Nepal trip: Day 6 (23 Mar 2023)

Hey everyone, if you have kept reading since day 1, then I’m very impressed. The good news for those who have had the stamina to keep going is that today was a very classic tourist day, so there’s lots of stuff which would probably be of interest to the average traveller.

At 8:06 AM we departed in a Suzuki Liana which we had contracted for the day. The total cost for the same, including the driver, was $90 USD plus any tip we would decide on for our driver Sunil. Yes, this was only a standard mid size sedan, but it was quite comfortable and more than adequate for our needs when heading to locations within a few hours of Kathmandu.

By 9:22 AM we were driving through Panauti. We didn’t stop to explore here, but I can say that despite looking a bit run down, it looked like it would probably be an okay place to live, or even just a quirky place to hang out as a tourist for a couple of days.

At 10:06 AM we had arrived to the Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Temple area. It may be that memory is failing me, and I’m also certainly not the world’s most noted temple expert, but this seemed to be the most modern Buddhist site I’ve ever visited. Everything was very clean, in good repair, and easy to navigate. The only obvious downside for such a modern temple complex is that they didn’t appear to have made any provisions for people with obviously impaired mobility. It’s important to note that there was also no admission fee nor anyone attempting to pressure visitors into making donations.

No, photos were “not permitted” inside the actual shrine areas, but they seemed to be far more concerned about people filming Instagram Reels or Tiktok videos than with people discreetly snapping photos when no religious ceremony was actually taking place.

Dorothée made a special effort to always do the requisite seven clockwise turns around all of the smaller stupas.

At the very top there were a couple of small shops selling reasonably priced souvenirs.

This tiny spot right at the top was supposedly where the Buddha prince willingly sacrificed himself to feed a hungry tiger and her cubs.

We had a simple drink at one of the very basic cafes near the entrance of the complex and then took the car down to the actual village of Simalchaur Syampati which was less than a kilometer away. I think some visitors would actually find this village to be more interesting than the temple complex itself; since although it was far less exquisite than the temple, it had a lot more “character.” There were also several complete, but still very reasonably priced restaurants where one could eat a proper meal here.

At 12:37 PM we were once more in the car and headed towards a waterfall which Dorothée had read about.

The nature site was about fifteen minutes away from Changunarayan by car. While we had a very athletic and certainly memorable visit here, including a rather tense 20 minute period in which Maria and I were in the process of convincing ourselves that Dorothée had fallen off the side of the mountain, we never actually found the intended waterfall. Yes, there were several more or less obvious trails through the forest, but there were neither signs nor clear indications of how to get anywhere. With that in mind, I would not suggest this area for solo visitors, but small groups should get along just fine.

Here Maria and I had been discussing how much longer to wait before contacting emergency services about our missing friend Dorothée, but then decided maybe we would just take another smiling picture instead. Fortunately we made the right decision, as about ten minutes later Dorothée appeared.

At 3:20 PM we were once again in the car en route to the Peace Garden Restaurant and Cafe. Along the way we stopped at an interesting statue and army installation where one of the guards kindly told us a bit about the significance of the statue etc. . .

Finally at 4:12 PM we arrived at the peace garden where we had a very nice meal along with a couple of drinks, costing us just 2110 NPR ($15.98 USD) for the three of us. It really was a beautiful late afternoon, and the workers at the restaurant were extremely pleasant hosts.

As is obvious from the pictures, in the 30 minutes it took us to get there, the sky suddenly became rather cloudy. So there were no Everest sightings for us today, but we still enjoyed the area.

At 6:28 PM it was already dark, so we took the car back to Kathmandu, arriving at our lodging at 7:55 PM. After a bit of quick discussion, we agreed to give Sunil a 3000 NPR ($22.72 USD) tip for the day. He was an excellent driver and it had been a very long day of work for him.

We ourselves were also very tired, so rather than go out again, we all decided to retire to our rooms for the evening. All in all, it really was a perfectly delightful day. I wonder what will happen tomorrow? In order to find out, you’ll have to be on the lookout for Day 7.

Once more, thank you for sharing in my adventures and don’t hesitate to ask for any additional information in the comments below.