I came to Nepal in a dramatic way with Yamnath Lamichhane via an interesting route. The road reads like Udaipur – Ahmedabad – Lucknow – Nanpara – Rupaidiha- Nepalganj – Kathmandu. The Udaipur – Ahmedabad stretch as well as Lucknow – Rupaidiha, were covered on road. The road from Udaipur to Ahmedabad were truely world-class while the road from Nanpara to Rupaidiha were, what we can call, India class ? Well that stretch was the worst road I experienced in my recent travel in India!
We crossed the India border at Rupaidiha at midnight around 12AM on 18th June 2012 and then entered Nepal. We traveled the distance of RUpaidiha to Nepalganj on a cycle ricksaw, aprox 3KM and spent the night in a hotel. The hotel was the worst kind of hotel I experienced in last 9 years.
Nepalganj airport is very small, terminal s non-AC ( a first in my life. I never had any experience of non-AC airport terminal before). It did not have any metal detector or security arrangements which are very common in Indian airports.
The flight from Nepalganj to Kathamndu took around 50 minutes and it was on an ATR by Buddha air. The experience of baggage collection at Kathmandu airport was also first of its kind experience for me.
I have not visited many places in Kathmandu yet. Just Patan square, Pashupainath Temple. Patan square UNESCO heritage site. I found many Korean tourists there. But then it is not the tourist season here at this time.
Kathmandu is humid at this time, though not very hot. After living in Rajasthan for few years, humidity makes you sweat a lot and make one uncomfortable.
I met few Nepalese people from the age of 18 to 55 in my short stay for last 12 days. It has been quite an experience. In many tourist places I visit, I am mistaken either as a Nepalese or Philippines! Some thought as Japanese but not a single person thought I would be an Indian! Well, I am used to it now!
I think, Nepalese people are honest, hardworking and very friendly. They dont seem to be aggressive though irony is they supply mercenaries to both Indian Army as well as British Army! If there is a war between India and England, chances are, Nepalese citizens might fight against each other for both India and England!
My general feeling is that, they do not like India much though India share an open border policy with Nepal. Many seem to resent openly that Indian government meddle too much in Nepal politics. Though Indian movies and Hindi is widely popular and spoken every where. Indian currency ( called IC) is accepted everywhere. Some places do not accept 500 and 1000 denominations though.
Nepalese people take pride in the fact that they do not have any day as “Independence day” as they were never actually ruled by foreigners. They say, Nepal may be poor country, but people here are rich. Well, a Tata Nano cost NPR 8 lacs in Nepal and I saw many cars on Kathmandu roads. Maruti 800 is ‘world famous’ car in Kathmandu, mostly used as taxis but costing around 17lacs NPR.
Kathmandu is mostly populated by a community known as Newar ( many opine Nepal comes from Newar). They have their own language and culture.
I traveled to Pokhara, 200km west of Kathmandu. Its a beautiful place. I will write bout it later. Once I am back in India, I hope to write more details about my experiences of Nepal.