Off to Nepal I go! (Kathmandu)

I had absolutely no plans to go to Nepal. But in Delhi I met an Irish guy (with a completely North American accent) and an Austrian guy who were planning on going to Kathmandu and spending a few months in Nepal. (They had just spent six months in Hampi, in southern India.) They were staying in Delhi with a Brazilian, Claudio, who decided to go to Nepal with them. So after learning the three of them were going to Nepal, and me being unsure of my plans, I just decided to go to Nepal as well! What's better, Kaushik had an upgrade voucher, so with Jet Airways I flew business class from Delhi to Kathmandu!

Once we got to the airport, we got the visa on arrival, and headed outside the airport. Claudio and I called up Badri who came and picked us up. We then went back to Badri's house and rested there for a bit before we went out to dinner in Thamel, an area that can be called the foreigner's hangout.

From Badri's house, we took a taxi to Durbar Sqaure, where there was a good amount to see. We got a guide to show us around.

In the following days, we also visited a few temples and stupas, including the monkey temple (where there were lots of monkeys!), saw bodies in the process of being cremated (forget which place that was!)... and more. There was definitely lots to see and lots of walking to be done.

We went back to Thamel a couple of times, and we also had our first experience in a cycle rickshaw... for some reason that was quite an entertaining ride!!

And we were definitely in the mountains, everywhere you looked there were mountains, it was wonderful!