Boogacres: Asia - Dubai to Katmandu - Tuesday, February 20, 2018

And we're off!!

Our National Geographic Expedition begins today. We've been in Dubai for three days of fun prior to joining the National Geographic group. However, the blogspot printer limits the number of pages they will print, so I'm beginning this book after our United Arab Emirates visit in order to remain within the number of pages allowed. Be sure to check our our Dubai book too.

We met up with the National Geographic group the evening of Monday, February 19th at our hotel in Dubai. It was great fun meeting new people and catching up with friends that we've traveled with before.

Dinner with our National Geographic group. Midge, Julie, Lorri, Pat and Stevie. We're good to go!!

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

We got an early start this morning for the first stop on our NatGeo adventure. Today, we travel from Dubai to Katmandu.

At the airport waiting to hop on our "Mother Ship" flight to Katmandu. Everybody is hard at work. Except for me!!

So excited about our next adventure - Katmandu. Such an exotic location.

We all arrived in the lobby on time and headed to the new Dubai airport for departure on our Boeing 757-200 on our way to Katmandu. This is a different aircraft than my previous National Geographic trips.

Ok. I hate to sound like a spoiled bitch, but this airplane is just not up to par. Nothing like the others. The seats are narrow and barely recline. The foot rest goes up about 4 inches and the buttons to raise the footrest and recline the seat don't work. There is no overhead space. I feel like I'm on Jet Blue instead of a luxury private jet - per the advertisement. Harsh letter to NatGeo is in the works.

Unfortunately, one cannot capture all of the filth and chaos in a photograph. Trust me. It's just a dirty place.

We landed in Katmandu an hour late. Air traffic into Katmandu was backed up, causing the delay. We finally landed and cleared immigration at a glacial pace. I found my way to one of the buses scheduled to take us for our afternoon tour. I opted to visit the Durbar Square in Bhaktapur (pronounced 'Bock-ta-pour). I had envisioned Katmandu and Bhaktapur to be exotic destinations. I was wrong. They are both shit-holes with a lot of history and temples that have crumbled in a recent earthquake and are in disrepair.

The air quality is so terrible that we had to wear a mask.

Now I realize the earthquake is an act of God. But what makes this place a shit hole is the filth. Air traffic was bad, but so was street traffic. I suppose the best way to describe the traffic was organized chaos. There is not a traffic light in the entire city. Basically no traffic control. There were officers in the street attempting to direct traffic, but they were actually obstructing traffic. People just drive where they want creating lanes at their leisure Cars move in the same general direction - oh - forgot to mention, they drive on the left here.

This is organized trash. But there is as much scattered on the streets.

Typical street in Bhaktapur. Not looking to invest in real estate here!!

Katmandu and Bhaktapur appear to be very poor areas. People just throw trash everywhere! The air is polluted and mangy dogs run wild in the streets. And there is clearly no thought to power lines and wiring. No wonder the wifi doesn't work here!!

This poor man can't speak to us, but communicated his request by tapping the ground with his cane and holding out his hand. But for the grace of God ...

How would you like to work for the power company in Katmandu???

We were told that when there is a break in a wire, they simply hang a new one. No way to track down the old wires. Also note how difficult it is for the sun to make it's way through the smog.

As I study these photos, by now, the wiring has become an art form to me.

OK. I've complained enough. One can see how the temples were at one time very beautiful. Pagoda style architecture lines the Durbar Square. One temple, The tallest temple called Laxmi Temple, named after the Goddess of Prosperity, suffered no damage from the earthquake and still stands tall amongst the ruins of the others.

Laxmi Temple named for the Goddess of Prosperity.

After touring the square, we headed to the hotel. The Dwarika's Hotel, is truly a gem in Katmandu and was worth the overnight stop. The hotel serves as a heritage conservation.

After our tour, we finally arrived at the Dwarika Hotel and were greeted with the usual NatGeo fanfare complete with red dots on our foreheads and blessing scarves. Asia is Ito the scarf blessing thing.

Dressed in traditional Katmandu clothing, this was our welcoming party at the hotel. Just a little frightening, yes?

The courtyard of Dwarika Hotel. The wood carved window frames are different on every window.

While out running one chilly winter day in 1952, the founder of the hotel, Dwarika Das Shrestha, witnessed some men sawing off intricately carved portions of a pillar. Times were tough in Katmandu and the men were using the pillar for firewood. Dwarika couldn't stand the thought of his heritage going up in smoke, so he purchased the pillar from the gentlemen. This quickly grew into a passion for Dwarika as he traveled around to buy up artifacts. Long story short, he used these carvings to begin a revival of his Newari heritage by building the Dwarika Hotel. There are 83 suites here that blend the old with the new without compromising quality and luxury. The furniture is custom designed, the floors are either handmade Nepali terra-cotta tiles or individually laid wooden panels. The upholstery is locally hand woven. In short ... this place is lovely. They also have a world class spa, which I would like to enjoy ... if I weren't in such a hurry to get out of Katmandu.

Door locks were rather primitive. Literally a pad lock on the door.

Here's the room key. Guess people don't walk away with these in their pocket!!

Sitting room in my suite. I loved the "couch". Looks like a bed. Quite comfortable.

Bedroom.

Bath.

Stevie and I ducked out on the lecture tonight and instead opted for happy hour and dinner. We chose wisely.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

This morning, we depart Katmandu and head to Bhutan. But first, we're touring the Bodhnath Stupa. Stupas contain remains of people and various other treasures. The Bodhnath Stupa was severely damaged during the earthquake, which freaked out the people. Every person in Katmandu participated in the reconstruction of this holy site to quickly restore it.

Sunrise in Katmandu. The pollution is so bad, the sun has a hard time shining through.

Bodhnath Stupa. Pilgrims travel from all around Asia to walk around this Stupa, which is surrounded by 108 sculptures of Buddha. Numbers are important to Buddhists. So they circle the Stupa in specific numbers, 3, 7 18 up to 108 times carrying their prayer beads which incidentally, have 108 beads on the string.

This pilgrim is prostrating around the Stupa. Takes a long time when only walking three steps and then going down to the ground. What dedication. What faith.

Received a blessing from the Lama today with another scarf.

This little girl is feeding the pigeons.

We had time for a little shopping and found this gorgeous Healing or Song Bowl. This shopkeeper demonstrated the healing power of the healing bowl which uses vibration from the sound waves to cure what ails you. I turned my champion negotiator, Pat, loose on the salesman. He didn't stand a chance!! His asking price was $300.00 each. Pat negotiated him down to $115.00 each. She's amazing!