is only a few KM's away. http://swayambhu.buddhism-foundation.org/about/
We decided to walk and experience the area. Traffic is kinda nasty with pedestrians, and vehicles competing for space. The pollution and the dust in the air makes you cough. Glad we bought masks. The river was we crossed was gross. There is lots of room for improvement here. The Stupa has a really heavy climb which was fun. Luckily there were not so many tourists here today. It was really pretty. In April 2015, this area was hit hard with the 7.8 ish Gorkha earthquake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2015_Nepal_earthquake. There is evidence of damage and rebuilding everywhere. KT was bumbed out about the air quality. So was I. We took a taxi back instead. At the last minute we decided to book a tour for the next day. Our Hostel tour people were so accommodating. We wanted to get above the Kathmandu pollution and do a short hike. The next day a Taxi met us at 8:45 AM After a crazy drive we picked up Sarala Nepal our wonderful guide. After more crazy driving with even crazier roads we were close to our hike starting spot. The Mahadevsthan Mandan area
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahadevsthan_Mandan. Sarala was nice enough to let us stop at a view viewpoints. We were very lucky to have incredibly clear skies. Everest and the other mountains were clearly visible. Our hike of 2 hours led us through traditional Nepal villages which was wonderful. I was astonished at the kindness and friendliness of the people. We had lunch with Sarala and discussed using her as a tour guide for a 5 day trek in a few days. On the route home we stopped at the famous Braktapur area
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/nepal/around-the-kathmandu-valley/bhaktapur. The earthquake damage is obvious as the reconstruction efforts have greatly amplified the amount of dust in the area. It's interesting to see the rebuilding hapenning, not an easy task. Tomorrow we take the lazy route to Everest Base Camp. We need to get some rest for an early 5:30 AM start
We decided to walk to the Swaymbhunath Stupa
Crazy clogged roads
Kinda yucky river too
The dust is kinda bad
We used masks
Way crowded
KT finds dogs everywhere
I Love You
I Love Steep Steps too
The pics are a little out of order sorry
Hard to clean, too lazy
Up we go
Noticeable haze out there
Lunch time
These are called Mo Mo's
We were given this slingshot
It's used to threaten any oncoming monkeys
We don't shoot anything
Smart little monkeys chew the bottoms of bottles to drink
I showed this monkey an alternative way
Fun day
The dust/smog from the road at 8:30
Fortunately a very clear day to see the mountain ranges
A Honda, yay
The roads were crazy hard to this spot
Awesome view, kinda rare
Another cool view point
Us and our guide
Earthquake damage on a traditional home along our walk
A temple only available by walking
Nobody was there, sweet
Chilling after a 2 hour walk
Two goats just gave birth, wild
Well worn cobblestone road in the Braktapur area
The famous peacock window
Better pics further down
It must be seriously hard to rebuild ancient structures
Traffic on the way back is pretty crazy
Fun time. Glad I'm not driving
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