When booking a flight into Kathmandu, it is recommended to request seats on the right hand side of the airplane as this will allow for the finest views of the Nepali mountains while flying overhead.
While we were waiting in line to purchase our tourist visas, we made friends with a middle-aged American woman from Maine who had spent almost 48 hours travelling to Kathmandu. She kept telling us about the Kathmandu Guest House and what a lovely place it is. We had read about it in our guide book and figured we'd take the shuttle van from the airport to get there.
Once we arrived in the center of Kathmandu, we put down our packs and realized that once the sun goes down the temperature drops as well. We found a local shop selling yak wool gloves, hats, and scarves and loaded up on these items.
A woman selling dairy products:
After dinner that evening, we strolled by a carpet shop whose young, gregarious owner, Nawaz, invited us in for a lengthy discussion as well as display of his stock. Even though Nawaz is an Indian living in Nepal, he was able to share with us lots of local custom and history. We fell in love with his silk carpets, but out budget and backpacks would not allow for such luxurious souvenirs.
We ended up switching guest houses a couple of times, but ended up at the Happy Home Guest House were we were greeted by Hari, a friendly local who was enthusiastic about helping us plan a trek near Pokara. He showed us on the map where to go in Kathmandu to get our trekking permits, as well as some popular tourist destinations.
We took his advice and after getting our permits, toured the neighboring area called Durbar Square, a UNESCO World Heritage site. This area featured interesting Newari architecture and more souvenir shops along side it.
We would spend the next several days, both before and after our side trip to the mountains, wandering through the narrow alleyways of old Kathmandu, exploring the various shops selling pashmina scarves, kashmir sweaters, and shiny metal ornaments. All this was punctuated by frequent visits to the guy selling freshly squeezed pomegranate juice and a bakery serving toasted bread with yak cheese.
It should be noted that Nepal has sporadic electricity. This is due to the fact that the Nepalese government sells most of its electric power to India, leaving the locals with cold water showers and lots of candle-lit dinners.
On the night before our trip to the mountains, we ran around to several camping stores picking up essential gear, such as down jackets and trekking poles. All we needed now was a porter to carry our belongings during the trek, but decided to wait until we reached Pokara to find our man. Before going to sleep that night, we packed the stuff we would not need for our trek into one of the backpacks and left it with Hari so we could travel light.
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