Hey there once again. So if you read day 4 you already know that the whole village trip thing did not go as planned, and I am now back in Kathmandu. This is not a setback, but rather a simple change of plans. Let’s see how things went.
We met up in the garden downstairs at 9:40 AM and then headed out to a breakfast place near our lodging called Rosemary Kitchen and Coffee Shop.
We sat in the pleasant garden for breakfast, with the total cost for the three of us coming to 2007 NPR ($15.20 USD). The food was very nice, as was the ambiance.
While eating, Dorothee suggested that I check to see if I could find a “free walking” tour; I found one which was starting at 2 PM on Guru Walk.
This “free” model honestly makes a bit more sense in the European context, since the webpage makes it clear that there is a general expectation that each participant will “tip” at least 10 Euros, with a maximum group size of 5. Obviously, one can pay more. Putting things in perspective, a highly skilled trekking guide who in essence is responsible for your life, is generally only paid about $30 USD a day. In our particular group, there were four people and certainly each of us paid at least $10 USD, and I assume the fourth participant paid similarly. So, for a four hour walking tour, this “walking guide” earned more than double that which was paid for a full day to a trekking guide. I am in no way suggesting that the payment is “unjust” but seeing things from the Nepalese viewpoint, it doesn’t make as much sense as it does in Europe or other cities which are far more expensive. However, the walking tour did not start until 2 PM, so we still had some exploring to do on our own.
Dorothee was quite keen on visiting the Garden of Dreams, so at 11:15 AM we departed from the cafe and headed over in that direction. Along the way at 11:46 AM we briefly stopped in to visit the Tridevi temple.
Our time at the temple was very short, and by 11:55 AM we were entering the garden. The entry fee was 400 NPR ($3.03 USD) per person. While this is certainly not “expensive,” it is clear that this is meant to be more of a resting place for residents of the city than a must see site for tourists. So, if you are short on time, even though there are many great photo opportunities, international visitors can definitely skip the garden.
Certainly we could have spent more time there reading a book or something along those lines, but by 12:35 PM we were ready to go back to our lodging which was only a ten minute walk away. There we rested a bit and left once more on foot at 1:35 PM, arriving to the meeting point at Chaya Center Thames at 1:50 PM. Our guide Santhosh Pandey was reasonably punctual, meeting us at 2:09 PM. There we were joined by another pleasant woman from the United Kingdom, but I am afraid that I did not think to ask her name.
By 2:53 PM we had reached Hanuman-Dhoka Durbar Square. There are several different World Heritage Sites here. The entry fee for non SAARC visitors is 1000 NPR ($7.57 USD) and 150 NPR ($1.14 USD) for SAARC visitors. While this is a minor point, this is potentially important for “Anglo-Indians” visiting, because if you do not “look South Indian” you will be required to show either your voter identification card or your passport; AADHAR and PAN cards are not acceptable. Similarly, if you “look South Asian” just say that you are (The British woman in our group did this.), then they will charge you 150. Still, this is probably the “most important” heritage site in Kathmandu, so it’s definitely worth the entry fee regardless of the amount. There were many interesting things to see, but it is worth noting that some of the buildings and historical artifacts were obviously maintained much better than others; in particular, I noticed that the palace which had been used from the 13th to 18th century seemed rather shabby. We stayed in this general area until 4:22 PM.
Yes, a particularly adventurous traveler with plenty of time on one’s hands could walk to the Swayambhu Mahachaitya Buddhist temple complex from the site where we were located, but for the sake of expediency we took a taxi ride for 13 minutes, also asking the driver to wait for us so that we would have transport back to our homestay afterwards. According to our guide, it is MUCH better to make an arrangement like this, because it can otherwise be hard to get transport from the site. We paid a total of 1000 NPR ($7.57 USD) for this service; given that we did not get back to our rooms until 6:04 PM this seemed reasonable, but I suspect we could have bargained for significantly less had we really been in the mood to do the same.
A large amount of our time at this site was spent at the Buddha Thanka Treasure painting showroom. Given that they allowed us up on their rooftop to take pictures; this seemed fair. I should begin with saying that I am definitely impressed with the art created by those whose work was on display, but I was somewhat skeptical about some of the details given to us by the people working there. According to the sales people, every roughly A4 size painting they have there takes between 10 days and 3 months of work for an artist to complete. They furthermore stated that 40% of the artwork created by their 650 artists is shredded, because it does not meet their quality control standards. Finally, they indicated that all of the artists were on salary: 258 full-time artists and 392 part time (3 hours a day for five days a week). These paintings on canvas could be purchased for anything from about $50 USD to $500 USD. Certainly the artwork was impressive and I in no way dispute its value, but the total numbers did not seem to add up given the standard Nepalese minimum wage (one hopes that many of the artists also make more than minimum) and the information we were being given. Again though, I believe that my traveling companions would color me as being overly cynical on this particular point. Regardless, the artwork is beautiful and at least on the surface it seems that this organization is working to provide gainful, practical employment to many aspiring young artists while also preserving a valuable and beautiful art form. I have provided their website above should you wish to buy from them directly.
As we had been quite satisfied with our breakfast and it was nearby, we decided to meet for dinner at Rosemary Kitchen and Coffee Shop at 6:30 PM. It took about 30 minutes for our food to be served, and I was reasonably pleased with my Beef Choela; Maria and Dorothee seemed similarly satisfied with their main course choices. I opted to skip dessert, but Maria had the truffle cake which she stated was “nice” and Dorothee had the yoghurt cheesecake which she pronounced to be “very good;” however, she was not at all impressed with the strawberry syrup that had been served on the side. The total for the three of us was 4792 NPR ($36.30 USD).
By 8:25 PM I was safely back in my room resting and getting caught up on correspondence. Tomorrow we have no guide, but have booked a driver for the full day who will take us to a couple of recommended locations which are between 1 and three hours from the city. Given our success today, it would appear that we are fully back on track to have a successful and very enjoyable experience here in Nepal. Of course, there is still much to come, and the only way to find out will be to keep reading.
As always, should you have questions about anything I have mentioned so far, just let me know in the comments below and I will try to help as much as possible. Wherever you are, I hope your day was also as great as mine. See you soon . . .
Travels with Jay 
All very interesting!!
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