Leaving the City of Temples

When I first arrived into Kathmandu mid June, I had no idea how long I would be in Nepal, what I would do, or where I would travel to. I knew I wanted to go up into the mountains again, having fallen in love with them the previous year when I was living in Uttarakhand India. At that was about it.

I have documented my travels from the time I was freed from the then mandatory quarantine, starting with Kathmandu and Durbar Square, so it’s apt that I finish here too, on the eve of my departure back to the UK.

 

These last few days since leaving Lakeside, I have re-experienced the city during the Diwali Festival, and then yesterday moved to Lalitpur, the historical city of Patan, now effectively a district of metropolitan Kathmandu. It’s an extraordinary place, the Patan Durbar Square full of immense tiered temples dedicated to different divinities. Everywhere the process of restoration is underway, following the devastating 2015 earthquake. Some buildings are finished, many others still literally under wraps or else covered with scaffolding.

Diwali is over now and everywhere getting back to normal. Doorsteps still have the colourful decorative mandalas, if now looking a little faded, as are the red tikkas on the dogs’ heads.

My original plan to go onto (or back to) India has been thwarted by the arcane complications of visa application and border crossings, so it’s back to the UK and to York, if briefly, take stock of all I have seen and learned these last five months and see what bright new possibilities then emerge!

A final farewell and thank you to all the wonderful people here who have enriched my life and experiences throughout my stay. Nepal is such a beautiful country and my adventures on the Road to Salvation and to Muktinath truly amazing.