nepal, I would choose to do either the whole Annapurna Circuit, which is about 18 days or, the Langtang trek north of Kathmandu.

The Birthplace of Buddha

I didn’t even think about it until I had booked my flight out of Nepal but, Nepal is known to be the birthplace of Buddha.

Now I’m not religious in any way (which is probably why I didn’t think of it), but that’s still pretty monumental.

The birthplace of Buddha is in the south of Nepal in Lumbini and, had I thought about it beforehand and planned my “after-trek” better, I would have included time to visit the birthplace of Buddha in my itinerary.

It’s possible that it’s a huge tourist trap, but I also imagine it would be a pretty interesting thing to see while in Nepal.

Bhaktapur

Again, had I done more research into Nepal, instead of spending a full week in Lakeside Pokhara recovering from my two week trek and all the ensuing illnesses, I would have included a couple days in Bhaktapur. After about three weeks in Nepal, I heard from quite a few different people, tourists, and locals, about its beauty.

Bhaktapur is one of the three royal cities in Nepal and was founded in The Medieval Times in the 12th Century. It also has a Durbar Square filled with temples, monasteries, religious sites and palaces. It also has monuments made from terracotta.