Prescript

Before I even begin to document the journey to the land of Buddha i.e. Nepal, let me first note down the technical basics. When I went to Nepal my website was up and running. When I came back the account was suspended. Of course, my hosting renewal was due and I forgot to renew before leaving. After coming back I tried in vain for a week to change the hosting provider. My impatience to document the 2 weeks in Nepal won and I renewed with my existing provider, putting aside plans to change provider for next year. In the process, made a lot of changes to the website. This baby will be 16 soon. Time for more revamping!

Preamble

Talks of a trek in Nepal began sometime in September 2022 when M told me post-Saturday run, how she had been wanting to go there. I had expressed a huge interest. The initial email threads began in December and by February 2023 we had a bunch of 11 people joining in (4 from our running group). The final dates were planned from 1-12 May. To weed out any possibility of a last-minute cancellation or cold feet, SP and I booked our flight tickets for May in February. March went by without much chatter on the trek group. Few people dropped off, and few joined in but the final count of 11 stayed. As April approached our shopping and trip prep started. SP realized 2 weeks before the flight that her passport was due to expire in September. That meant an emergency renewal given we were traveling to another country! After much asking around and opinion-taking, she found a sure-shot way of getting the passport renewed via the ‘tatkaal’ process. Imagine having to return home from the airport on a valid but about-to-expire passport. Thankfully, we were spared that drama and nail-biting thrill of will-she-make-it. Then came the question of currency. We were told that only Indian 100 rs notes are widely accepted in Nepal. So we all individually went on a quest to procure as many 100 rs notes as possible. Thanks to SP and her doctor friend, I got a whole load of cash to splurge and spend in Nepal! Geared with shiny new passport and cash we were ready to take Nepal by storm.

D-day

As scripted the pre-booked Uber driver bailed on me on the travel day. I was to pick up SP on the way so that added to the fun. For some divine reason, my current cab booking request went through and a savior cab driver showed up within 10 minutes of the pre-booked cab cancelation. For the 7.30 am flight, we reached the airport by 6 am i.e. Just In Time! That initial delay proved beneficial as we were about to head to the security check, and the security cop directed us to a newly opened security check section. We were the first and only two people there so it was a cakewalk. After that, we sat by the gate waiting for VS and AS as the four of us were on the same flight. Apparently, they were waiting for us at some other gate! #facepalm The rest of the journey was quite uneventful, peppered with free food from Air India and some more food at Delhi’s T-3. We touched down in Kathmandu (woohoo) by 2 PM. After immigration check and bag collection, we were off to meet our airport pick-up driver. A special mention for SP’s brand new passport that got stamped twice that day. Raju our driver was waiting for us outside and he took us to our resort in Thamel.

Our travel-worn minds were now taking in the sights and sounds of Kathmandu and excited by the prospect of being in another city heck another country. We would keep on forgetting we were in another country and had to remind ourselves that. (As it’ll be evident in the next posts). Our driver was skilled at driving through KTM’s narrow and undulating roads and we reached the resort soon. We received a warm welcome at the reception. After some formalities, we made it to our rooms to relax and freshen up. When I stepped out, I saw M sitting just outside and could not hold my excitement. We rejoiced and hugged that we were finally in Nepal! After months of planning and plotting. Our briefing session was scheduled for 6 PM. SP and I decided to relax and catch up with the rest of the group as they kept showing up. We met Earthbound’s Rajan ji and our trek lead Arjun during the briefing. Rajan ji laid out a huge map on the table to walk us through the day-by-day itinerary. Since SD and JD had miscalculated their travel dates they were going to go as a smaller group a day earlier. So we were left with 9 of us in the main group. We decided to have dinner at the resort to be able to spend an evening with SD and JD who were not going to trek with us. A menu of momos, fried rice, and noodles was decided. Some local beers and rum (Khukri) were opened and it was a party! After a lot of chit-chat over the next 2-3 hours we decided to call it a night. The 9 of us were going to do a Kathmandu (KTM) sightseeing tour – visit UNESCO heritage sites – the next day. The gap day was baked into the design to give us a rest day.

KTM sightseeing

Our day began with a nice spread of breakfast and we left the resort at 9.30 am. The plan was to visit Swayambhunath (monkey) Stupa, the famous Pashupatinath temple, and lastly Bodhinath Stupa. Our guide for the day was Kumar ji. By the time we reached the monkey temple/Stupa – called so because of the abundant monkeys around, it had started to drizzle. The Stupa is situated at a height in the city so it offered nice views of the Kathmandu Valley too. Kumarji gave us a brief but informational overview of the Stupa, Buddhism, and various legends about the Stupa. These stories and Buddhism drew me in gently. We walked around the Stupa, and took it all in. CL got us Tibetan ख़ाता i.e. ceremonial stoles here. SP and I also did some prayer wheel shopping. We thought we got a good deal too when the shopkeeper agreed to our bargained price for the souvenirs. In that instant, also felt at home 🙂

Our next stop was Pashupatinath temple. Kumarji asked us to remove our socks and shoes/floaters way outside in a shop, which caused much dismay among the group, as walking bare feet on the cold, wet tiles meant a little bit of discomfort. But after the short crib session, everyone rolled up their pants quite literally and set foot inside the premises. Crowded was an understatement to the hordes of devotees longing to get inside the main temple. Kumarji told us that we would start the task to get inside around 12.45 PM as they had an aarti then. Till then we walked through other small temples. Visited the 500 शिवलिंगs labyrinth which strategically makes one go through a small temple, where a priest may/may not garland you with a Rudraksha माला and then ask one to put some दक्षिणा for good karma. All my skepticism aside SD did put some दक्षिणा on behalf of all of us. By the time we were out Kumarji signaled that it was time to go! We rushed through a random door to get in. Oh boy! Little did we know what lay ahead. There was pushing, shoving, and pulling to get to the open door to get दर्शन of the शिवलिंग. I held onto SD’s hand awkwardly and kept inching in whichever direction the crowd was pushing me in. SP, JN found this to be too claustrophobic and stepped out at the earliest. SD, VD, and I were stuck inside holding each other’s hands. So we got a hurried दर्शन. In the meantime, one of the security guards lost his cool and started yelling and pushing people with brute force. It was a sight to behold. Chaos and divinity – all in one chamber. After getting out we hoped this was the last of such an experience. On a side note – I recommend going to Pashupatinath at less crowded hours if you must.

The last stop on our day tour was the famous Bodhinath Stupa situated in the heart of the city. From the outside one won’t even know there is a huge Stupa behind the buildings. Once you are in it’s quite a sight! We walked around the Stupa soaking in its enormity. Kumarji took us to the monk quarters from where he told us two tales about the origin of the Stupa. Both centered around famine in the valley and sacrifice. He also told us about the famous wheel of life in Buddhist philosophy. After that, we made a quick but insightful stop at a Thanka (than – cloth, ka- painting) shop. The Thanka paintings are a labor of love, patience, and detailing. The higher the mastery the more time it takes and the more it costs. I marveled at the art knowing well that one day I was going to make a visit to the land of Buddha to buy one that’ll speak to me.

After a quick lunch of Vietnamese pho we went back to the resort. Since M had not joined us during the day, we went for dinner to third eye restaurant in Thamel for Nepali thali. It was a nice way to unwind before heading into the mountains.

The next day our trek would officially begin. After visiting these spiritual and holy sites we were all set to embark on an exciting adventure of our lives.

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