ThrowBack Travel : Nepal

*This Post originally appeared on my old lifestyle blog Style and Chocolates, a couple of years ago. This blog post has a few modifications to the text and is being transferred here permanently.

It's already been years since I went to Nepal with my family. I still haven't gotten over the trip, I also have not gotten the chance to write about it here thus I've placed it under the Throwback Travel Thursday Category. 

Nepal is one incredible country. As some of you may or may not know, it is home to some of the most famous and highest mountains in the world. It is abundant in nature and also in culture.

Seeing the Himalayas from the Airplane

Nepal is where you see and get to the Himalayan Mountain Range. The mountains in this particular range are some of the highest in the world, including of course the most famous one of all : Mt. Everest. The thought of seeing that alone was enough to excite me. You can also take trekking trips but for us it was only to be a sightseeing one.

Our airplane approaching Kathmandu and seeing the Everest Mountain Range for the first time.

As our plane was approaching  Kathmandu and beginning it's descent, the pilot came on the speaker for an announcement. I thought that he obviously was going to announce our descent and all our safety reminders and etc. I was so surprised when instead he said : Ladies and Gentleman. Look to your right, we can now see Mt. Everest from up here. I got goosebumps when I heard that! There was a mini commotion as everyone scrambled around to look and take photos. We were so lucky to be sitting at the right side of the plane and even luckier that it was a clear day. (A friend who'd been to Nepal previously said he couldn't see the mountains from above when he flew in) It was such an experience, the mood inside the plane was so amazing, everyone was totally in awe.

Though we landed in Kathmandu, our first destination was Nagarkot, a small town from where we could see Mount Everest the closest without having to trek. We had to drive up small and twisty roads. The cold in Nagarkot was also more unbearable but it didn't matter because once we got there, all we had to do was go up to the hotel's rooftop and gaze at the wonderful view that was the Everest Mountain Range. The next day we woke up at the crack of dawn to see it at sunrise. It was just incredible.

Warning: this post is going to have a LOT of photos on the snowy peaks. My sister and I were obsessed with focusing on the peaks the whole trip so we took tons of photos of the mountains.

View of The Himalayas from Nagarkot,late afternoon.

 Waiting for the sun to rise.

We could see the mountain range from the Breakfast Room of our hotel.

We also went to a lookout point the next day, still in Nagarkot, to have a a last glimpse of Everest and his buddies. Guess what was growing wild in the bushes in the lookout point we went to. Apparently it is abundant in the country. Though it is illegal to use of course.

 Guess what was growing wild in one of the bushes of the mountain we went to..

The Everest Mountain Range

 Last Few looks at the Himalayas.

We had a proper city tour of Kathmandu, visiting ancient walled cities like Bhaktapur and Durbar square. Though Nepal is gorgeous enough with all that natural scenery, I couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised by their culture and old buildings and fortifications. My first impression of Bhaktapur was that it was red and dusty everywhere. It was so exotic and exciting! Durbar Square was also really cool. Apparently a part of it was where the hippies started out in the sixties and up to now we can still see few real live ones strolling around. They charge you though if you try to take a photo with them. Durbar Square also had a lot of temples. One of the temples had what they call a real living "goddess". The Hindu culture is really so cool and very interesting. I was definitely mesmerized by it and some of the things I saw were really unfamiliar and unique.

 More photos of the peaks.

 Photo Ancient city of Bhaktapur

Bhaktapur

 Nepal's National Flag. It is the only country in the world where the flag doesn't have a quadrilateral shape.

We visited Swayambhunath Stuppa, situated on top of a hill that overlooked Kathmandu. It was also called the Monkey temple as there are monkeys living all over it.

Photo View of Kathmandu from the Stuppa.

Swayambhunath Stuppa

 Monkeys living in Swayambhunath Stuppa 

 Exploring around the stuppa.

Streets of Kathmandu.

Walking down the streets of Kathmandu, we ran into this fella!
It's apparently very common to see cows going around the city area,
and well everywhere actually.

Our next destination was Pokhara. It's a very picturesque city situated around Nepal's second largest lake. It was also close by Sarangkot, where we drove in the wee hours of the morning to catch the Annapurna Mountain Range at Sunrise.

Annapurna is is another mountain range, it also has several of the world's highest peaks. It is also know for the famous Fishtail Mountain. You'll soon see what that means when you see the photos!

So as I said we woke up at the crack of dawn to watch the sunrise. we plopped ourselves on the rooftop of a coffee shop and settled in to watch. The moment when the first few rays of light hit the snowy peaks was incredible. We watched as the scene transformed. It kept changing as the sun rose higher and higher. It was definitely an experience that I just cannot put to words. ( I mean how many times can I say incredible and amazing right?) It was just, wow. The sun on the peaks looked fiery orange, like molten lava or something. My photos did not do justice to the scenery before my eyes.

View of the city of Pokara with the Annapurna Mountain Range behind.

In Pokhara, we visited a rug factory

The Sacred Fishtail Mountain

Misty lake in Pokhara

Our hotel in Pokhara was right by the lake. It was a really charming one and the surrounding fields and background were so picturesque.

I would definitely say Nepal is one of my favorite countries. I do have this dream of being able to trek Everest, even if it's just to get to the base camp. (it takes ten days to get to the first one!) I  want to trek Annapurna as well. I hear the trek is a lot more difficult but then worth it with the views and the sights. One day, I hope to be able to achieve this! For now I'll just keeps my photos and memories of my frist trip. Hoping to see you again Nepal!

All photos in this post are personal photos of nofiltertravel.blogspot.com. If you want to use them or borrow them in any way, please contact me first! My email add: nofiltertravel@gmail.com. If you can't be bothered to send me an email and still want to use my photos, then please do credit them and link back to this blog. Thanks!