The Ghummakars are again out, this time to Kathmandu, Nepal.  The credit for finalizing this trip goes to my childhood friend Rajesh Munjal.  One would not easily believe that he has been to this place over hundred times.

For Kathmandu, June is not an appropriate time.  But then from 01.07.2013, I have to proceed on a six week training and thus but for this month, the next trip would not be possible before October which would result in a long gap after March, when we visited Tirthan valley in Himachal Pradesh.

The visit to Kathmandu commenced on 06.06.2013 by Spicejet flight at 3.50 pm.  Within one hour and 10 minutes we landed at Kathmandu.  The change from 45⁰ C in Delhi to 32⁰ C at Kathmandu was very pleasant.  Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, is one of the world's oldest cities.  Kathmandu Valley comprises the three ancient cities of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, which were once independent states ruled by the Malla kings from the 12th to the 18th centuries.

By the time we reached Hotel, Soultee Crown Plaza and settled there, there was no time left for anything except dinner and Casino.

Casino is a place where people can play games. Casino games generally provide a predictable long-term advantage to the casino, or "house", while offering the player the possibility of a large short-term payout. Some casino games have a skill element, where the player makes decisions; such games are called "random with a tactical element". Here the atmosphere was very cordial, totally contrary to what we saw in movies.  It is not compulsory for everyone to play the games, it is one’s own decision whether to play or just watch playing others.  After some playing and watching, we took our dinner and came back to the hotel for rest.

For two days on 07.06.2013 and 08.06.2013, we hired a local taxi for site-seeing at Kathmandu and a trip to a small hill-station, Nagarkot.

On 07.06.2013, we visited places like Swayambhunath, Budhanilkantha Temple, Durbar Square, Kumari Temple, Patan Durbar Square (Lalitpur), Bodhnath, Pashupatinath Temple.

Swayambhunath - The Swayambhunath Stupa, a Buddhist worship place, is situated on the top of the Padmachala hill, 175 m above the valley. This place was established over 2000 years ago by the King Manadeva I.  Previously the Stupa could be reached only by climbing 400 steps built by Pratap Malla. Now a days, a new motorway has been erected where travelers have to step up only around 125 steps.

Budhanilkantha Temple - The Budhanilkantha Temple is situated about 10 kms. north of Kathmandu. The main attraction of the temple is the world’s largest statue of the Vishnu, reclining on the bed of serpents in the pool.

Durbar Square - Durbar Square is the spiritual heart of Kathmandu. Around central Durbar Square, there is the Royal Palace, palaces, pagodas, courtyards, temples and the Kumari House, the residence of the Living Goddess. The old royal palace is situated at the centre of the city and was surrounded by the pagoda-roofed temples, stone sculptures, old monasteries and other historic monuments.  All the three cities have their own Darbar Square.

 

Bodhnath - Bodhnath is situated about 8 km. north-east of Kathmandu. The Bodhnath stupa is the largest stupa in Nepal and rises for 36 m. It is situated on the ancient trade route between Kathmandu and Lhasa. It is believed that this stupa contains the bones of Kashyapa Buddha, who preceded Gautama Buddha.  There is a Buddhist monastery near the stupa, where we saw many Tibetan monks who come here to study.

Pashupatinath Temple - The Pashupatinath Temple is situated about 5 kms. north east of Kathmandu and near the airport. The Pashupatinath temple is one of the most famous and holiest Hindu pilgrimage shrines in Nepal. This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva, in his peaceful form as Mahadev and Pashupati, the shepherd or lord of the beasts and situated on the banks of the Bhagmati River. This temple is visited by Hindus from all over the Indian subcontinent and closely associated with the South Indian Shaivism since the visit of Shankaracharya. This late 17th century temple is a pagoda of brass and gilt with the silver plated gateways. The black, four-headed image of Pashupatinath inside the temple is very old and it replaces the image destroyed by the Muslim invaders in the 14th century. The Non-Hindus are not allowed to visit the temple, but they can only see the gilted Nandi Bull, the Shiva's vehicle inside the temple. The foreigners also cannot enter the temple compound, but they can have a good view of the whole complex from a higher vantage point called beautiful by the locals.


Thousands of devotees gather in this temple during the Shivaratri festival.   The unique feature of the temple was that performance of the last rites is permitted in its backyard. After getting ourselves blessed with the Darshan of Pashupati we came back to hotel.  In the evening after taking rest, we again went to Casino for dinner and playing/watching different games.

On 08.06.2013, we started at 9.30 am and visited Nagarkot, Changu Narayan Temple and Bhaktapur Darbar square.  On our way to Nagarkot, we had the opportunity to see very beautiful scenery with beautiful thick green forests on hills.

Nagarkot - The Nagarkot village is situated near Kathmandu. It is the most popular place to view the Himalayas. Nagarkot is situated on the ridge to the north-east, and offers a view stretching from Dhaulagiri in the west to Kanchanjunga in the east. But we were not lucky enough to have a good sight of Mt. Everest/Himalayas due to its being cloudy.   A better option would be to stay overnight at Nagarkot and view the mountains at dawn.
 

Changu Narayan Temple - The Changu Narayan Temple is dedicated to Narayan (Lord Vishnu). This is a very popular temple visited by thousands of pilgrims. This temple is one of the finest and oldest specimens of pagoda architecture. Garuda, the mythical man-bird, which is the vahana (transport) of Lord Vishnu stands with folded hands in front of the temple.   On way to temple, we saw many persons doing a fine painting of Budhhist scruptures, etc.

The day of return was quite listless except a revisit to Pashupatinath Temple.  This time of course all the four gates were open and Darshan was possible from all the four gates.  We also covered New Road Market and Vishal Bazaar on 09.06.2013, which we could not visit on 07.06.2013 due to rain.

The most prominent aspect of this trip was that the stay and other arrangements were through Casino.  In the package were also included coupans for Rs.10000/- against the payment of Rs.4000/-.  The rule is that you ultimately lose or may be this is the rule for me, although I only marginally lost and was not entrapped, thanks Seema, my wife.

In Kathmandu, we felt homely, just like we are in any of the hill station of Himachal.  Almost all the people know Hindi.  They watche Hindi movies and are addicted to Bollywood songs.

For return journey, we started from Hotel at 3.30 pm and reported at Nepal International Airport at 4.30 pm for the flight at 6.30 pm.  The flight was on time and reached Delhi at 7.30 pm, we reached home at around 9.30 pm.  The next day being Monday, we were again lost in the daily humdrum of life.