Day 1

From Stockholm to the ancient, forbidden Kingdom of Mustang

With limited baggage, we land at Kathmandu Airport.
We are met by Jenny and Bijaya. It’s 20º C.
Jenny briefly goes over the plan for the next few days.
We will soon check in at a new hotel which is also a Buddhist
monastery in central Kathmandu.

First, a tour around the large Boudhanath Stupa and its lively surroundings. The stupa is the largest in Nepal and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The narrow streets are teeming with sensory stimulation. Small, densely compact, colourfully decorated wooden shops. Tourist traps mixed with nicer places. A lot of hustle and bustle. Around the Stupa is a steady stream of Tibetan monks dressed in deep red robes and simple sandals. Everyone walks clockwise…that is, everyone except the oblivious tourists who have just arrived. We quickly follow suit at Jenny’s friendly advice.

We take a slow walk towards the hotel.

It’s a short distance, but we stop all the time to take photos of and examine

fine fabrics, textiles, mala, doors, houses…to take in the bustle, the people and… to marvel at so many electric power lines.
They hang above the streets in big, black, tangled tumbleweeds.
How can this possibly function?
What happens if there is a fault in a line? This remains an unanswered question.

The hotel exceeds our expectations. There are monks sitting here sipping tea. Outside the large, glass walls of the reception area is a green courtyard and colourful temple and monastery. Everything is richly decorated with ornaments and patterns. What a dream to stay in such proximity to a holy temple.