Nepal - Roof of the World

Nepal plan was an unexpected plan to me. honestly at first, I was not even interested in it and was not happy. the only thing that brought me into this trip and made me excited was MOMOS. My smarty dad gave me bride of momos and I took it. But deep down I knew this trip would be a blast of culture, heritage and tradition and it was for sure. 

Nepal is often described as roof of the world, and it is surely one. we did our journey from Ahmedabad via Delhi via Kathmandu. Our entry was marked at Kathmandu and then shortly we had a flight to Pokhara. so, we changed our flights 3 times in a single day. next day we went to Jomsom.

LAND OF MUSTANG = JOMSOM 

Jomsom is more of a scattered city. from airport there was a street of maximum 2 km which was filled with hotels and restaurants. My hotel was in front of Mt Annapurna and the view was amazing. we explored following places:

DHUMBA LAKE 

It is located to the west of jomson. The view is truly mesmerizing. there is pathway at the boundary of this lake. There is a belief that once this lake turned red and then a Buddhist monk performed some rituals and turned it back to natural color. 

LOCAL VILLAGES [KAGBENI, THINI, MARPHA & TUKUCHE VILLAGE] 

As I mentioned earlier, jomson is a scattered city. we went to nearby villages. the drive was about 45 minutes to 1 hour. These villages were filled with thakali and Tibetan people which were heartwarming, respectful and loving. There were even small Buddhist temples. Each village was in between the mountains which gave it a unique beauty. the houses in these villages had a bunch of woods kept on the rooftop which was a part of their culture. 

MUKTINATH TEMPLE 

Muktinath temple has its own natural beauty, religious significance and heritage. this temple is dedicated to lord Vishnu of Hindus and lord buddha of Buddhists. According to our tradition, we took shower at 108 waterspouts, known as Mukti Dhara, and the two holy ponds, Mukti Kunda and Saraswati Kunda. it is strongly believed that this shower purifies us deeply and thoroughly cleans the sins we performed. the water temperature was about -4-degree Celsius, but it was not affecting anyone present there due to the unshaken faith in God and their madness to perform all the traditions.

This temple included a long walk for about 30 minutes and a climb of 400 stairsteps. The way was filled with restaurants, hotels and street shops which had shawls, bags, Wollen cloths and what not. The shopkeepers inviting us to shops was so sweet of them. they really have nice hospitality. We were lucky enough to have supportive weather. 

CITY OF LAKES = POKHARA 

We had road trip from jomsom to Pokhara due to unfavorable climatic conditions. But the view we got was worth it. we saw waterfalls, rivers and mountains all over the trip. as per our planning we had 3 days stay in Pokhara. we explored the following places - 

DEVIS FALL 

It is a waterfall named after a Swiss couple who once visited to this place. While swimming in its water, the overflow made the girl drowned. Her body was recovered after three days. On her father's request the waterfall was named after the girl's name as Davi's Fall. The waterflow was very less due to our visit in summers.

MAHENDRA CAVE 

The cave was named Mahendra after it was visited by the then King Mahendra. There are underground stairs and after that, there is a small temple of lord shiva. after the temple, there are some more stairs which leads to a beautiful waterfall. unfortunately, the waterfall couldn't be viewed properly due to less light, and the stairs are located at a distance from waterfall due to safety purposes. 

SHANTI STUPA 

As the name suggests, it was a haven of quietness. It was located at a high altitude and thus it included a drive of 1 hour and a walk of 30 minutes. The structure of stupa was like a semicircular part at top which was balanced with square shape at bottom. 

This temple is dedicated to lord buddha. it described buddha's life- where he was born {LUMBINI}, where he gained knowledge {BODH GAYA}, where he gave his first talk on Buddhism {SARNATH} and where he got his ultimate happiness {KUSINAGARA}. Visitors enter from east side which is done to imitate the movement of sun in the sky. 

BINDABASINI TEMPLE

This temple is dedicated to goddess Bindabasini, and is situated at the top of a hill. Along with the main temple, there are even other temples of lord Ganesha, shiv and hanuman. 

PARAGLIDING PARADISE 

This was the thing about which I was most scared yet wanted to try it out. for 20 mins, I flied in air as a bird. we went to the top of a hill by drive and then we had to wear the safety belts and all. Then with the air we had a small run and then finally reached sky. 

CITY OF LIGHT = KATHMANDU

We had a morning drive to Kathmandu on the very next day. We choose road trip due to our urge to visit Manakamana temple which comes in between Pokhara and Kathmandu. 

MANAKAMANA TEMPLE

This temple is located in the Gorkha district of Nepal which is dedicated to Hindu goddess Bhagwati. the word manakamana is made up from two words - mana meaning heart and Kamana meaning wish, which means this temple is for the Heart's wish. Here the goddess offerings are made up from 5 natural elements (also called panchtatva) which are soil, air, water, earth and ether. the offering basket includes flower, Diya, rice, cloth and many more. 

This temple is located at a height, and we reach there with the help of Ropeway. after that there was a small walk and the road was filled with items like evil eye, offering basket, wood items and what not! To my Suprise, it had the longest que for entering the main temple. It was about 3-4 km. Adding to this on our visit day, there was some ritual of cutting goat and offering her which took the delay of 2 hours. All the way, none thought to go back due to their quest of performing rituals and taking blessings. 

PASHUPATINATH TEMPLE 

Pashupatinath temple is situated on the bank of Baghmati River. the word Pashupati means protector of animals which is described to God shiva. Beside the main temple there are a number of other smaller temples dedicated to many deities.
Inside the main temple of Pashupatinath, there is a four-faced Shiva Lingam. people say that The Shiva Lingam is believed to have five faces, from which one is invisible. worshipers strongly believe that even once in your life if you step foot on Pashupatinath and go inside the door and look at the four-faced avatar of Shiva, you’ll go directly to heaven. 

BHAKTAPUR DISTRICT 

Bhaktapur is like an open museum. It has a number of temples, monuments, courtyard, traditional houses, artistic stones and monasteries built in different times of the history. This district highlights Newari lifestyle and their appealing traditions and rituals. This beautiful city with architectural masterpieces, artistic temple and ancient paintings, has been able to preserve in historical essence. 

PATAN DARBAR SQAURE 

My dad's friend, Ashok uncle took us this place early in the morning. He helped us to know more about this place' history, architecture and culture. It is located in Lalitpur district. It has the most fabulous fusion of Hinduism and Buddhism. This area was so attractive because of its various temples and architect masterpieces. 

In this area, running vehicles were in minority and people walking was in majority which was a big difference as compared to Indian busy cities. Indians truly need to be inspired by this culture. 

In a nutshell, Nepal helped me to connect with myself. The view replenished my soul. Nepal trip made me realize certain things. There is something magical about this place as it has the power to make you religious. I will never forget the momos I ate here and will wish to visit here again.