Thursday, September 4, 2014

Nepal: Where I Stayed

Hotel Utse The Utse is centrally located on Jyatha Road in the Thamel district of Kathmandu. The lobby and restaurant are loaded with dark wood, old wall-hangings and well-worn carpets. The restaurant is very good, with a large menu a good crowd for dinner, and some great breakfast choices--I had an omelette with nak's cheese and an apple and honey pancake more than once.

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While the lobby is kind of dark, the rooms are light and airy--or at least mine was: third story corner facing the road. The bathroom was clean and functional, and the hotel has hot running water all the time. Plus there is free drinking water on the hall. Even though I got a nice cross-breeze, when the power was out, the fan wasn't running, and it could get warm. The Utse doesn't have a generator. And that brings me to one of its best features: the price. I paid about USD 20 per day; the starting price for the hotels with a generator seemed to be about $60.

Resort Eco-Home, Nagarkot

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One felt safe in one's room. That detail was typical of this place, a mix of traditional and modern, though the hotel is not that old. I felt safe, anyway, being the only guest in attendance. The reason? The weather. Virtually the only draw to Nagarkot is the view it provides of the Himalayas, including Mt Everest, particularly at dawn. Even though I stayed a second day, the rain barely let up. Here is the best I could get:

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Since it rained so much, there was little to do in Nagarkot, so the staff at Eco-Home, who were great and great fun all round, taught me the tiger moving game, baghchal, which I was set on learning before I came to Nepal. Here is a game between Santos and myself. I don't know who won this one, but I mostly lost that first night. The second night, I mostly won.

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A few final amenities at Eco-Home: clean bathrooms, also with hot water, though you may get old waiting for it; and a super-bright, low power flashlight, for "load-shedding" times.

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Still having trouble with the video; I'll try to make that last big post tomorrow.

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