Last February I talked to a girl named Sadikchya Malla for 5 minutes at a conference. Now she’s my personal tour guide in her native Kathmandu.
I sought her out after remembering how she was born and raised in Kathmandu before coming to study at Syracuse University in the States. And here we are reuniting on the other side of the world as she shows us around her native home and Darbar Square:
And then we ran into Stephanie’s friend from college, Max Friedman, in the middle of a random street in Kathmandu. WHAT!
We then walked over past the Royal Palace, the site of one of the most infamous massacres in recent Nepalese history. 10 years ago the Prince, who was drunk at the time, murdered the royal family and then committed suicide, leaving the entire nation in utter shock.
Sadikchya then took us to a really awesome restaurant where we ate momos (Tibetan dumplings) nonstop.
Then we took a cab to Swayambhu, one of the holiest Buddhist sites in Nepal.
And then it started to rain. Heavily. Welcome to monsoon.
Then we returned to the hostel to change out of our wet clothes, or in my case, I just waited for my clothes to dry.
We were then treated to a legit authentic Nepalese cuisine (600 rupees — less than $10 USD! for a prix fixe menu) at Utsav Restaurant.
Of course, we end the night with a little dance party at Shisha Terrace in Thamel.
All in all, a very full day walking around Kathmandu during the monsoon. Thanks Sadikchya, we owe you more than you know.
- At time of posting in Kathmandu, it was 23 °C - Humidity: 80% | Wind Speed: 4km/hr | Cloud Cover: rainy