Kathmandu
 For many people, stepping off a plane into
Kathmandu is an exhilarating shock – the sights, sounds and smells can quickly lead to sensory overload. Whether it be buzzing around the crazy polluted traffic in a taxi, trundling down the narrow winding streets of the old town in a rickshaw, marvelling at Durbar Sq or dodging the tiger balm sellers and trekking touts in
Thamel, Kathmandu can be an intoxicating, amazing and exhausting place.
As the largest (and pretty much the only) city in the country, Kathmandu also feels like another developing-world city rushing into a modern era of concrete and traffic pollution. Take a walk in the
back streets, however, and the capital’s amazing cultural and artistic heritage reveals itself in hidden temples overflowing with marigolds, courtyards full of drying
chilies and rice, and tiny hobbit-sized workshops largely unchanged since the Middle Ages.
Kathmandu is well worth a week of your time, but it’s too easy to spend too much time stuck in touristy
Thamel. Enjoy the Internet cafés, the Western music and the lemon cheesecake, but make sure you also get out into the ‘real Nepal’, before your time runs out.
Other Useful Information
- Entertainment
- History
- Orientation
- Shopping
- Sights
Entertainment
Nepal is an early-to-bed country and even in Kathmandu you’ll find few people on the streets after
10pm. Most bars close their doors by 11pm, though a few keep serving those inside. Bands play at various Thamel restaurants on Friday and Saturday nights in the high season, particularly at
Himalatte, Jatra and New Orleans.
Beyond this, you could take in a Bollywood blockbuster or try to earn back your flight money at one of half a dozen casinos. Major sporting events such as Premier League football and Formula 1 grand prixs are televised in all the major bars. There are also several cultural performances which generally involve local youths wearing a variety of dress over their jeans and performing traditional dances from Nepal’s various ethnic groups, accompanied by a live band that includes a
tabla, harmonium and singer.
Casinos
Kathmandu’s casinos are all attached to upmarket hotels and open 24 hours. Dust off your tuxedo, polish up your best Sean Connery impersonation
(Aah, Mish Moneypenny…) and make a beeline for the Casino Royale set in a former Rana palace at the Yak & Yeti Hotel. Hang around the tables long enough and staff will ply you with free drinks and a dinner buffet.
The other casinos, like Casino Anna at the Hotel de l’Annapurna, attract a mainly Indian crowd.
At all casinos you can play in either Indian rupees or US dollars, and winnings (in the same currency) can be taken out of the country when you leave. The main games offered are roulette and
blackjack.
History
The history of Kathmandu is really a history of the Newar people, the main inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley. While the documented history of the valley goes back to the
Kiratis, around the 7th century BC, the foundation of Kathmandu itself dates from the 12th century AD, during the time of the Malla dynasty. The original settlements, in what is the southern half of the old town, grew up around the trade route to Tibet and in early pilgrim
rest houses such as the
Kasthamandap, which later lent its name to the city.
Originally known as Kantipur, the city flourished during the Malla era, and the bulk of its superb temples, buildings and other monuments date from this time. Initially, Kathmandu was an independent city within the valley, but in the 14th century the valley was united under the rule of the Malla king of
Bhaktapur. The 15th century saw division once more, this time into the three independent kingdoms of
Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur. Rivalry between the three city-states led to a series of wars that left each state weakened and vulnerable to the 1768 invasion of the valley by Prithvi Narayan Shah.
The ensuing Shah dynasty unified Nepal and made the expanded city of Kathmandu its new capital – a position the city has held ever since.
Orientation
The most interesting part of Kathmandu is the crowded backstreets of the rectangular-shaped old town. This is bordered to the north by the main tourist and backpacker district of Thamel (pronounced
Tha-MEL) and to the east by the sprawling modern new town. Thamel is bursting with hundreds of hotels, restaurants, Internet cafés, travel agencies and shops that can be rivalled only by Bangkok’s Khao San
Road.
In the centre of the old town is the historic Durbar Sq and Hanuman Dhoka (old Royal Palace). Freak St, the focus of Kathmandu’s overland scene during the hippie era, runs south from here. Thamel is 15 or 20 minutes’ walk north from Durbar Sq.
Running east from Durbar Square is New Road, constructed after the great earthquake of 1934, and one of the main shopping streets in town. At the eastern end are the offices of
different Airlines. South of the junction of New Rd and Kantipath is the main post office and Sundhara district, easily located by the minaret-like Bhimsen Tower.
The street known as Kantipath forms the boundary between the older and newer parts of the city. On the east side of Kantipath is a large, open parade ground known as
Tundikhel, and on the eastern edge of this is the City (Ratna Park) bus station, for buses around the Kathmandu Valley.
North of the Tundikhel is Durbar Marg, a wide street flanked by airline offices, restaurants and expensive hotels, and at its northern end is the New Royal Palace. Further north are the embassy and NGO districts of Lazimpat and
Maharajganj. To the south of town is Patan, an historically distinct city, which has now partially merged with Kathmandu’s southern sprawl.
Both Kathmandu and Patan are encircled by the Ring Rd. On this road in the north of the city is the main Kathmandu bus station and on the eastern edge is Tribhuvan Airport.
Shopping
E verything that is turned out in the various centres around the valley can be found in
Kathmandu, although you can often find a better choice, or more unusual items, in the centres that produce the items – Jawlakhel (southern
Patan) for Tibetan carpets; Patan for cast metal statues; Bhaktapur for woodcarvings; and Thimi for masks.
Thamel in particular can be a pretty stressful place to shop, what with all the tiger balm sellers, rickshaw drivers and high speed
motorbikers. Dive into a side street or garden haven when stress levels start to rise.
There are dozens of shops in Thamel that sell hand-made paper products from photo albums to paper lamps.
There are dozens of jewelry shops in Kathmandu – including in Thamel, on New Rd and Durbar
Marg. The merchandise is produced both in India and locally. When walking between Thamel and Durbar Sq you’ll often come across the tiny silver workshops.
Sights
Most of the interesting things to see in Kathmandu are clustered in the old part of town, focused around the majestic Durbar Sq and its surrounding
back streets.
Durbar Square
Kathmandu’s Durbar Square was where the city’s kings were once crowned and
legitimised, and from where they ruled (durbar means ‘palace’). As such, the square remains the traditional heart of the old town and Kathmandu’s most spectacular legacy of traditional architecture, even thought the king no longer lives in the Hanuman Dhoka – the palace was moved north to Narayanhiti about a century ago.
It’s easy to spend hours wandering around the square and watching the world go by from the terraced platforms of the towering Maju
Deval; it’s a wonderful way to get a feel for the city. Although most of the square dates from the 17th and 18th centuries (and many of the original buildings are much older), a great deal of damage was caused by the great earthquake of 1934 and many were rebuilt, not always in their original form. The entire square was designated a Unesco World Heritage Monument in 1979.
The Durbar Sq area is actually made up of three loosely linked squares. To the south is the open Basantapur Sq area, off which runs Freak St. The main Durbar Sq area, with its popular watch-the-world-go-by temples, is to the west. Running northeast is a second part of Durbar Sq, which contains the entrance to the Hanuman Dhoka and an assortment of temples.
Hanuman Dhoka
The inner palace complex of the Hanuman Dhoka (hrs 9.30am-5pm Tue-Sun Feb-Oct, 9.30am-3pm Tue-Sun Nov-Jan) was originally founded during the Licchavi period, but as it stands today most of it was constructed by King Pratap Malla in the 17th century. The royal palace was renovated many times in later years. The oldest parts are the smaller Sundari Chowk and Mohan Chowk at the northern part of the palace (both closed). The complex originally housed 35 courtyards and spread as far as New Rd but the 1934 earthquake reduced the palace to today’s 10 chowks (courtyards). Cameras are allowed only in the courtyards, not inside the buildings of the complex.
East of Durbar Square
Mahakala Temple
On the eastern side of Kantipath, just north of New Road, the Mahakala Temple was very badly damaged in the 1934 earthquake and is now of little architectural merit. If you can see inside the darkened shrine you may be able to make out the 1.5m-high figure of
Mahakala, the ‘Great Black One’, a particularly ferocious form of Shiva.
South of Durbar Square
JAISI DEVAL TEMPLE
The south of Kathmandu’s old city was the heart of the ancient city in the Licchavi period (4th to 9th centuries) and its major temple is the tall, triple-roofed Jaisi Deval Temple, built just two years before Durbar Sq’s famous Maju Deval (which is one platform higher). It’s a Shiva temple, as indicated by the bull on the first few steps and the mildly erotic carvings on some of the temple struts. Right across the road from the temple is a stone lingam rising a good 2m from a yoni (female equivalent of a phallic symbol). This is definitely a god-sized phallic symbol and a prayer here is said to aid fertility.
Bhimsen Tower (Dharahara)
Towering like a lighthouse over the old town, this white, minaret-like tower
(8am-8pm), is a useful landmark near the post office. The views from 61.88m up – 213 steps above the city – are the best you can get. There is a small Shiva shrine right at the very top.
Pachali Bhairab & the Southern Ghats
The northern banks of the Bagmati River south of the old town are home to little visited temples and
shrines.
Elsewhere
Dhum Varahi Shrine
In an unprepossessing schoolyard just inside Kathmandu’s Ring Road to the northeast of
Kathmandu, a huge pipal tree encloses a small shrine and a dramatic 5th-century sculpture of Vishnu as a wild boar with a human body, holding
Prithvi, the earth goddess, on his left elbow.
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