Our First Morning in Kathmandu, Nepal

We arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal on a beautiful May morning after a short flight from Delhi, India. We hired a car to take us to our guesthouse which was located in the very dense and busy section of the city called “Thamel.” This part of town has numerous streets, alleyways, courtyards, etc, etc. Driving into the city we were both glued to the car windows and we couldn’t wait to start exploring. Immediately after we got our room we hit the streets to explore. Kathmandu is like no place on earth and is actually quite difficult to describe. The streets are extremely narrow and there are hundreds of motorcycles cruising by you at all times. This mixed with the colorful architecture, millions of people, etc makes for a very exciting experience just walking around town. There are very few large main streets which can make it extremely easy to get lost. On this first morning Lindsay and I knew the general direction we were heading (towards Durbar Square) but were excited to “get lost” on the way. After only a few minutes of wandering we passed an alleyway that lead into an extremely colorful courtyard. It was a little hard to tell exactly what this was at first so we decided to explore. As we got closer we realized that this little alleyway lead into a courtyard that had a beautiful Buddhist temple called a “Stupa.” These are very colorful temples generally consisting of a central large white structure with a central tower. This is generally painted with two colorful eyes and is adorned with a gold top, colorful flags, etc. In addition, there are numerous smaller temples that surround the main temple full of shrines, statues, etc. To top it all off there are strings of colorful “prayer flags” that run from the very top of the temple to nearby buildings, etc. Needless to say these stupa temples are extremely colorful and beautiful. This was a large Stupa in a small courtyard so Lindsay and I were almost overwhelmed by the sight. It is truly like nothing we had ever seen. We spent an hour just wandering around the courtyard trying to take it all in. It was a beautiful day and the bright blue sky was the perfect backdrop to the colorful prayer flags flying overhead. We eventually continued on our way but will never forget stumbling on that beautiful Stupa temple in the heart of Kathmandu. It was the perfect introduction to an amazing country and we were so lucky to experience it on our first morning.