Nepal - Kathmandu - Day 1

I slept quite late because I had only got to bed about 1:00am. After the delays caused by the blackout that I didn't know was happening, I showered and got ready to face the day. I went downstairs to find the proprietor waiting for me. He seated me in the little restaurant/foyer they’ve got and explained breakfast to me. It’s essentially a variation on a continental breakfast with a cooked egg dish (you choose the style of eggs). I’ve developed that understanding by later looking at the menu in my room. Anyway, it was pleasant. While eating, I pored over the Patan map and guidebook that I acquired from my host and tried to plan a half-day walking tour for myself. I mapped out a route (in my head) but couldn’t tell whether it would take 20mins or 2 hours to walk the loop. After breakfast, I fired up the laptop and used Google maps to help me understand that nothing is very far from anything in Patan.

After pfaffing around and getting myself ready, I set off down Momaru Galli heading for Durbar Square, to discover that it was maybe 150m of walking. Suddenly, I was in the square looking at Temples!

Krishna Mandir (built 1637)

Almost as soon as I started to look like a tourist (beyond obviously being a tourist because I’m half-again as tall as any Nepalese, white skinned and wearing western street clothes), I was approached by a guard/policeman (uniformed man) and he said that I had to buy a ticket for tourism in the area. He escorted me into the reception area of the palace/museum and I duly paid my 1000NPR (~$11AUD) for my ticket. I was given all the tourist brochures that I’d already collected from the hotel, a proper ticket, and a lanyard to wear so I wouldn’t be accosted again.

Map of the museum/palace and aerial shots of the district

Mulchowk (built 1666)

Having entered the museum, I wandered around looking at the exhibits. It’s mostly cultural history, with exhibits on the various Hindu gods and Bhudda. The museum/palace itself is a gorgeous antique building that is being preserved. I’m really liking the ancient architecture here, in spite of it all being too small for me.

Various poses/guises of a Hindu god	A priceless metal statue of the Bhudda
The king’s throne, made of snakes	Tantric folios defining the chakras
Intricate carving in the beams and columns of the museum/palace	Decorative carvings rescued from the palace while being restored

After drifting around the museum, I wandered back out to Durbar Square to forge on with my self-made walking tour. I’ve not acquired a SIM for my phone, instead relying on WiFi in hotels and cafes for connectivity. That’s fine, except when you want to use Google Maps to navigate around a foreign city. I fell back on the time-tested mechanism of using a tourist map and quite a lot of dead-reckoning. By the end of my walk, I believe I’d pretty much walked the route I had planned over breakfast.

Back out in Durbar Square

Left: Char Narayan Temple (built 1566); Right: Krishna Mandir

Near: Visvesvara Temple (built 1627); Far: Bhimsen Temple (built 1680)

First main turn on my route – Kumbheshwar Temple. The guide book I have talks of how the people who live in Patan have practiced their crafts and faith for centuries, almost unchanged. At this temple, there was definitely cermonial practice going on, in apparently several faiths. Later, over lunch, I would hear and see further religious ceremonies being practiced in Durbar Square. While ceremonial, these practices appeared to me to also be mundane (i.e. part of daily life), especially with how the rest of the community went on with their lives around the various ceremonies.

Kmbheshwar Temple (built 1392)

A ceremony/ritual involving many charcoal fires

Street scenes on my walk to the next main turn.

Artisans at work

What the streets look like as I pass along them (though with no motorbike/scooter traffic)

Next main turn – Jagamadu Pukhu. I think this might be a more well-to-do area as it was crowded with people apparently ‘at work’ and the environment was slightly newer, in better repair.

Then, finally, my ‘turn-for-home’ marker – Patan Dhoka (literally, the gate to Patan).

Patan Dhoka from the Patan side

Patan Dhoka from the Kathmandu side

Side note: When I was buying my museum/Durbar Square ticket, I was engaged by a guy who eventually offered to act as a guide for me on a one or two hour tour. I declined his offer as politely as I could as I just wanted to wander around and see stuff. He seemed a bit miffed, but that’s on him; I was polite. The point of mentioning that is that I saw lots of stuff, as the photos indicate (and I have many more), but couldn’t interpret the significance of much of it. It doesn’t matter in the scheme of things, but I wonder now if I should have taken him up on his offer. Anyway, next time maybe.

After my gentle stroll around Northern Patan, I returned to Durbar Square to visit the Cafe Du Temple, a sister-business to Temple House. I sat on the rooftop and enjoyed a vegetarian Nepali lunch accompanied by homemade lemonade and finished with marsala tea (chai, in essence, and a lot like karak tea that I came to enjoy very much in Oman).

View from the rooftop Cafe du Temple across Durbar Square

After lunch, I returned to the hotel. I visited the rooftop to discover a little seating area that had views across Patan to Kathmandu (city).

The rooftop of the Temple Hotel

View from the rooftop of the hotel towards Kathmandu city (if you squint you can see high-rise offices)