Waking at 5:30am, expecting to see the sunrise over the mountains, the sun was rising from the east, and the Himalaya mountains range was in the north. I imagined when the sun hit the snow capped mountains, it would be a pretty spectacular. I stepped out of the balcony, the sky was just breaking, it was a weak blue with a line of orange, we were above the clouds, I could see some mountains backdrops but it was a little hazy in the air. I put on Kenny and walked up the rooftop. The sky colors was changing in thousands chroma of hue a minute, the sun was coming up, so did the clouds. It made sense, the sun provided the heat, the heat evaporated the moisture in the air, and pushed the clouds up. The moments we could see the Himalaya mountain range with the light was very brief unfortunately. But still, sunrise always gives me a feeling of hope, I was looking at it, feeling utterly peaceful. To be honest, I kinda liked it and was not really ready to return to the Kathmandu jungle to fight my ways with the people and cars.



Have my breakfast in my room. The same server served me "room serviced" breakfast. Not that I love to eat by my bedside, but there was no dining room in the hotel at the moment. They are still trying to fix that after the earthquakes. He was super attentive and polite, I gave him a good tips. We hit the road around 8:30am, the driver took a different road this time, we were heading to the city of Bhaktapur where I have seen the 5th UNESCO site, the Bhaktapur Durbar Square, and also other interests including Duttatraya Square and Nyatapola Temple. The temple was really impressive, there are 5 layers that formed the top, it almost looked like a tree. And it has survived multiple earthquakes. Though I must say, after seeing so many temples, squares, amazing stone cravings and wood cravings, my eyes turned pretty much to the local, especially kids. I was more interested in their lifestyle and living conditions. The tour was kind of short. It was a half day tour, we got back to Kathmandu around 11-ish. I told the driver to drop me at the Monkey Temple instead, so I could see it some more since I kind of skimmed through it yesterday. Of course, my guide Prasad did not forget to remind me about the tipping system in this country after they have already charged me so much and the driver too.


At the Monkey Temple, I was finally by myself, saw a lot of monkey, I stayed as long as I wanted, I hiked down the 365 steps back to the foot of the hill where I took a road (one of the many roads) and headed straight, supposedly that's the direction back to the Thermal area where my hotel and the tourist jungle are. Prasad told me it would be about 20 some mins walk, I figured it would take a lot more for me, given that the streets of Kathmandu are very confusing, and there is no name, even if there is a sign somewhere, it would be in local language. There is no name on the map neither, I guess street names are overrated. I had no idea whether I was on the right street or not to be honest. But I had to rely on the landmarks such as temple or hotels, or the amount of shops with English to attract tourists to keep myself in the right direction. I was quite lost at one point, and ended up in some residential area. Somehow I found my way back to a place where I have just completed a loop, that's ok, full circle is good. So try again. That's the good thing about traveling solo, right? You make a mistake, nobody there to complain or judge you or bitch about it, you just keep walking, and you will find your way, worst case scenario, I could always take a cab. As I got closer to my area, I started to recall a few buildings that I walked pass before, and then I eventually found my way back to the hotel.


The hotel owner was asking how my day was, I told where I have been and I was kind saying my trip was getting really expensive due to fuel crisis, the surcharge and everything. I told the cost, he was totally jaw dropping. He was more ticked off than I was, he said he felt bad there were other Nepali people taking people adventure like that... ba ba ba... he was a very animated guy, but seemed like a genuine guy. And then the next 20 mins, he was literally using a calendar helping me to figure out how it should have been cost, and said I needed to ask for a refund. I know the two tours I have joined was probably about 1/3 more expensive because I found them on the internet. If I came here and find tours locally after I arrived. It probably will save me a hundred two hundreds bucks. But you know what, done is done, I really have tried not to let it bother me. I have seen what I wanted to see here. Well, not completely yet, still have a Mt. Everett for tomorrow. I am hoping the weather would be good enough to fly and to see the summit. Otherwise, bygone, let it be bygone.


Had a late lunch, and coffee, catching up with my blog at the cafe, and just had an easy evening. Not crazy, no jumping out of windows or anything like that. I still need to wake up at 5am again for the mountain flight, the driver will pick me up at 5:30am.

See the other photos from Day 13 here.