The last two days of our trip to Nepal sort of became one. Despite being the poster child of safe food and water practises, I always seem to get sick when we travel to these kinds of countries. No matter what I do, I am always the one who gets it. It's frustrating because I know I am more neurotic about being careful than many. I must have a weak disposition for this stuff, because it always happens to me. Nepal was unfortunately no exception. I got sick not once, not twice, but three times on this trip. The last, and worst, round came on what was supposed to be our second to last day of sightseeing, but what really turned into our last day as I was too sick to be able to do anything else.
We spent the better part of the last day sightseeing visiting Bhaktapur. It's a fascinating town filled with monuments, temples, palaces, carvings, and courtyards. It's easy to see how this was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was a hot day and I was also beginning to feel a little queasy during our visit, so I can't say I learned a whole lot about what we saw. But just capturing the place in photos was enough.
Bhaktapur immediately grabs your attention with such a high concentration of characteristic architecture.
Wooden beams casually bracing two opposing buildings, so much earthquake damage to this town.
Loved watching this artisan creating his pottery art
Nyatapola Temple, amazingly survived the earthquake teetering on its perch in Bhaktapur
Nepali women fetching water in the square
Bhaktapur was badly hit by the 2015 earthquake. So much damage, and so much that is yet on the brink of crumbling being supported by nothing but wooden beams. The whole city seems to be braced by wooden beams at the moment, and it is unclear how they will save these structures.
Dattatraya Temple
Famous wooden peacock window
After our visit to Bhaktapur we scheduled a trek from Kharipati to Nagarkot. It seemed only right to include some trekking when visiting Nepal. For me this is where things went sour. I started feeling really bad on this hike. I felt like I was just barely holding it together the entire time. It was rough. When we finally got to the van and made our way to the hotel in Nagarkot I was gone. Once we got into the hotel things got really bad, and it was honestly one of the worst nights of my life. I have never been so sick. I couldn't care less about what I was missing outside my window I was so incredibly sick. The night passed unmercifully, and I was shattered by morning. We made our way back to Kathmandu for one final night in the hotel there before flying to Qatar. I started feeling better that afternoon, and I was so so grateful we had one night there before we got on the plane. We were meant to do some more sightseeing that day, but I did not have it in me, so we took a down day in the hotel to recover. So Nepal didn't end so well for me, but what an incredible two weeks we had!
