The gateway to Everest and the end of the Hippie Trail
and or Silk Road with some spellbinding temples.
"The plane cuts through the Kathmandu smog and lifts into the clear blue mountain air. For the first time I see the Annapurna range of the Himalayas. The height of these hills is wild. We’re flying amid the clouds but still well below the peaks. As the plane levels off at around 24,000 feet, the flight attendants begin speaking. I’m homed in on the Himalayas: my forehead presses against the window, slowly committing a mental picture to memory. I’m shocked that people try to climb these things. Unforgiving is an understatement. 'And that tall one?' the flight attendant says. 'That looks like it is smoking a pipe? The cloud coming out of the rock like pipe smoke? Yes, that is Sagarmatha. That is Everest.'”
Kathmandu is still recovering from the 2015 earthquake that decimated the city. Air quality can be an issue. Not the easiest city to navigate. Safe place but definitely for more experienced travelers.
I went to see Everest but left more impressed by the prayerful diligence of the faithful and their temples.
