SISTEER Nepal Day 1: Arrival at Kathmandu

"We travel the world to find the beautiful, but if we don't carry it with us, we will find it not." 

Our first day in Nepal was spent checking in at our first hotel, Kathmandu Guest House, and exploring Thamel, the heart of Kathmandu, Nepal's capital city.

We had our first momo (Nepalese-style dumplings) at a nearby eatery, and it was love at first sight really delicious. Momo is one of the traditional delicacies of Nepal and their signature Buff(alo) momos can be found in almost every food menu. Other local delicacies include Dal Bhat (steamed rice with a lentil soup called dal) and Thukpa (traditional Tibetan noodle soup), which we also ate in subsequent days.

After our meal, we visited Kathmandu's Durbar Square. Durbar means 'court', and the term 'Durbar Square' refers to the old royal palaces of Nepal (there are three in Kathmandu Valley, which we all visited).

For most of us, it was our first time in Nepal. Interestingly, we noticed that the rows of street sellers pretty much sold the same things beside each other. This oversaturates the businesses there, which was an unusual sight for us as we would think that the sellers would market different products to stand out from other stalls.

This was also our first encounter with the local culture. We watched as young children played with handmade toys, couples dated on temple steps, and street peddlers marketed their goods to passerbys. There is a rustic charm to this scene, which makes Kathmandu unique to other cities we have known.

Our day concluded with a dinner at Fire and Ice, a famous pizza store where we tried the signature Fire and Ice pizza. It was a good end to the day, and a great way to start off the trip proper.




Written by
Jing Qi