"A Humbling Experience" Kathmandu by akikonomu

My trip to Nepal in spring was a wonderful learning experience.

We stayed at the Hotel Dwarika, a very posh hotel with stand-alone building structures of ancient Nepalese architecture separated by courtyards dotted with flowers.

The in-house Indian restaurant served excellent food with first class service, whilst we felt like queens in the luxurious bedrooms.

Use your head - photo courtesy of Daniel Gan

The following morning, we crawled through heavy traffic to a Western town, Bhandipur. Had to go through stringent checkpoints, but the winding trip towards the mountain village was breathtaking! Most of the trip, the Himalayan range was in sight.

Enroute to Bhandipur, we passed by roadside establishments selling local produce. It really reminded me of old days gone by where people lived simply and sold their freshest farm produce to passing travellers. We also passed by roaring rivers with beautiful green rapids and women chiselling at rocks beside the river (probably for construction purposes).

Bhandipur is a mountain village where the peaks of the Himalayans were at eye level!! The morning mist enshrouding the peaks made me feel as though I were in the sky.

Trekked down the mountain and came face to face with women carrying their loads of leaf-covered branches strapped to their forehead - a strange procession of treetops with colourful sareed trunks.

Stupa

Returned to Kathmandu after about 5 days and took a flight to the Himalayans in chartered planes. Seeing frozen craters at mountain peaks and the tallest peak of Mt Everest in the distance (must have been really far) through the cockpit enchanted me. I guess this is the nearest I'll ever get to Everest since I'm such a laid back creature and abhor strenous exercise.

As for shopping? Tamel must be the "it" place. Do check out prices at several stores before you decide on a purchase. It's easier to negotiate for discounts when buying in bulk so go armed with travel mates. Shawls can vary in quality and unique design so I just picked what I liked rather than debate on the authenticity of the pashmina or whatever...

• Pros:Mingling with the simple, friendly local
• Cons:Predictable inconveniences of travelling in developing countries - unclean water, poor transport system
• In a nutshell:Be awed by the Himalayans - nature's grand piece of work