Overall, Nepal was pretty good, but just like India, the driving part took a lot out of my enjoyment away.  I hired a car/driver for my sojourn.  They drive like maniacs on a one-lane decrepit highway weaving in and out of mountains to which is the life line of their existence. 

Just imagine a one-lane highway inhabited by an array of overloaded semis, dump trucks, buses, cars, motocycles, bicycles, tours buses, public buses, tractors, cows, water buffaloes or yaks, goats, chickens, ducks, dogs, families and students on their way to school.  Am I missing anyone or anything?  Half of the vehicles on the road were definitely not fit for the road, with 95% of them speeding excessively trying to pass one another among the convoys of overloaded semis and dump trucks struggling to make it up a steep hill in and out of the mountains.  Most of the time, it seemed that they/we were passing something or someone on a curve or swinging onto the other lane trying to avoid large potholes etc...along the way, and depending on what side of the mountain we were on, I spent majority of my time looking down at the dreadful depths just at my side.  The shoulder had to be less than 2 feet wide with very few barriers along the way.  It certainly put my life into perspective, that's for sure.

The first 9 days were spent on the road traveling to a different town/village everyday except for Pokhara and Bhaktapur, which I stayed for 2 days.  Most mornings, I couldn't even eat breakfast because of the notion of heading back on the road started to set in upon waking up.  However, once I arrived at my destination, I started to relax and usually had a big lunch/dinner.  

The Himalayas can pretty well be seen along the highway from Kathmandu to Pohkara and throughout the Kathmandu valley when looking out into the horizon.  Early in the morning the mountains were very clear and offered spectacular views, but at about 9-10am, the clouds have started to settled in and you couldn't really see much of the peaks until sunset, which by then had only begun to clear. 

Most towns or villages were very old and felt like either walking into a medieval town/village or a war zone.  It was awesome!  My 2 favorite places were Bandipur and Bhakthapur.

Bandipur is a Newari village nestled high up into the mountains.  It was very clean with beautiful houses painted in vibrant colors scattered throughout the lush and picturesque hillsides.  However, there was an air of mystery not encountered like in other parts of Nepal.  The locals seemed extremely indifferent towards outsiders.  On numerous occasions, I've said Namaste! or hello, good morning, nodding with a smile in passing etc... and got no responses, but just a dry, welcoming straight face.  Nowhere, did I see anyone seemingly interacting with foreigners, no pedlars nor beggars were to be seen as one would experience anywhere throughtout Nepal.  Simply, bewildering!!! 

Lucky for me, my hotelroom in Bandipur boasted some of the best views of the Himalayas on this trip.

Bhaktapur is an ancient medieval town shrouded in mystery.  In many ways, timeless & devoted.  The Durbar Square is an area developed around the former royal palace and a series of important temples and shrines linked together by an open public space.   As I was strolling and finding my way up and down the narrow cobblestone alleyways, I was met by an ineffable gothic-like music blaring through the air enthraled with a unique smell of incense.  Simply mesmerizing with a touch of medieval excellence.  I was truly blessed by such ostentatious & ornate architecture, sculptures, and statues along the way as I made my way through the squares and markets among the hoards of truants, merchants, peasants and beggars going about their pulsating daily lives.  Bhaktapur is also known as the 'City of Rice' along with its centuries-old communities of potters, woodcarvers and weavers.

My hotel was located at the heart of the Durbar Square area which enlightened the experience, that's for sure!    

Pokhara was also nice.  Located at the foothills of the Annapurna Himalayan Range, it cetainly made for an amazing and attractive setting.  I found my way at the top of Sarangkot, a mountain 8km away, to view a sunset, a sunrise and even ventured out into some paragliding.  It was awesome, but a little disappointing because I jumped at around 11:30am.  Unfortunately, the Annapurna peaks were clouded over by that time.  Nonetheless, the views of the valley were spectacular and definitely less scarrier than the driving.  Pokhara also housed a unique and special museum, the Gorkha Memorial Museum, which was the highlight of my stay for me.   

The traffic and air pollution in Kathmandu was about 5x worse than Bangkok and 10x worse than Seoul.  And trust me, I find Seoul terrible to begin with, so you can just imagine.  But once I got to Kathmandu, I did a little of the tourist thing, but soon found myself hibernated in my hotel room with a bottle of whiskey and glued to the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and the National Geography channels on the boobtube for the last 3 days of my trip. By that time, I have had enough and was extremely lonely and yearning/longing to see my family.  I certainly could've shortened my trip by about 3-4 days I guess.  Overall, it certainly would've been an easier/simpler schedule for me.  I guess I'm getting older and tiring more easily, lol, or that a lot of these destinations are beginning to look and feel the same.