🇳🇵 Kathmandu 2-Day Itinerary

📝 Day 1 ✈️ Pokhara Flight Drama Took a delayed round-trip flight to Pokhara (most flights are by Buddha Air or Yeti Airlines—the latter gets hate but wins points for free peanuts 🥜 and local apple soda 🍏). 🏨 Checked into Four Points by Sheraton, then hit Kathmandu’s Chinatown for Lunar New Year vibes—more festive than back home! 💰 Currency Exchange at Chengdu Hotel: Black-market rates stunned our local guide (RMB funds imports to China). Boss collected Alipay while hotpotting 🍲; staff handed out cash stacks smoothly—Chinese hustle here is real. 🩴 Bought "Yiwu special" flip-flops for 100+ RMB (15 RMB in China)—imported = overpriced, even fakes! ☕ Evening: Teen guide humored this aunty at Thamel’s cafe 📍4stories for brinner (breakfast-dinner). 🔥 Main Event: Pashupatinath Temple at Night Free entry after dark! Monkeys 🐒 everywhere ("Don’t approach—they attack!"). Climbed the viewing platform for a life-altering Hindu cremation ritual (Aarati). Priests, devotees, tourists packed together. Oil lamps for Shiva, pyres burning bodies downstream (closer = richer families). Locals scavenged river for jewelry—raw and surreal. Guide’s Theology 101: 1️⃣ Brahma (Creator) 2️⃣ Vishnu (Protector) 3️⃣ Shiva (Destroyer) 📝 Day 2 🚗 Hired a Chinese-speaking guide + private car for 4 stops: 1️⃣ Kathmandu Durbar Square Most impressive, especially the Living Goddess’s glimpse—a girl with divine power but no freedom. 👧✨ 2️⃣ Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple) Hilltop stupa with city views (similar to Boudha). 3️⃣ Boudhanath Stupa Lunch at 📍Roadhouse Cafe—epic views + tasty Western food. 4️⃣ Bhaktapur Durbar Square Unique architecture (different dynasty vibes). Shopped for cheap wool hats (quieter than Thamel). Must-try: Clay-pot yogurt! 🏺 🛍️ Night: Explored a luxe boutique 📍Ne Nepal in the "rich district," then crashed at Aloft next door. #NepalTravel #KathmanduGuide #HimalayanVibes #CulturalShock