Landing in Kathmandu

Our Pokhara trip cut short for the sake of the Everest Flight Buddha Air Landed us at the dreaded Kathmandu Domestic Airport! The Fishtail Lodge helped us arrange accomodations with Taj Annapurna Hotel that is linked with the Lodge and they gave us a fantastic rate! Airport pick up was free and we were off weaving our way through Kathmandu towards the Hotel.
At first i was not surprised but Pashu was, it was a very unimpressive drive, we were wondering if we had made a bad choice after Pokhara. Kathmandu is crowded, filthy in parts like any other Asian city and for starters we couldnt see anything people had said about Kathmandu that was worth seeing, we were in for a surprise!!!.. Yes we were!
As we went uphill, weaving through narrow streets, slowly the city started emerging, As was the case with most of the places we saw, there was military deployed at every corner, there were snipers on every government building , alert and looking through the crowds, you feel the tension in the air right away.
But then we were in the capital and this was expected as we were centrally located, a few hundred feet from the Palace which was obviously under heavy guard. There were riot police all over the place. Near the hotel is the New Road, where the roads are wide, top class hotels and it seems like the urban hub for the city.
An interesting shot before we left Kathmandu



If you notice the stark contrast between the peaceful looking valley, smiling people , but not to mention the undercurrent of tension, the commandoes on a day drill near the heavily guarded International Airport.
Another place for which we felt really stupid was that we did not keep enough time to shop in Thamel, this is a shoppers paradise for handicrafts and local products, to suit any taste. You can haggle to your death,..and you should..Travel Advisory 2, keep half a day to shop in Thamel