Bhaktapur – Day 01

Today, we are off to Bhaktapur. A city east of Kathmandu. We are really happy to leave our “hotel”. Let’s hope next home will be more comfy. We will stay for the next three days at Hari’s. A host from Airbnb. We have the approximate address: “Nepal Trek Ways”. Here, no house numbers. We take the bus from Kathmandu and when we get to Bhaktapur, there’s a 15 minutes walk. We are really happy on this walk. We are finally in the Nepal we imagined. The streets are charming, there are chicken and roosters everywhere. Côme even stops to feed the chicks. When we get there, we see the sign and an alley. There is a man in a courtyard getting some water from a well. We approach the man, it has to be Hari. Doo asks and the man smiles nodding so Doo introduces the family. Then we just stand there, with our backpacks. There is a long moment of silence. Hari is still pulling water from the well. We just wait. There is a dead frog right in front of us. After 4 very long minutes, Hari just tell us to follow him inside his house. It’s narrow and dark. Second floor, third floor, we are still going up. Fourth floor, there’s the kitchen, it reminds Doo of the villages in Papua New Guinea. Julia is regretting our hotel in Kathmandu already. Côme is wondering where is the bedroom. Hari is actually taking us straight to the rooftop. Once there, he shows us the view. We still have our bags with us but the view is magnificent. We meet Hari’s wife there. She is smiling. We take a few pictures and when we are done, Hari is gone…

We ask the woman where is Hari. She is still smiling but doesn’t speak a word of English. So we go back down. We meet a grumpy woman on our way. Doo tries to call for Hari but there’s no answer. Are we at the right place? Before we leave to check outside, Côme has to go to the bathroom. We ask the woman and she shows us a door. After this potty break, we go back to the courtyard and then the street asking the woman who is following us: “Is this Nepal Trek Ways?”. We point to the sign on the building. There’s another woman at the window with a child and when she sees us, she seems to recognize us and comes down to open the door. There! We finally arrived at Hari’s, the real one…

Hari is working, but his wife who speaks English, shows us our room (the one we can recognize from the website). We are delighted! The room is spacious and clean. So we just leave our stuff and go explore this new city we already like. We are not disappointed. There are numerous gorgeous old temples, traditional red brick houses, altars and shelters where old people meet to chat. We stop at a rice paper shop. The paper postcards are beautiful. When we are there, a group of school girls go crazy when they see Côme: “He is soooooo cute!!!!!” There want to take pictures with him so we start a photoshoot. We then eat at a restaurant with the nicest view on temples and we chill in a square listening to a man playing guitare and singing. Children are playing, the atmosphere is soothing. We just stop for a while and daydream. Another couple of students stop by us and are enchanted to see Côme. We take pictures with them.
When we go back home, there are no more groups of men in the shelters but music bands instead. We stop to listen to one of them. The music is traditional and the band invite us to sit with them. We stay there for a while. Our host will tell us later that those bands are actually families that perpetuate this centuries old tradition. They chant to pray and honnor their religious beliefs.
When we get home, we finally meet Hari and his family (his wife and his two sons). It’s a pleasure to be with them. We feel part of the family. Côme is delighted to have found a friend.

Today, Côme:
Did not understand: why there were two chickens in a small cage.
Learnt: that is was possible to chant in the streets and that when you’re adult you can have long hairs.
Loved: to feed the chicks and watch the children play.

Julia:
Did not understand: why there were no living room in the houses here.
Learnt: that people spend time on the steps of their houses.
Liked: the relationship with people from this city which matched her idea of Nepal.

Doo:
Did not understand: why a woman was spreading white powder on the street (it is an insect repellant).
Learnt: that families honored the Gods chanting on the street.
Liked: Bhaktapur calm atmosphere.