Places to Visit from Kathmandu: Nagarkot â�� Part I

Categorized | Nepal, Traveling in Asia

Tags | Himalayas, kathmandu, kathmandu tourism, kathmandu valley, langtang range, nagarkot, nepal tourism, sunrise photography, sunset photography, things to do from Kathmandu

Places to Visit from Kathmandu: Nagarkot – Part I

Posted on 19 November 2010 by Mike Behnken

Getting out of Kathmandu

I was on the way to a Thamel café to meet my Nepali friend and fellow photographer Surya when I started talking to one of the many touts on the street. Three of them ganged up on me and convinced me to head to their manager’s office in a nearby building.

I saw on the chair across from his desk in front of 2 or 3 of his touts on a couch in a small office and we started talking. We started talking about my situation in Nepal while we were sipping some always delicious Nepali tea. The manager named Bin was a nice guy who quickly took interest in my knowledge of websites and the internet.

He explained a few options I had as far as tours which would get me out the utter craziness of Kathmandu city. He explained a few Nepal tourism options ranging from 21 day long treks to day hikes with his guides. I explained to him that I was on the way to meet with friends who would ultimately determine where I was going soon so he gave me his phone number and business card and instructed me to call after I was done at the café.

After it was decided that I was going to fly to Pokhara on the Sunday (2 days later) I decided to take Bin’s offer of a 2 day, 1 night tour of Nagarkot, the area outside of the city in Kathmandu Valley. The mini trek included a guide, a night at Hotel Viewpoint, all meals and transportation. The cost was $250 which I could have probably bartered down but I just paid him on the spot and went back to my nearby hotel where my guide would meet me at 9am the next morning.

To Nagarkot via City Bus

I expected a private car, taxi or air-conditioned tourist bus to pick me up from the hotel the next morning but it was only my guide. We ended up walking on foot down the street and stopped at this corner where there were dozens of vans and buses completely stuffed with people. Each bus had a guy yelling in Nepalese.

We waited a good 10 minutes before we found a bus with enough space for me, my guide and of course my giant camera bag. When I say “enough space” I really mean just barely enough space for me to squeeze uncomfortably in. We drove for about 15-20 minutes and got off in another part of Kathmandu to catch another bus.

We had to wait another 15-20 minutes to find another bus as most were completely full inside and even on top, outside of the bus which was really more of a large van. Without my guide, I would have absolutely no idea which bus to take. Another 15-20 minute bumpy road through the low uneven paved/dirt roads of Kathmandu when we were dropped off on what seemed to be a random dirt road intersection.

Walking Through a Valley and up a “Hill”

If it’s not 20,000+ feet in Nepal, It’s a hill. I set out along with my guide who carried my small backpack. We started walking at the edge of a small town (may have been part of Kathmandu) and kept walking on dirt roads through the villages and farms on the way up to the peak hotel where we would be staying the night.

For the first couple hours of the walk, the scenery was pretty interesting. Most of the area consisted of farming land. The hills had steps carved out of them presumably for farming. The bright green grass of the crops and orange flowers and yellow mustard plants gave the area very visually pleasing colors. The houses in the area were also very aesthetically pleasing, some built of brick with pained window seals and others just painted bright colors.

At one point I started noticing the signs which displayed the distance to the peak. The grade wasn’t very steep but it seemed like it took forever for each new distance sign to appear. It got to a point where the scenery was getting tedious and my single water bottle I bought earlier was long gone. Luckily for me, the guide asked me if I wanted to take a bus the rest of the way to the hotel which I delightfully accepted.

Typical Scenery on the way to Nagarkot in Kathmandu Valley

Checking in at the Hotel and off for some Sunset Photos

It was getting closer to sunset so I didn’t have much time to spend at Hotel Viewpoint before sunset. Everything was paid (so I thought) for and checking in was almost instantaneous. I simply threw my clothes backpack and laptop in my room and went to the restaurant to refuel before the sunset.

It turned out, dinner and breakfast the next morning were included but the lunch/pre-dinner was not. My guide said he wasn’t going to eat because the restaurant was too expensive which it was. I insisted he ordered food and I would pay. He got a club sandwich and I got some spaghetti and the bill was around 2000 rupees ($28 USD). After dinner, I set off with my guide for some sunset views.

I remember commenting to my guide about h ow good the sunset was going to be because of the thin clouds and it didn’t disappoint. He walked me down to a vista point where there were a couple busloads of Indian tourists which is where I took the photo at the top of this post. I had a bit of a dilemma because I also wanted to get photos of the Langtang Himalayan range in the sunset as well. After I felt I got the shots I wanted of the sunset in the valley I literally ran up a hill to another hotel’s viewpoint of the mountains to get some shots of the pink clouds and mountains.