BY AYESHA BİLAL (PSYC/III)
ayesha@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
Having arrived in the stunning and vibrant city of Katmandu, where history and culture merge together in their rawest and most pungent form, I was seeing more cultural beauty than I had in a long time. After traveling approximately 4,500 miles with my boyfriend by my side, I could see that our adventures were only going to keep getting better, as will be clear as I continue with part two of this series on our incredible summer backpacking trip to Nepal.
This was still week one in Nepal, and we had already seen so much. Outlying towns and villages laden with natural beauty like nowhere else, city centers and squares that pulsated with adornments of vibrant colors, gold temples that smelled of incense and seemed to glitter with the small candles placed around them, and endless markets with their souvenir shops, restaurants, tea sellers and whatnot. A monkey temple that soared high up into the sky, only reachable by over five hundred steps, where templegoers climbed to practice their Buddhist faith and tourists climbed to enjoy the view and observe the profusion of monkeys that walked around ever so casually. Kathmandu was a magical place to explore, and one that didn’t seem to lose its excitement and liveliness even for a moment.
The next day, we decided to visit another historical and beautiful place, quite nearby, known as the Garden of Dreams. The name was no lie; the site, which used to belong to a descendant of the royal family, was a huge expanse of gardens with beautiful passageways, fountains, an amphitheater, some large ponds and a small museum. And like most other places in Kathmandu, it hosted an ample contingent of tourists, both local and from abroad. It was truly a beautiful place, and we explored it for quite a few hours before we decided to head back to town for lunch.
The real highlight of the day, however, had taken place earlier that morning. My boyfriend’s birthday had occurred only a couple of weeks ago, and I had wanted to surprise him with something unique. After having thought a while, I realized that we would be going to Nepal for three weeks, where we had hoped to hike up to the Everest base camp but unfortunately wouldn’t be able to do so since it requires up to 20 days and we wouldn’t have that much time. But after researching a bit, I found an airplane tour that takes groups of about 10 people to circle around not only Mount Everest, but all the Himalayan peaks that neighbor it—so, that would be his surprise! The tour wasn’t extremely expensive, and besides, there was no way that after coming all the way to Nepal, we were not going to see the breathtaking beauty of Mount Everest. So we woke up around 5:30 a.m., and were taken to the airport, where a small aircraft awaited us for takeoff at 7 a.m. We were soon whisked off on an hour-long flight over the Himalayas and got to see the peak of Everest, which was as spectacular as one would expect. We took countless photos, mesmerized by all the beauty surrounding us. To our excitement, we were even called into the cockpit of the plane, where we were able to take still more photos and talk to the pilots. It was definitely a thrilling experience, and like none I’d ever had before. Returning back to the hotel in time for breakfast, we conversed excitedly about the morning’s events—and still do every now and then, for an adventure like that is difficult to forget.
The next morning was our last in Katmandu, and we headed to our bus stop, from where we would set out for our next destination, Chitwan. This is a huge national park, one of the biggest in Nepal, and you know that in a place like Nepal, where nature is abundant and untouched, a natural park will not disappoint. And disappoint it did not, as our bus came to a stop after the seven-hour journey. We wanted our experience to be as authentic as possible and thus chose to stay in an ecofriendly lodge next to the river, with little wooden cabins and forested areas surrounding us. This was to be an experience that turned out even better than we had expected. And in fact, each of our destinations continued to surprise and excite us more than the last.
Our day started off at a small local café, called the Option Restaurant. Trip Advisor had great reviews of the place, which was owned by a husband and wife, and as we soon discovered, these accounts were no exaggeration. The food was scrumptious, plentiful and cheap, and the owners were a delightful and extremely hospitable pair who went above and beyond to make us comfortable—they even brought a portable fan from their own house to keep us cool on the hot summer day.
Chitwan differs from Kathmandu in that it’s situated on flat ground. Therefore, the weather was extremely hot during the day, and occasionally it felt very airless. That didn’t, however, prevent us from having numerous and exciting adventures. In the next part of this Nepal chronicle, I will let you experience vicariously the exciting five-day stay we had in the park.