So This Is Christmas (Nepal Style)

24^th – 25^th of December

So after signing off yesterday afternoon, we pretty much spent most of the afternoon relaxing back at the hotel. KTP and I practically fell asleep… though I’m still currently claiming I was only resting my eyes!! We eventually dragged ourselves back out of bed and headed to the Northfield Café for dinner. They were holding some sort of Christmas Eve celebration, with a BBQ, live music and some traditional Nepalese dancing. “This was the last place I ever thought I’d spend Christmas!” - Alicia

We originally thought it would be a quiet, early one. We were just going to grab some dinner and go – but it ended up being quite an enjoyable night.

We quickly made friends with Mr. Photographer for the evening – who took a group shot of us, and proceeded to introduce him to us. He took a particular interest in me… giving me his card and telling me he would be awaiting my call at 12PM Christmas Day… unfortunately I was unable to get in contact with him… so our love has prematurely died :( “This was the last place I ever thought I’d spend Christmas!” - Alicia

We also made friends with the ‘big boss’ of the restaurant – Barga – who we’ve pretty much discovered is probably one of the richest men in Nepal. Anyways, he pretty much changed our quiet night into a much louder one by giving us a few rounds of the hot rum punch on the house… and let me tell you – there was more rum than punch in those glasses!! “This was the last place I ever thought I’d spend Christmas!” - Alicia

After being attacked by the Yak, the Yeti & the giant peacock… we finally decided that we had probably had enough rum and headed back to the hotel for a good solid sleep.

Awaking upon Christmas morn we were greeted with nothing particularly exciting… except for SANTA HATS!!! AND PRESENTS!!! AND TEAM T-SHIRTS!!! All in our lovely Christmas stocking!!! “This was the last place I ever thought I’d spend Christmas!” - Alicia

We headed back to the Northfield Café for breakfast, as we promised our new Barga we would meet up with him then. Another ‘Western’ type breakfast was had with KTP & Fangy having omelets and myself having the Quesadilla. All were quite yummy.

After meeting up with Barga, he then proceeded to show off his silver jewelery stock room – which was pretty amazing. There were a heap of different gems and minerals and some fantastic pieces of jeweler… unfortunately we are all pretty sure they are out of our bargain price range.

After breakfast, everyone got in touch with various relatives & significant other via phone, Skype or Google chat to wish everyone back home a Merry Christmas. After that we then decided we wanted to head into Kathmandu Valley to see Durbar Square and also the money temple. We had originally planned to grab a taxi to drive us for the whole day but after pursuing our oracle (aka the Lonely Planet Guide) we decided upon taking the walking tour from Thamel to the square. “This was the last place I ever thought I’d spend Christmas!” - Alicia

We made our way to Thamel Tole – close to where both KTP & I got conned yesterday – and then headed south. Our first major stop was Kathesimbhu Stupa. This is apparently the most popular Tibetan pilgrimage site in the Old Town and it’s not hard to realize why. They beautifully white Stupa is surrounded by brightly coloured Tibetan prayer flags, tucked away behind and tiny alley, it a truly wondrous site. The stupa is apparently a small copy of the great Swayambhunath (or ‘Monkey Temple’) complex dating from around 1650!

After spending some time trying to find the stone lion guarding to passageway to the Nag Bahal (hidden behind pashmina shawls) and the stone relief of Shiva (hidden behind a truck) we then came out into square with the Sikha Narayan Temple. NE of this square there is a small statue of Buddha framed by blue & white tiles that apparently dates from the 5^th or 6^th century. To our amazement it just sits there nondescriptly beneath a ‘Raj Dental Clinic Sign’. Further down in the SE corner of the square also lies a gigantic lump of wood, into which thousands of coins have been nailed into. These coins are offerings to the toothache god, which makes the score of Dental clinics in the surrounding streets, make much more sense!! “This was the last place I ever thought I’d spend Christmas!” - Alicia

From there we headed to Asan Tole – a bustling market place jammed with buyers, sellers and lots of fresh produce. There is also another temple – this time the Annapurna Temple which is apparently dedicated to the goddess of abundance. We then came across the Seto (White) Machhendranath Temple, which is apparently one of the most important temples in Kathmandu – however at this time it seemed to be currently being used as a fabric store!

We then took a quiet alleyway looking for the Itum Bahal – one of the oldest and largest bahals in the city. Apparently we had to find the sign saying ‘Jenisha Beauty Parlor’ – so we were searching for this giant sign and ended reaching the end of the alley without hide nor hair of this bahal. Eventually, after backtracking a few hundred meters, I found the TINY sign stuck on top a tiny entryway leading out to the bahal. The highlight of this was seeing the impossibly skinny (not even double bed width) building surround the courtyard. (I’m not sure I’d like to live in one of those!) “This was the last place I ever thought I’d spend Christmas!” - Alicia

The last major sight we saw on the tour with the Yatkha Bahal – though not without some help from some American tourists also attempting the same walking tour. After then battling the ever increasing traffic, we finally made our way to Durbar square!!

Unfortunately for us, access to Durbar square was closed as there we demonstrations happening at the time… not that this stopped various ‘guides’ offering their services, much to our increasing annoyance as they didn’t seem to know how to take NO as an answer.

We made our way across to a small marketplace just across the road – where KTP bought a few trinkets for what turned out to be relatively expensive prices (not that she knew it at the time!). After that we headed to the Snowman Café for a very light lunch of cake and tea. Alicia tried the coconut cake, while KTP & I had some of the chocolate cake this place is apparently famous for. I can say though that the chocolate cake was pretty delicious – nice and surprisingly moist! KTP thought it was good… but a lil bit different. “This was the last place I ever thought I’d spend Christmas!” - Alicia

After lunch, we then hired a taxi to take us to Swayambhunath, more commonly known as the ‘Monkey Temple’. We were driven to the top of the temple and spent about an hour making our way around the place. It was quite beautiful – even if the main stupa was currently under construction! – and, as could be determined by the name, there were lots of cheeky monkeys running all over the place. From the top there were amazing views of the Kathmandu Valley and we spent quite a bit of time taking photos of the panoramic views.

Tonight we’re heading out for some traditional Nepalese cuisine at one of the many other restaurants owned by our new friend Barga. While it hasn’t been the most Christmasy of days – we’ve all had a good time so far!! (“This was the last place I ever thought I’d spend Christmas!” – Alicia)

Our Everest Base Camp tour officially starts tomorrow – which is kind of exciting, if nerve wrecking (KTP & I were feeling the effects of walking up the stairs @ Swayambhunath!!) – though we don’t officially ‘leave’ till the 27^th!! Wish us luck!

Brennan (KTP & Fangy)

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Things we learnt so far:

· Head down & ignore all strangers attempting to talk to you (unless they are rich restaurant owners)

· Shop in the morning – apparently its cheaper

· Wearing a Santa hat will make people stare at you… and also wish you a Merry Christmas

· Big temple sites are normally signified by lots of rubbish

When you hearing honking GET OUT OF THE WAY… or you will be run over.