Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal is also its only
international air gateway and major travel center. Tourism is the most
important industry that sustains not only Kathmandu but Nepal also. In this
regard, one can say that Kathmandu is a tourist friendly travel destination.
Kathmandu is not big when one compares it to other cities in South Asia.
Kathmandu is a fascinating old city today where pagodas, narrow cobbled lanes,
old carved windows, and stone shrines are backdrops to the drama of life that continues
unhindered. Here the experiences are amazing, views fascinating, and the
climate charming.
Call it magic, call it enchantment, call it a trick of the
light, sleight of hand, a celestial conjuror's trick, call it what you will but
there is a real Kathmandu and a real Nepal hidden behind the well-trodden
snapshot country that is gift wrapped by an anonymous machine and handed out a
half-day sightseeing at a time.The hidden Nepal and the secret Kathmandu still
await discovery.And they are ours. Here is a country agog with palace squares,
towering temples, and with memories of wild dreams. There are cobbled stone
streets that wind through ancient bazaars and lead to a sanctified place where
a hundred priests on flying white horses once alighted. There are Buddhistst
Stupas around which psychics and fourtune tellers abound. There are dawn and
dusk places where witch doctors exorcize spirits and remedy all ills.
There are living Goddesses whose smiles are a benediction.
There are reincarnate Lamas who forsee the future with a roll of dice and
scriptural reference. There are walks that lead the adventurous to legendary
places where ogres once lived, where Goddesses danced, and where Gods were held
ransom by tantric yogis.
There are hidden gardens behind palaces yet unseen and
courtyards where miracles happen, and a city the Buddha visited. There are
hillocks where a patron saint of Sikhism lived, and where a pagoda roof was
invented. There are courtyards with intricate carvings of stone and there are
midnight masked dancers who are possessed by the Gods.
