Nepal Travel Journal: Day 7 The City of Dust

4 min readOct 31, 2018

Saturday September 29, 2018

Departure: Pokhara Airport in Nepal (12:35)
Arrival: Kathmandu Domestic Airport in Nepal (13:05)
Flight/Time: Buddha Air U4 616 / 30mins

Excuse my ignorance. I didn’t know Kathmandu has a deep relationship with Nepal until before I decided to go hiking to Nepal. Kathmandu: the capital of Nepal and the city of dust. And one more… the city of chaos. I could not find scars of the earthquake that struck in 2015, but the city looked like the pictures of 1950s and 1960s Korea reconstructed and developed after the war ended. Narrow streets and small buildings are packed like a maze. The chaotic roads are mingled with cars, motorcycles, and people. There are no traffic signs and pedestrian lights. If you are not brave enough to run into the chaotic road and compete with cars and motorcycles, you will never cross the street. At first, I hesitated how to deal with this disorder, but I was quickly used to their unspoken rules.

When I arrived at the hotel, the clock already said about 3:00 pm, so I didn’t have enough time to go sightseeing around the whole city. I made up my mind to visit Swoyambhu, one of the famous temples near the hotel. It took about 30 minutes by walking. The chaotic road didn’t matter anymore, but I had to struggle with dust that attacked me like an army. I remembered Harry described about Kathmandu in two words, dust and a mask. I didn’t have anything to cover my face to protect from dust, so I could not help activating self-purification. I’m sorry to my nose and lungs.

To see a sacred temple, I had to do staircase-exercise again. My legs had not been healed yet from the hard training on Poon Hill. I looked up the truly blue sky over the peak of the temple and asked, “why are you doing this to me? Please lead me not into temptation… Amen…”

Honestly speaking, I was disappointed with the temple. It was not as sacred as I expected. It was the same as one of tourist attractions. A lot of people were taking pictures competitively. A lot of souvenir shops sold the same products. I looked down at crowded city and thought it was such a true living still life painting.

Time flies… Tomorrow I have to get on board to Korea… to go on a journey for still life in Seoul again…