Insight of Nepal

Home sweet home! I am glad I am back and appreciate more what I have in my life now. We have nice and clean water from the tap - we are so lucky that we do not need to queue for water, just like the old time you have to go to the well to take water!! Uninterrupted power supply - can you imagine power cut few times in a day? most shop do not have fans and also the owner of the shop will switch on the light when you are entering the shop! We do not need to wear mask when we walk in the streets (YES!! you will need to have your face mask when you are in the Kathmandu city!)

I will keep every section of this page short and straight to the point. What you can expect, sightseeing, the food, people, culture as well as SHOPPING!!

Kathmandu

Sightseeing

Temples lovers - do not miss Bouddhath Stupa, Pashupatinath Temple & Swoyambhunath Stupa.

You might want to request to spend longer hour around the Durbar Square with Living Goddess, Bhaktapur City, Patan City,Tibetan Camp & Bungmati Old Newari Village.

Faces around the Old Newari Village

Buiness around the corner

Nepalese Food
In general, I have no problem with the food in Nepal. Per meal spending is within Rps500. My like is the momo (dumplings fille with vegetable), served steamed or fried. I noticed the local just order one plate and finished by themself!

Don't miss the Kwati (soup with many beans) and Tarkari - any vegetable or group of vegetables in curry :)

They do serve the Achar too - a sour and spice pickle. I like the one made of sliced radish and diced potatoes.

I also highly recommended the Juju Dhau - popular creamy curd (yogart) from Cafe Corner, Bhaktapur.

Note: Rps100 = RM2.8 (May 2012 rate)

By the way, things to take note during your order - 'less salt' and service charge may range from 10%-23%!!

Oh, you might want to bring along some snacks, sweets, energy bar, 3-in-1 drinks or any food stuffs. You can eat when you are hungry, if not, you can distribute to the kids on the street!!

Shopping in Kathmand


Jewelry and Gems* - You may be able to see a lot of shops exhibiting beautiful stone jewelry (amethyst, ruby, sapphire, moonstone, tourmaline etc) in Thamal (you can move around from Hotel to Thamel by Taxi, charge around Rps150-200. DO NOT trust the local telling you the place just walking distance or 5-10 minutes away! You challenge you to walk if you do not trust what I say!!! ha ha), Durbar and Lakeside areas of Pokhara. You must be ready to bargain and just be happy the price you willing to pay for the piece of stone you eye on!

My recommendation:
Bajar Souvenir Emporium, Inside Golden Temple, Patan
Thamal Street (in between Hot bread/Curry house & a book shop)

1. Pendents range Rps 2000-2500 (normal price 8000)
2. Ear rings from Rps1000 (normal price 4500)

My new collection of moonstone

Singing bowl
I bought this new healing singing bowl from Mr Sudeep @ Tibetan Singing Bowl Center. This handmade bowl cost me USD50....
Let me know if you are interested to get one (they hve various sizes) and Mr Sudeep export his handmade bowl all over the world ^-^)
I found the following webpage a good reference on singing bowl.
http://www.soul-guidance.com/sbusebook/9healing.htm

 Music*

You can get good quality of DVDs  of classical, folk culture and sacred tunes from "Music n Expression" (Thamel, Kathmandu). You just need to name what you like, the owner will get you the right DVDs!! We only pay Rps200 per DVD.

Books*

I do not spend enough time in the book shops hence I  only manage to grab a few books home only! You can find books on different subjects, beautiful pictures of the Nepali people, landscape and information about the ancient Nepal. I am very happy that I only pay Rps1000 for a full color  print and thick cover yoga book.

Wood Carving

 You can see lot of wood and metal carving s at Bhaktapur Durbar Square. See what do I have from Nepal :-p Lovely right

Incense

You can find incense of different kinds of aroma and are packed in various circular and square type. The Potala incense I bought is with medicated and handmade - I love them so much (Rps500 for 3 packs). I also manage to find this incense holder for handmade incense and it cost me only Rps50.

Tea

We didn't cover the Eastern part of the country, so not able to taste the fresh tea directly from the tea garden (maybe next trip?) I have not cook this Nepal Spice tea yet but the one servce in restaurant was good. I hope I know how to prepare the same way they have served!!

Tip: Bring along your hot flask. You can get hot water easily compare to drinking water!!

Himalaya herbal healthcare

Cheap! Cheap!
FootCare - Rps68
Dental - Rps67
Facial wash - Rps88

Other souvenirs
Purses, small bag, fridge magnet, painting ......

Pokhara

Sightseeing

Strongly suggested to take the domestic flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara - flight ticket around USD100. (You do not want to sit in the travel bus in a winding mountain road for 7 hours! you will not miss much on the scenary - except one of the temple which is one the way one - 'Manakamana temple'!!)

Get ready your light weight clothing (you might need your hat, hand cover, umbrella and sun glasses) during your visit to David Fall, Gupteswor Mahadev Temple,Tibetan Camp, Bindabasini Temple, Mahendra Cave (probably the longest cave in South Asia with the length of 29959m)  & Bahari Temple with Fewa Lake.

Women Skill Development Project
We came to know this non-profit organization run by Mrs Ramkali Khadka (Founder & Director) , the aim is to help women who are economically disadvantaged; WSDO provides them with free vocational skills training, and after training is complete, a job facility is available to help the women to become self supportive.

You need to have a taxi to visit this center and make sure you have the taxi driver wait for you as this is not within the town area and getting a cab can be a challenge! We are very lucky to have the taxi driver waited for us for almost 3 hours!!! (there are so many things to see and to shop till we didn't realise the time!!)

Lower Right - Mrs. Ramkali Khadka
Founder & Director

Do you like the bags? I will let you know when you can start to place order ok.

 

Children-Nepal
This is another non-profit organization and the handcraft was so colorful and lovely. We met Lisa (She is a volunteer from Germany) and she very happy she has showed us around the center and provide us a briefing how's the center operated.

Well done, and wishing them all the best.

PP, Celeste, you must share with me the lovely bed cover you bought from there ok. I want to add onto this blog too.

 Things that I would like to do in the future

1. Boat in Fewa Lake then walk 45 minutes to World Peace Stupa. This Stupa is the symbol of peace. The idols of Buddha in this stupa are brought from Japan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The
2. *Fly like a bird - Sarangkot is one of the best paragliding spot in the world. You want to fly with me?

Shopping in Pokhara

Woolen Carpets, shawls and other fabrics

Our tour guide brought us to this Tibetan handcraft center and the woolen carpets are very bright and colorful! My friend bought one as foot rest. The other use them as wall hangings ^-^.  I suggest you look out this shop 'New Treasure Art, Pokhara', the Proprietor spoke very good Mandarine; whereas the other shop 'Hzari Arts, Pokhara' - they claimed they are the wholesale and give very good deals....Again, you will need to minus 50% or more from the given price!! Good luck.

You can bring home high quality pashima shawls, sweater, bed covers, cushion cover and embroidery.

Tibatan handcraft Centre

Which one to pick, available in various colors, shades and prints.,,,,

Leather Accessories

We have bought total 4 leather bags made from water buffalo. You will not miss this sweet and lovely Hong Kong lady @ am/pm arts & cafe along the Lakeside area in Pokhara. This is the only shop I didn't negotiate much as I find the price is quite reasonable (price range Rps 2400-3800).

Fiona & Dharmen - owner of am/pm art & craft, Pokhara

 Nagarkot*

We only stay a night at The Fort Resort.  It is located high on a hill, having fantastic views over the Himalayan range (the sunset and sunrise views were simply stunning). The hotel is beautiful, clean and food were not too bad too!!  During our visit, the garden was full of flowers and I would say, you will need 3-5 nights at Nagarkot.

Btw, we manage to had a yoga session with Master Mani out in the open - feeling great!!

I am sure you will like this place as the weather is cooling and fresh (can be cold at night) and if you visit during Nov - Feb, you will have to bring along your warm clothing! This is a definately a good place for retreats and you can get lot of quite time ^-^

  

Beautiful views at The Fort Resort, Nagarkot

Sun rise @ Nagarkot

Mountain Flight*

I am on the 'TOP OF the WORLD' finally on the 4th June 2012 (I kept telling Daya is our lucky star coz is his birthday on 4th!!).

You can imagine the disappointment when we were asked to leave the plane due to bad weather on the 1st attempt to view the Himalayans.

The image below taken from cockpit and I don't have to write more, picture paints a thousand words....

I think I have covered most and I hope you can feel what I have experience :) Btw, do you know what's Nepal's Unique Treasure? I have covered item 1 & 2. I am surely going to visit Nepal again for the item 3 as well as those with (*), who want to come with me?

Perhaps PP and Celeste, you want to me my roommates again? I am glad to have you both in this trip. I enjoyed the sharing sessions; doing facial mask together after the long day out under the hot sun...is also good to know we have the same pattern - record keeping!! ha ha

1. Mt Everest - Highest Peak on Earth
2. Kumari - The Living Goddess
3. Lumbini - Birthplace of Lord Buddha

NAMASTE


You will see this mandala @ The Fort, Nagarkot ^-^
Do bring along the color pencil or crayons and it would be really fun to do group mandala drawing.