Poor air quality, crowded streets lined with small shops selling outdoor gear, everything cashmere and small trinkets. Welcome to Thamel, ground zero for tourists in Kathmandu. Not much has changed in 30 years though hotels, cafes and restaurants are much more modern and numerous. 
Neighborhood off the tourist streets in Thamel
Garden of Dreams, a haven of tranquility with a nice restaurant in Thamel
Shopkeepers, guides, taxi and rickshaw drivers, desperately want your business. Fair enough after Covid shut everything down here for a few years. A polite “no” suffices. Nepalis are truly kind, hospitable souls.
Man selling flowers
Lady preparing hot food in a shop
Tiny butcher shop
Two men chatting on the street
Evening around Thamel
Amaryllis Hotel is a small 2-star accommodation on a quiet street away from the bustle. The room is worn, but clean and comfortable enough ($20). We're back to wet bathrooms, meaning the shower is not separate, so the whole space gets wet. I suppose it’s telling that we neglected to take the photo.
We've arrived at the beginning of Tihar or Deepawali, Nepal’s 5-day Hindu festival of lights, and everyone is in a joyous mood. On the sidewalks in front of most shops and homes, people are making pretty rangolis with colorful powders, flowers and candles. Each day of the festival has a special meaning, honoring gods, animals and family.
A woman putting the finishing touches on a rangoli
People admiring an oversized rangoli on Mandala Street in Thamel
Day 2 of Tihar celebrates dogs; guardians of the afterlife
Nighttime procession during Tihar
Kathmandu’s Durbar (palace) Square is one of three royal historical squares in the Kathmandu Valley. All are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Most of the buildings date to the 17th century with some much older. Many earthquakes, including the massive 2015 quake, have taken their toll. Never defeated, Nepal keeps rebuilding and restoring one brick/stone/tile at a time.
Shots of Durbar Square, Kathmandu
A market on Durbar Square
We spend days mulling around Kathmandu, sipping cappuccinos at any one of several Himalayan Java Coffee outlets where customers are welcome to sit comfortably for hours and use the free wifi. Places like this only seem to exist in Asia. We are preparing to visit more remote areas of Nepal, where we’ll be eating Dal Bhat (Nepalese lentil curry) for lunch and dinner. Tasty as it is, we take advantage of the varied food options available in the city. 
Penne Bolognese and
quinoa salad at Himalayan Java Coffee
Sizzling brownie dessert, New Orleans Restaurant
With so many, too many, hotel options in Thamel, we decide to upgrade and move to the Highlander Hotel for $25/night with breakfast. There are nicer rooms in the $50 - $100 / night range, but you really do not need to spend much for a very nice room as you’ll see at the end of this post.
Hotel Highlander, Thamel, Kathmandu
Friendliest dogs on the streets
Man carrying a heavy load
Retired mannequins
Bhaktapur, a densely populated walled city about 20 minutes by taxi from Thamel, is the oldest city in Nepal. It was the capital from the 12th - 15th centuries and listed UNESCO in 1979. Many of the city’s monuments were severely damaged by the 2015 earthquake. Workers carry out restoration projects around tourists posing for photos.
Durbar Square, Bhaktapur
Reconstruction in Bhaktapur
Local homes
We climb up many flights of stairs in a small restaurant to reach the rooftop terrace overlooking the square. 
Here the Dal Bhat - traditional Nepalese meal of rice, curried vegetables and lentil soup - is served flambé!
The veg momos (dumplings) are soon to become my goto dish.
Equally delicious meat-filled momos are often served in soup.
Boudhanath, the enormous whitewashed stupa with giant painted eyes looking out in all directions was built in the 14th century by a Tibetan king. It is a sacred Buddhist pilgrimage site, recognized by UNESCO.
Birds flocking around Boudhanath Stupa
Pashupatinath, is a vast Hindu temple complex by the Bagmati River. Non-Hindus are not permitted inside the main temple, but the ongoing cremation ceremonies by the riverside are open to all. People look on from way above, to right next to the funeral pyres.
Pashupatinath Temple Complex
Cremation ceremonies at Pashupatinath
Ladies posing with a sadhu (holy man) at Pashupatinath
Some sadhus will only be photographed for a fee
Gotcha!
Cremations at Pashupatinath
Once the Tihar festival is over and locals are ready to go back to work, we board a “deluxe” bus to Nawalparasi (Kawasoti district) where we’re going to visit a sanctuary that is saving vultures. Why you ask? Well, these misunderstood scavengers play a vital role in keeping the environment clean and safe. Acting as volunteer garbage collectors, vultures devour carcasses at warp speed, preventing pathogens from spreading. Ironically, vultures can withstand any disease transmitted by a rotting carcass, but in Nepal, the population of over 1 million was nearly wiped out in the 1980s - 1990s by the drug Diclofenac (aka Voltaren) used to treat livestock. Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN), a local NGO has been caring for and nurturing vultures back to viable numbers. The setting is on the outskirts of Chitwan National Park.
The 7-hour bus ride is relatively comfortable with stops for lunch and facilities. Leaves, bushes, shops, homes; everything along the road through the mountains is coated with thick dust from perpetual road construction. 
Lunch stop on the bus ride to Kawasoti
Free refills on Dal Bhat
A colorful toilet
On the road to Kawasoti
A balancing act
We are pleasantly surprised by our homestay in a small village, miles away from the main road in Nawalparasi, run by a lovely woman and her daughter. The 2-bedroom construction, is separated from the main house by an organic garden. The man of the house works in a national park hours away, while the parents of the woman live here and help with chores and gardening. Our room is $9/ night. Three meals a day are $3 pp, and the very hot shower is separate from the toilet. Luxury!
Tharu Breizh Lodge, Kawasoti 7, Nawalparasi
Delicious breakfast in the dining room adjacent to the main house
Around the homestay
Lady sitting in front of her house in the village
Jetayu (vulture) Restaurant opened in 2006 to address the devastating decline in the vulture population. The program, run by DB Chaudhary, a passionate local, was so successful that the breeding and release centers are now monitoring 8 healthy species of vultures via tagging and satellite tracking. We spend two weeks on the edge of Chitwan National Park following the dedicated team as they feed, monitor and care for a mix of wild and captive vultures.
One late afternoon, on a hunch, one of the field officers takes us back to the feeding area. We sit silently in the hide for about an hour observing vultures, a couple of wild boar and a lone deer sipping at a watering hole. Suddenly, from the path we came in on, a rhino and her cub appear. What a sight! The other animals back off as the herbivores sniff around with little interest. Meanwhile, it's getting dark and we need to get back to the village. I'm told to remove my hot-pink sweatshirt (note to self, no flashy colors in the wild) and we file out between the rhinos and agitated boars holding long sticks for (false) protection!
Curious rhinos at the vulture feeding center
We're back in Kathmandu for a few days to extend our visa. I'm not expecting much from Osho Home Hotel. The price for 3 nights is a mere $54, and the reviews seem odd; no one had anything negative or even practical to say at all. I'm just hoping for a softer mattress after a week of sleeping on a very, very hard bed. Our room is on the 4th floor (walk-up) but the kind boy at reception hoists our suitcases above his head and practically runs up the stairs. We’re offered a lower floor the next day, but figure this is good practice for the trek to Annapurna Base Camp we're planning, and decide to tough it out.
Hotel Osho Home, Thamel, Kathmandu
Crowded street, Thamel
Henna designs, Kathmandu
Extending a tourist visa in Nepal is quick and easy: Fill the form online, go to counter 1, pay at counter 2, return to 1, wait 5 minutes, and collect. 15 minutes, maybe. Getting permission to fly a drone is a whole other affair. The process starts easily with a helpful lady at the Civil Aviation Authority, but quickly deteriorates when we learn that no matter the size of the drone, you need permission from three other (inaccessible) government agencies. The process will take at least 2 weeks and costs around $2000. We abandon the idea pretty quickly.
Instead, we visit Patan, now called Lalitpur. Its Durbar Square is the third UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Kathmandu Valley.
Royal Palace (museum), Patan
Details around the Royal Palace
I suppose, I shouldn't be surprised when we arrive at the bus station to take the (same) bus back to the vulture feeding center and the attendants greet us as if we're close friends. Admittedly, we stand out. They help us to our seats and recall the exact place we need to be dropped off on the road in Kawasoti. We settle in for the 7-hour bump and jolt through the mountains to Nepal's southern plains. 
Coffee at the bus station
In the week that we’ve been gone, the mustard fields around the homestay have burst into a sea of yellow.
Fields in full bloom around Tharu Breizh Lodge
Himani and her mom greet us once again with superb hospitality and delicious meals prepared with ingredients from their garden.
Locals passing by with greens gathered by the river to feed their animals
Scam alert! I get the habitual request from Booking to review our recent stay at Hotel Osho Home in Kathmandu. I'm looking forward to posting a review, because even though the price was more than reasonable, there are a few things that need to be said. Imagine my surprise when I'm notified that the review I have not written yet is online, and I have given them a 10! Thankfully, the website is quick to help me sort that out. The nerve!
We spend another week with the passionate team at the vulture center learning how important vultures are for our ecosystems despite their manners and appearance.
On our last day, a ranger offers to take us on a walk in the Namuna Community Forest, beyond the vulture feeding center where we have spent most of our time. Call it a walking safari. He grabs a long stick and we follow along a dirt road through grasslands and marshes. Unlike a jeep safari, here we are completely exposed. Eventually, we reach the Nariyani River. The other side is Chitwan National Park. Our guide spots a couple of crocodiles very far away. We walk along the river to get a better view, but they are still far and it’s getting dark. 
Namuna Community Forest
Ruddy shelducks on the Nariyana River
An Oriental pied hornbill in flight
To save time, he chooses to cut through 6-foot brush. I'm on full creepy crawler alert, keep tripping over tangled roots, and relieved when we make it thru. Such a city girl.
Bushwhacking, Namuna Community Forest
At dinner on our last night, our lovely hosts offer us a couple of beers. It’s a real extravagance for them. The kindness and generosity we’ve experienced at Tharu Breizh Lodge is heartwarming.
Himani and her mom
We’re invited to join the team on a trip to Shuklaphanta National Park in far western Nepal where 100 vulture nests have been recorded. The hope is to capture and tag wild vultures. For a number of reasons, we decide to go by bus and embark on an epic 22-hour ride! You can imagine…
A homestay and a local jeep and driver have been organized for us. Our room with bathroom is separate from the main house. There’s no hot water, but buckets of hot water are provided and the couple could not be nicer, though it’s virtually impossible to communicate.
Homestay with entrance to our room in Shuklaphanta
Room and full board $12/day for 2
.No matter how early we are being picked up every morning, the lady of the house brings us delicious tea (with pepper!) and sends us off with a picnic lunch. Dinner is always ready when we return. 
Sunrise in Shuklaphanta National Park
We shadow the rangers for three full days. It’s an hour and a half safari drive into (and out of) the national park every morning and night, with hours and hours of waiting in the forest. Despite ingenious trap setting and keeping our distance, the vultures don’t take the bait, a fresh cow carcass. Again we’re fully exposed, but luckily all the animals we encounter keep their distance.
Shuklaphanta National Park
Tiger prints
Parakeets
Eagle
Oriental Pied Hornbill
Jumping deer
Male peacock
Rhesus monkeys
Wild dogs
The team will need time to rethink their strategy and try again at a later date beyond our visa extension, so we decide to do what most people do in Nepal - trek. On the day we leave, the family gathers to bless us with a tika, the small red dot on the forehead, and handmade flower necklaces. From the nearby city of Dhangadhi, we fly to Kathmandu in just 55 minutes with a spectacular view of the Himalayas.
Landing in Kathmandu
And as promised, a very nice room in Kathmandu
Daali Hotel, Kathmandu ($35/night with a superb breakfast)
The hotel is near Utse Hotel and Restaurant, one of the oldest establishments in Thamel where they serve Tongba, a hot alcoholic beverage made from fermented millet. Served in a bamboo cup (Tongba) and sipped thru a straw, hot water is added as often as you like. Some call it Tibetan beer. Delicious and soul warming.
It’s possible to organize a trek from Kathmandu, but since we plan to trek the Annapurna region, we head to the starting point, Pokhara, where we have trekked with Polar Treks in the past. Highly recommended - Contact Amit on WA +977-9804142257
Flag of Nepal, the only non-rectangular flag in the world
Part 2 - Our Annapurna Base Camp Trek blog coming soon-ish.
This featured blog entry was written by SpiceChronicles from the blog The Spice Chronicles.
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