Nepal was a kingdom till the beginning of 21st century. King’s palace is now converted to the museum. They charge 1000 rupees from the foreigners for the entry ticket. Sorry, no discounts! Then you must leave all your phones and cameras in the free locker, they will give brochure in English and after security check you are free to go in. I spent there more than 2 hours… There are official an private rooms, portraits of the kings. And of course – regalia. Between them a specials “crown” decorated with the hindered of diamonds and more than 3000 pearls

Under the thick pink tower there is very high throne room with the wide throne – it can accommodate even 3 people, I think:

In the palace complex there are planes and cars of the kings. The gold-plated carriage presented by queen Elisabeth II of England and mercedes-daimler limousine gifted by Adolf Hitler. It is well worth to visit the palace. You can also see the tragic place where king and his family was murdered in 2001. But it is very sad story…

Then I took last walk through the crowded streets of old Kathmandu – I am leaving Nepal tomorrow…

In 17th century it was the capital of local kingdom. Today it is a little town, much more quiet then Kathmandu with many onreresting monuments and traditions. From the north- eastern corner of Ratna Park I took overpassage to get to the little side street – buses from this street go to Bakthapur. It is an hour drive and they charge 50 rupees each way.

0nce in Bakthapur you disembark at the big pond. Follow the street east to the old city gate. From this point you will be walking the long, long cobbled street full of little chapels, shops and hindu religion pilgrims in red.

Pilgrims are nicely dressed, they are praying and listening rather noisy music and makinng offerings (there were two goats to be ceremonially killed) Two squares with outstanding, beautifully carved monuments are connected by long long street. On the first one there os is 5-storey pagoda with solid granite statues along the stairs. It is worth to climb it for the view. In Bakthapur they do not charge any entry fee to this UNESCO site…

On the second square I met just-married couple posing for the pictures. Congratulations! On this square there are also nice pagoda- like monuments. On the back side of the main temple you will see famous, precisely carved peacock window. Woodcarvers still work here.

Bakthapur is more quiet and more atmospheric then noisy and crowded Katmandu. Don’t miss it when you will be here!

City public transport is dirty cheap, but little buses and microbuses are junk and usually you travel in the crowd. The microbuses to Bodnath start from Ratna Park. My travel was bumpy, but cost me only 25 paisa – like 20 US cents. Bodnath is famous for great Buddhist stupa shrine – it is on UNESCO World Heritage list and they charge here 400 rupees entry fee – from the foreigners only.

Every time I am coming here I am enhanced by the theatrum I see: prayer flags, prayer wheels, people offering flowers, touching with respect holy statues and stones.

Most of the people praying here are Tibetan Buddhist – easy to recognize by the ladies stripped aprons. All of us (me too) were marching clockwise around the stupa several times. Then I climbed stairs to the upper gallery (you must take off your shoes here) and walked around again -enjoying the views, the patterns made of flowers and taking pictures with the friendly locals.

The pictures of the day (I think) is a little lady in the national costume with pigeons in the background:

It was another great day of my voyage. I returned to Thamel by foot – to save my backbone bad experiences on the bumpy roads…

I love high mountains! I did in the past Everest and Jomsom treks. I was also hiking from Jomsom to Lo Manthang – the capital of legendary Mustang Kingdom. But I was always dreaming about seeing Himalaya also from the air – it is completely different perspective. They offer such a one-hour flights from Kathmandu. They are expensive (200 USD+) because they are selling only window seats – the rest remains empty! Today the dream came true!

At 5.15 am I was already in the domestic airport for check-in and security. Before sunrise we boarded turbo-prop ATR-72 plane. 33 pax only. Few small airlines offer such a flight but Buddh6 Air has the best opinion. We started only after sunrise, passed through layer of the smog and then – see the picture:

The plane was heading east along the main Himalaya range on the altitude 20000 feets- around 6500 m, then after 25 min turned back to west so the people from right seats could take pictures. Right windows are better – the plane is closer to the peaks and lighting is better. Everest, Makalu and Gauri Shankar were on displey. Flight attendents were giving explanations and we received panorama outprints.

This was great flight, but imagine that you actually fly in the distance from the peaks – not as close as on the first promotional picture (above). It is still unusual – you can use the zoom. I was happy to see from the air Kala Pattar – the final point of my Everest trek. What a day! 🙂

I am still in Kathmandu. The capital of Nepal is like living museum – it has a lot to offer. Today I took a walk to the stupa of Swayambunah. It is a Buddhist Temple built on the hill pn the outskirts of the city. It also called The Monkey Temple because many monkey families are present there.

It took me about an hour to get from Thamel to the bottom of the hill and then another half an hour to the top… uphill by stairs

White stupa is surrounded by prayer wheels and on the top the eyes of Buddha look in to the four sides of the world. Pilgrims pray, giving offerings of flowers and fruits. It is great atmosphere around.

I have been here already twice, years ago. I cannot see any changes. Only the gold on altars is more dirty. Great place to visit! They charge from gringos only 200 rupees entry fee on the stairs!

I am lucky traveller. Today in the Temple of Pasupatinah, some 5 kms from Kathmandu they celebrate Mahashivaratri Festival. The temple is located on both sides of Bagmati river. On the banks of the river there are ghats – cremation sites for hindu religion believers. Since the morning thousands of people, not only from Nepal, including holy sadhus are going to this holy temple to pray, to leave offers. I took there minibus departing from Ganesh temple in Kathmandu (25 rs). Already at the temple gate there was enormous crowd, music and unusual atmosphere. I was in the middle of the crowd. I didn’t see any other foreigners..

Hundered of policemen were pushing the crowd to move. Slowly, slowly… I reached the bridge on Bagmati river. There were cremations going and generating a lot of smoke.

Ladies in colorful saris, children in the special costumes but also herds of shouting tenagers – unusual event. The line of the people waiting to enter the main gold roof temple was very, very long… I even did not try to wait because entry is restricted to the hindu believers. After 3 hoyrs it was not easy to get out of the temple complex

Return buses were staing in the traffic jams, so I decided to go back to Kathmandu – 5 kms by foot. This was very interesting expetience, but I was warned that thieves are operating in the festival’s crowd. I survived!

Jampa Hotel in Kathmandu is worth to recommend! Hidden in the quiet side alley of Thamel is very cozy and comfortable. I got a single room with bath and great breakfast for just 25 USD! The staff is nice and professional. It is also the best place to change your dollars: tyey pay 144 local rupees for one USD.

After breakfast I took a walk to historic Durbar Square with many temples and former king’s palace. Young student joined me declaring that he wants to improve his English. But at the end of the walk he was asking for the “donation”. Be prepared. It was nice to see again the places I visited before. At the entrances to Durbar they are collecting from foreigners “entry fee” of 1000 rupees. Very few tourists are around here! I didn’t see anybody buying the ticket to this Unesco World Heritage site! Kathmandu still have its charm! Nice day! Have a happy Valentine’s Day!

At 5 am I have been waked up by calling from the nearby mosque. After shower and breakfast I went again to the old Doha to explore it in the daylight. This is my third time to the capital of Qatar. Strong sun, temperature 26 deg. Celsius

I took a long walk to Souk Waqif – an old, restored market, where one corridor is dedicated to souvenirs but the rest serve normal needs pf local people… Nice architecture and interesting products! In the midday if was time to call uber and go yo the airport. But my flight was delayed more than 4 hours. Few people know, that in such a case if you travel by Qatar you can receive the meal 45 rial value showing your boarding pass in the Food Court.

We landed in Kathmandu only at 9 pm. In the arrival hall you can fill on the screen arrival form, then you pay 30 USD fee at the counter. Them you can ealk to immigrations for the arrival sticker. I was waiting then more than 40 min for my baggage. Driver from Jampa hotel was waiting for me…

My Abu Dhabi accomodation looks like illegal business -they don’t issue any receipts for received money – so I will not receive compensation from Booking.com…. Lovely, sunny morning. Flowers in the streets. I have been here many times but it is still nice to look at this modern architecture once again. In the afternoon I took again bus A2 to the modern airport – see picture!. Qatar Airlines refused to give me boarding pass on line so I went to check in desk. And here… The weight of your cabin luggage is to high! We can register it only as a checked baggage. Uff – I didn’t expect this…

i survived, but they collected my backpack to check it as a regular baggage…

The meal on a one-hour flight was rather poor (Qatar wants to be the best airline in the world).

Once in Doha, I went through the immigrations annd customs (no problems!) Then at the information desk they told me that there is no public bus to the city. As alternative I ordered UBER to my Sovereign Hotel.. The pick up point of Uber is clearly marked in the building opposite the exit. It was 8 kms via the highway and overpases. Driver accepted payment in USD. The hotel is worth to recommend. Only a/c is not cooling but blowing air. There is electric kettle in the room. I left my staff and started the walk through the old Doha. It was evening already. Look at the brightly illuminated buildings:

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In the morning Andrzej was so nice to deliver me to the airport. Thank you and welcome to Wojtkowks in the summer! The wizz flight was full. Departed with half an hour delay. We were flying 6 hours over the snowy mountains. Black Sea and deserts of Arabia. 3 hours time difference. At 9 pm we landed in Abu Dhabi. 23 deg. In the evening. The airport is great. But big distances to walk. But after 20 minutes I went out of the building and turn right – to the A2 bus stop. Soon we were going to the city. I asked local Indian where to disembark for my guesthouse. He made the call and… Reported that my guesthouse is closed alredy since December. My God! Only one week ago Booking.com charged me money for this stay! No choice, I was going hotel to hotel asking for the cheap substitute. Filipino couple helped me to find a room with shared bath for 150 dirhams. Another adventure! Lets have a rest!