Nepal and Taiwan: July 2025: Day 4: Kathmandu

Nepal and Taiwan

July 2025: Day 4: Kathmandu

Professor Bhattachan and his PhD advisor, Professor Paolo D'Odorico.

Kathmandu.

Kumari Ghar, palace of the living goddess Kumari.

Details.

Kathmandu Durbar Square.

Many temples.

Kathmandu Durbar Square.

Elaborate roof supports.

Hanumandhoka Durbar Square.

Many details.

Contrast.

Narrow stairs.

The view, including the nearby market square.

Details.

Professor D'Odorico is very tall.

Shopping.

Sweets.

Snack time.

Delicious.

Total hole in the wall.

Traffic is a theme here.

Fish for lunch at Thulo Thakal.

More shopping.

Local bakery/coffee shop has an impressive map of visitors.

Some, uh, interesting architecture.

Tuk-tuks.

Patan Durbar Square.

Krishna Mandir.

Patan Durbar Square.

Elephants.

Manga: water stone spout (thanks Google!).

Bhimsen Mandir (temple dedicated to god of trade).

Smaller temple below a forest of power lines.

Then electricity in the entire neighborhood went out.

Found a tourist trap restaurant with flashlights.

Traffic, narrow streets, and rain.

Traffic, narrow streets, and rain, part 2.

After a very homey breakfast with the family that runs Indsu Home, spent the first half of the day exploring Kathmandu, specifically Kathmandu Durbar Square, including Kumari Ghar (home of a living goddess), Nine Storey Palace, and several other nearby temples. Abinash and Paolo both did a bit of shopping, Abinash lead us to a great hole in the wall for a snack, then a Thakali place for lunch.

Abinash left his two American guests on their own the rest of the afternoon, so we ended up at Patan Darbar Square to see more temples and palaces. As a tourist making his first visit to Nepal, I won't even attempt to describe everything saw. Can only speak in the most general terms-- which is to say there were three independent kingdoms that previously divided the Kathmandu Valley-- and I only visited two of their three historic squares (Kathmandu Durbar Square, Patan Darbar Square, and Bhaktapur Durbar Square) on my short visit. There are some definite architectual differences, changes in the wood tones, and doubtless I missed 90% of it at least, but still glad I made the time to visit, even with the power outages and traffic jams that made getting back that evening extra fun.

Fortunately, Patan Darbar Square wasn't too far from the hotel, and after being ghosted by local rideshare drivers for nearly an hour, Professor D'Odorico and I ended up walking back to the hotel... only to find we'd walked from one power outage to another. All part of the Nepal experience.