10-04 Bhaktapur 1

The rice fields of Bhaktapur from the hotel

4th.Oct.18 Bhaktapur 1

The journey was uneventful except that the first flight was an hour late and I was afraid that I would miss the next one. However it made up most of the time only to loose it again because of having to wait 20 minutes on the tarmac in Istanbul before disembarking. Then I had to run almost the entire length of the newly opened Istanbul airport to be in time. Of course the next flight was 20 minutes late. I was then sitting next to a young man called Stefan from Chemnitz near Dresden who was in our group. A couple from Stuttgart who ran with me are older and the other 3 in the group (a couple and a lady) are from the South-Tirol and in between age wise.

We safely arrived in Bhaktapur at a small family hotel just outside the town. Our guide was still with his previous group so that we were met by the local agent, who did not have much time for us and left us to our own devices. The first walk in the town and welcome meal had to be postponed till the next day. Fortunately the hotel owner was friendly and helpful, making suggestions and providing one of his staff to guide us on a short walk up a hill on the other side from the town in the morning. In the afternoon four of us went through the rice fields into old Bhaktapur despite the guided tour which we knew we would be having the day after.

The weather was warm or even hot, but I did hear some thunder in the late afternoon. There is rice, taro and some sugar cane in the fields. Pieces of sugar canes are sold in the shops but apparently it has to be crushed with a machine or order to extract the juice. We saw something of the everyday life in the newer parts of the town including a big main road which we had to cross. Fortunately there was a footbridge.

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