Nepal inspires and surprises

I have to admit, I knew nothing much about Nepal, the country, the culture, the people and I never had a great desire to find out either. Ignorance, I partake in it sometimes.

As soon as I set eyes on Kathmandu, I was in complete awe of its natural, quirky beauty. This place was no standard, big city. It wasn’t terribly busy, wasn’t terribly noisy and wasn’t terribly dusty or rowdy as I had expected. The city was vibrant and colorful, an eclectic mix of modern café culture and beautiful ancient temples and crumbly buildings. On the horizon something special caught my eye, my first glimpse of the Himalayan mountain range was simply breath taking, a fairy-tale like beauty sparkling beyond the city.

The long journey to Pokhara was certainly not boring. Driving around snowy topped mountain roads and along milky river banks I quickly came to realize that Kathmandu was just the gateway to this fascinating and stunning country.

A visit to Nepal wouldn’t have been complete without a spiritual visit to Lumbini, Birthplace of Buddha. Buddhism is something that intrigues and interests me, something I’ve always been keen to learn about. I took the opportunity here to briefly talk with and be blessed by a Monk.

Most of our days in Nepal were spent walking and absorbing the stunning landscapes, mountain views, watching sunsets over the lake and boats in Pokhara, mooching around ancient towns and temples and climbing hills to pretty Pagodas, paragliding over the Annapurna mountain range, flying over Everest and eating Mo-Mos.

Nepal completely exceeded all of my expectations. My knowledge about the culture, Hinduism and Buddhism soared and my memories full of the welcoming people and beautiful scenes I had witnessed over my last 3 weeks in such an inspiring and surprising country.

This post has been excerpted from the original blog post up on www.worldnomads.com with the author’s permission. Click below to read the full version: