Day 6 - Nagarkot

We woke up early this morning and headed to the airport in Katmandu. It looked like another rainy day, but we were hoping that the weather was clear enough toward the Himalayas that we could take a mountain flight this morning. We waited for a while at the airport, but they ultimately canceled the flight. We were disappointed, but we had come to terms with the probability we may not see Everest on this trip. That just gives us one more reason to come back to Nepal (and I'm already planning a trip. Eric has mostly come to terms with it).

Our first stop was Bhaktapur Durbar Square. This was our favorite of the three squares that we visited. It took about 45 minutes to arrive there from Kathmandu. Each of the three squares we visited was home to a separate kingdom before Nepal's unification in the 18th century. Durbar means there was a palace. In this particular square, there were approximately 10 temples. I asked Vijay why there were so many and he said that the kingdoms would compete with each other to see who could build the most and the grandest temples. Additionally, the King would reinvest their fortune into building temples to keep favor with the people and as a means to invest their money before Swiss Bank accounts.

All over Nepal, we saw the impact of the 2015 earthquakes. They are still working to rebuild.

It was not uncommon to see wood supports keeping buildings together. 

We visited the courtyard of the palace and could see into the Hindu Temple where they still perform animal sacrifices. We could not enter this temple as it was only open to Hindus. We also saw the Royal Bath where the spout was a crocodile eating a goat. There were also a lot of temples decorated with animals like elephants, and horses. We both fell in love with this particular square - the architecture was gorgeous! Bhaktapur is known for its woodworking, so the wood on the doors and windows was immaculate.

The earthquakes were so devastating. This square was in relatively good shape and there were still so many signs of damage and destruction. 

After visiting the palace square we wandered through the market. I found a gorgeous blue scarf. I've been eyeing the scarves since we arrived and I finally bought one. We also bought a few carved elephants - one for us, and one for my parents who are graciously watching our Tex-man. We then came to another temple - this is the tallest temple in Nepal. Surprisingly, it stayed intact during the 2015 earthquake. We loved the animals adorning the temple. Also - I find Eric so handsome.

After Bhaktapur Square, we then headed to Nagarkot. It's only 18 kilometers away, but it takes an hour and a half because the road condition is so terrible. Nagarkot is high on a hill, so it has gorgeous views of the Himalayas, but unfortunately, because of the rain and fog, we weren't able to see the mountains. We were sad to not see the Himalayas, but we still had nice views of the Katmandu Valley.

When we first arrived it was a downpour and the fog was so thick we couldn't see anything. About an hour after we arrived the fog lifted so we could see the valley below. It was so pretty. Vijay called us and asked if we wanted to go for a walk and we emphatically said yes! Our first stop was a terrace at the hotel, we had a lovely view and an eagle flew by right as we were there. It seemed so perfect. We then walked about 3 miles to chase more views, but unfortunately, the fog rolled back in the higher up the hill we went and we couldn't see anything, so we came back down and enjoyed the view from our room.

Although the weather made the Nepal portion of our trip challenging, we still had a wonderful time and fell in love with Nepal. We can't wait to come back to see the Himalayas someday (and we will definitely come in November, not at the end of the Monsoon season).