During my last break, a friend and colleague, Mark, mentioned that he was going to Bhaktapur, just outside of Kathmandu in Nepal, for a short visit. I thought his plan sounded just about perfect and so invited myself along.
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Click here to view my photo album of the trip to Nepal.
Click here to open a Google Earth placemark of Bhaktapur and the Guest house where we stayed.
I was struck by how much of Nepali life happens in the street. The city of Bhaktapur remains much as it has been over the centuries and so given the lovely weather, people...
They go shopping for ...
They also try to sell things in the street...
Bhaktapur has a number of large ponds which provide water for the population. Considering the algae covering this and many of the other ponds we saw...
... it is no wonder that women crowd and push to get water from the one of the city taps that turn on for an hour or so a day.
We went to Kathmandu for a day to do some looking around and go shopping.
After seeing the mayhem in the streets, I decided that Kathmandu was not the place of dreams and temples that it had once been. Uncontrolled development has left it, well, ... a mess.
Another day I went out into the countryside for a pleasant stroll through the foothills surrounding Bhaktapur.
Note the family brick-making plot or "factory" in the foreground
Every now and then when the air cleared, I was rewarded with a majestic and tantalizing glimpse of the Himalayas in the distance.
As I mentioned, there are rotating power cuts throughout the country for 12 hours or more every day. So, when the sun sets over the hills...
You need to find a warm place in front of a fire because it gets dark, cold and the streets empty of people.
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