Situated on a hill at about 7200 ft, about 30 km from Kathmandu toward the east edge of the valley, the “village” of Nagarkot has been one of the most popular destinations in Kathmandu valley. What started out as a small village decades ago now is home to some of the most spectacular hotels and resorts around Kathmandu. When you drive into Nagarkot proper, it still looks like years ago, however hidden among the trees in the hills are numerous hotels and resorts of every price range and appearance. I had been going to Nagarkot on motorcycles for day trips throughout the years. However, I had never stayed there over night. This past trip to Nepal, six of us set out for a night stop at Nagarkot. The six were my brother, his wife, myself and my wife and her two brothers. We had one car and one motorcycle. It felt great to ride the motorcycle after so many years, especially on the road that winds up to Nagarkot.

To get to Nagarkot, one drives out from Kathmandu, through some extremely busy intersections, then the old city of Thimi or Madhyapur, and then through the outskirts of Bhaktapur. The road then becomes sparse of traffic, and really starts winding and climbing up the green and lush mountains. There are numerous narrow pull outs, that are more suited for bikes than cars. You feel like stopping at every one of these, and you should, the view changes so rapidly that one really misses out if one does not stop often enough to take in the views, take pictures and just enjoy. Every few minutes the laborious roar of a bus can be heard fading in and out as it winds along the narrow serpentine road. Some of these buses are so full that there are people and animals on the roof.

As you go further up, the views become more spectacular until you finally cross over to the north side of the mountain, and the first glimpse of the snow capped Himalayas of Nepal greet you. It is a sight, I am sure that not even the locals get tired of. The higher the road gets, the taller the Himalayas become. Perched precariously at a junction, the village of Nagarkot is usually bustling with tourists, and locals catering to the tourists. Here the road forks, right leads to an amazing viewpoint and the left leads to a plethora of hotels.

We had an amazing time at Nagarkot. The next day we stopped at Bhaktapur for lunch and some sight seeing. I regreted not having enough time to spend in Bhaktapur. Here are the pictures from the trip. I hope you enjoy them and please drop me a line with your thoughts. Click on the comments link below the pictures thumbnails.

Well, this was the second visit to Patan during our 6 week visit to see our family in Oct 2008. This time as well, we took the bus from Naxal to Patan Dhoka, there is no substitute for a lazy afternoon bus ride on a Saturday. Not many people are out and about on Saturdays on buses, so most of they run on time and are fairly empty.

I have always been fascinated by the one liners or poems that are painted on the back and sides of buses and trucks in Nepal. I believe this is common in most parts of India as well. I managed to capture a couple of these. On my next trip to Nepal, I am going to make it a mission to seek out these snippets of these scribblings.

Some of the pictures in this gallery are of similar places as the first gallery. This day most of Patan was shut down, because it was one of the days of Tihar. We wanted to eat at this small place behind the Krishna Mandir. The two pictures second and third from the end in my first Patan gallery were taken from the roof of this one story restaurant. If anyone remembers the name of that restaurant let me know and I will update this writeup. I thought it was Piro Achaar or something like that. But since it was closed, we ended up find a small hole in the wall place with green curtains on the door. They had excellent satayed sukuti and chyaang. Both my favorite!

We ended the day at the Golden Temple where an acquaintance of my father treated us to the best home distilled alcohol I have ever tasted. After sipping one shot, I went back to shooting pictures while my family were hanging out with my father’s friend. I really regret not having made it to the thousand Buddha temple. Oh well, next time.