Last night, the incredibly efficient Nepalese Tourist Bureau arranged for the required barking dogs to keep me company and awake most of the night. It must have been end of shift around 2am because there seemed to be an information exchange involving the oncoming shift as there were additional dogs barking for a while.

This morning, after a lovely breakfast in a courtyard surrounded by many chirping birds, we got our bikes; only two of us on rentals; Christian and Mariola brought their own. My bike is medium quality and condition; nothing fancy, well used…

We road out of the main town out to the countryside, so many interesting things, pigs, goats, some minor crops, some relatively nice houses out in the country, and then rode back into town. That took about three hours, probably about 15 to 18 miles.

Random fact: Did you know, there are planned power outages up to 12 hours per day throughout Nepal.

Anita was our city tour guide today for the afternoon. We first visited Boudhan Stupa; the largest Buddhist Stupa in the world. It is a world heritage site, so like many I’ve been to, it is very busy with tourists and many businesses and shops built all around.

Next was Pashupatinah Temple; this was a most fascinating place because as is the custom with Hindus, the bodies of the dead are burned in traditional funeral pyres and then all of the ashes are pushed into the river, on the belief that the ashes will eventually flow to the sea. So while we were there, we saw two pyres being built which is logs stacked square to each other, and then a body wrapped in decorative robes placed on top, and the whole thing lit on fire. It was a fascinating thing to watch, in essentially a public setting, something us Westerners would never do because we seem to manage our dead and death with so much more privacy and tidiness..

There are four of us in the group;
Mariola/ mom of special needs child, originally from Poland, and former co-owner with her ex husband of a profitable condom distribution business some years ago.

Christian, married to Mariola, owns a large orthodontia supplies business with his father.

Flavia from Switzerland is an MD working for NGO developing aids awareness and medical exchange between China and Switzerland.

Very hazy weather here, the sun glow in the sky is very orange to all of the haze, most of which I think is probably dust and smog of some sort. My throat has a raspy dryness that I haven’t experienced before.

Today was a huge city wide strike against the government. People in favor of the Maoist insurgency is against the Prime Minister. No cars, trucks or buses, and most businesses stayed closed for fear that pro Maoist folks will come and damage their business. The point is to make the PM think about the people instead of himself, as it was explained to us. The clear advantage for us was that no matter where we went, there were literally no cars on the road. There was an exemption on the strike for tourist vehicles. Normally, most of the roads are nearly choked to a standstill with cars going every direction and honking horns ceaselessly. We did see many groups of chanting people with red flags with the Communist hammer and sickle symbol throughout the city, along with a very major police presence as well.

After returning from the city tour, it was group dinner where I nearly fell asleep at the table; still time warped from traveling across the globe.

I’m already behind in posting here as I’m writing this on the morning of technically the third day of the cycling trip. We actually on the bikes for full day of cycling today, but I will address that in the next post. FYI, the photos below may not match the order of commentary above. The latest version of WordPress app that I use for this has some major bugs in it, and it’s extremely difficult to get pictures in order or in between text. It’s much easier to just add them to the end.

Here’s the official description for today: Sun 7 th April: Kathmandu

This morning we embark on a fascinating city tour by bicycle. Kathmandu is one of the world’s oldest cities and is rich in cultural heritage. The old part of the city is criss-crossed with narrow medieval streets and centres on Durbar Square, a World Heritage Site. It boasts distinctive pagoda-roofed temples, old monasteries and numerous historic monuments. We will discover other key sites on our cycle tour including the Royal Palace, Swayambhunath Stupa (one of the holiest Buddhist sites in Nepal known as Monkey Temple) Boudhanath Stupa (for an insight into Tibetan culture) and Pashupati Temple (one of the holiest Hindu shrines in the world). After the city tour there will be time to wander through the bustling street markets and lively backstreets. Souvenir options are plentiful and include Nepali clothing, embroidery and ceramics. This evening after dinner we will hear more about the journey ahead from our local team