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Kathmandu Photo Gallery - Kathmandu

I have been to Kathmandu many times over the years. Here are my best general photos of Kathmandu.

Kathmandu 01 01 Kathmandu View From Airplane Kathmandu is Nepal's capital and largest city, situated at an altitude of around 1400m. I have visited Kathmandu 10 times over the years. Kathmandu gets more modern each time I visit, a little more polluted, the t-shirts change, but the basic city stays the same. I love it. The immensity of the Kathmandu Valley is evident as you fly into Tribhuvan International Airport, with Kathmandu stretching into the Himalaya mountains on the horizon.

Kathmandu 01 01 Kathmandu View From Airplane

Kathmandu 01 02 Kathmandu View From Swayambhunath Another very good best place to get a view over Kathmandu is from the hilltop temple off Swayambhunath on the west side of the Kathmandu Valley.

Kathmandu 01 02 Kathmandu View From Swayambhunath

Kathmandu 01 03 Kathmandu From Kirtipur I also had another very good view of Kathmandu from the Kirtipur hill south of Kathmandu.

Kathmandu 01 03 Kathmandu From Kirtipur

Kathmandu 01 04 Welcome To Kathmandu, Gateway To Tibet, Former Royal Palace East Entrance After arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, you walk across the tarmac and into the airport terminal building. I have my visa already filled in so I can quickly exit the terminal building. “Welcome to Kathmandu!” Just after exiting the Kathmandu Tribhuvan International Airport, a sign states: “Welcome to Nepal, Gateway To China”. Nepal is indeed the Gateway to Tibet. On the way to Thamel, the taxi passes by the gates of the former Royal Palace. Now that the king is dethroned, the Royal Palace will become the Narayanhiti museum.

Kathmandu 01 04 Welcome To Kathmandu, Gateway To Tibet, Former Royal Palace East Entrance

Kathmandu 02 01 Thamel Busy Street After I arrive in Kathmandu, I head to the busy streets of Thamel. Thamel has many book shops, souvenir shops, trekking gear shops, trekking agencies, low and medium-priced hotels, and restaurants. Thamel is busy both day and night.

Kathmandu 02 01 Thamel Busy Street

Kathmandu 02 02 Thamel Kathmandu Guesthouse, Hotel Garuda I sometimes stay at the Kathmandu Guesthouse in Thamel. The Kathmandu Guesthouse used to be a Rana mansion, and was converted into a hotel in 1967. Starting with just 13 rooms, it has been slowly nurtured into a sprawling 121-room hotel. Here is the entrance driveway and the beautiful gardens. I often stay at the comfortable inexpensive Hotel Garuda in Thamel, just a few minutes walk from the Kathmandu Guesthouse.

Kathmandu 02 02 Thamel Kathmandu Guesthouse, Hotel Garuda

Kathmandu 02 03 Thamel Stores And Restaurants Some call Thamel a ghetto, but after a long trek I call it a refuge. You can buy almost anything you need from trekking equipment, to trekking books, and embroidered t-shirts. I often eat at North Field Café.

Kathmandu 02 03 Thamel Stores And Restaurants

Kathmandu 02 04 Thamel Monsoon Rains The monsoon comes to Kathmandu from mid-June to mid-September. The monsoon rains came down extremely hard for about an hour, making walking around Kathmandu a bit treacherous. However, within half an hour of the rains stopping, the streets were dry again.

Kathmandu 02 04 Thamel Monsoon Rains

Kathmandu 03 01 Durbar Marg, Kollywood Posters, Dhyani Buddhas Statue Durbar Marg in Kathmandu has luxury hotels, restaurants serving international cuisine, travel agencies and airline offices, and pricey boutiques featuring names like the North Face, Nike, and Benetton. Although Bollywood films are very popular, Kathmandu has started its own movie industry called Kollywood. They even have their own oscar-type ceremonies, which I watched as I waited for my flight out of Kathmandu in October 2008. Small statues and temples are scattered all over Kathmandu. Here are two of the five Dhyani Buddhas with Amogasiddhi on the left and Amitabha on the right.

Kathmandu 03 01 Durbar Marg, Kollywood Posters, Dhyani Buddhas Statue

Kathmandu 03 02 Modern Fashion Shops On Hattisar Road Kathmandu has many modern fashion shops to the east of Thamel on Hattisar Road.

Kathmandu 03 02 Modern Fashion Shops On Hattisar Road

Kathmandu 03 03 Modern Shops on Durbar Marg and Kanti Path Kathmandu has electronics shops and motorcycle shops to the east of Thamel on Durbar Marg and Kanti Path.

Kathmandu 03 03 Modern Shops on Durbar Marg and Kanti Path

Kathmandu 03 04 Colourful Garlands and Threads A staple of Kathmandu markets are colourful garlands and threads.

Kathmandu 03 04 Colourful Garlands and Threads

Kathmandu 03 05 Kathmandu Street Scenes, Man Carrying Carrots, Holy Cow, Horse, Elephant Once you leave the tourist streets of Thamel, you get to see some of the normal life of Kathmandu people, but some of this is slowly disappearing as Kathmandu becomes more modern. Kathmandu is mainly a Hindu city and that means that the scared cow is free to wander freely. The police sometimes walk with their horses in the busy Kathmandu streets. I even saw an elephant walking down a busy Kathmandu street.

Kathmandu 03 05 Kathmandu Street Scenes, Man Carrying Carrots, Holy Cow, Horse, Elephant

Kathmandu 03 06 Rani Pokhari Pond Rani Pokhari or Lani Pukhu (Queen's Pond) is rectangular lake with a Shiva temple built by King Pratap Malla of Kantipur in 1650 in memory of his beloved wife. The causeway is accessible on only one day of each year.

Kathmandu 03 06 Rani Pokhari Pond

Kathmandu 04 01 Buddha, Hindu Temple, and Statue Near Kathesimbhu Stupa Just before reaching the Kathesimbhu Stupa, I think in Thahiti Tole, I admired Buddha watching over a Hindu Temple, and a small statue to the right of the temple. The statue looks like Mahakala, holding a chopper in his right hand, a skull cup in the left, and a mace under his left arm.

Kathmandu 04 01 Buddha, Hindu Temple, and Statue Near Kathesimbhu Stupa

Kathmandu 04 02 Kathesimbhu Stupa On the walk from Thamel to Kathmandu Durbar Square I stopped at the Kathesimbhu Stupa, a small copy dating from around 1650 of the great Swayambhunath complex. Just as at Swayambhunath, there is a two-storey pagoda to Harti, the goddess of smallpox, right behind the main stupa. The entrance is flanked by metal lions atop red ochre concrete pillars. Various statues and smaller chaityas (small stupas) stand around the temple, including a fine standing Avalokiteshvara statue enclosed in a glass case and protective metal cage in the northeast corner. Avalokiteshvara carries a lotus flower in his left hand, and the Dhyani Buddha Amitabha is seen in the centre of his crown.

Kathmandu 04 02 Kathesimbhu Stupa

Kathmandu 04 03 Hindu Sadhu At Kathesimbhu Stupa A nice colourful Hindu Sadhu posed for me at Kathesimbhu Stupa in Kathmandu.

Kathmandu 04 03 Hindu Sadhu At Kathesimbhu Stupa

Kathmandu 04 04 Nara Devi Temple and Statue Halfway between Chhetrapati and Durbar Square, most tourists pass by the Nara Devi Temple, dedicated to Kali, Shiva's destructive consort. The temple has three tiers, a golden roof and red and white guardian lions. Inside is a colourful statue of what looks like Ganesh.

Kathmandu 04 04 Nara Devi Temple and Statue

Kathmandu 05 01-1 Asan Tole Annapurna Temple Asan Tole is the crossroads for six major streets in Kathmandu, and is always jammed with shoppers, merchants, and worshippers, no matter the time. The three-storey Annapurna Temple is dedicated to the goddess of prosperity and abundance.

Kathmandu 05 01-1 Asan Tole Annapurna Temple

Kathmandu 05 01-2 Asan Tole Copperware Another store in Asan Tole in Kathmandu sells lots of copperware products.

Kathmandu 05 01-2 Asan Tole Copperware

Kathmandu 05 02-1 Indra Chowk Merchants sell pashmina and other fabric shawls and other cloth goods next to the shikira-style Shiva temple in Indra Chowk in Kathmandu.

Kathmandu 05 02-1 Indra Chowk

Kathmandu 05 02-2 Indra Chowk Akash Bhairab Temple The Akash Bhairav Temple, or Bhairav of the Sky Temple, is in Indra Chowk in Kathmandu. From the balcony four metal lions rear out over the street.

Kathmandu 05 02-2 Indra Chowk Akash Bhairab Temple

Kathmandu 05 02-3 Indra Chowk Small Ganesh Shrine A bright orange colourful brass statue of Ganesh is much visited in a small niche in Indra Chowk in Kathmandu.

Kathmandu 05 02-3 Indra Chowk Small Ganesh Shrine

Kathmandu 05 03 Kings Statue Roundabout Southeast of Durbar Square I passed the King’s Statue Roundabout on the way towards Bhimsen Tower from Kathmandu Durbar Square.

Kathmandu 05 03 Kings Statue Roundabout Southeast of Durbar Square

Kathmandu 05 04-1 Bhimsen Tower South of Kathmandu Durbar Square is the white, minaret-like Bhimsen Tower (Dharahara). The tower was originally built in 1826 by the Rana prime minister, Bhimsen Thapa, as part of the city's first European-style palace. It was rebuilt after being severely damaged in the 1934 earthquake.

Kathmandu 05 04-1 Bhimsen Tower

Kathmandu 05 04-2 Kathmandu, Durbar Square, and Swayambhunath View from Bhimsen Tower The best place to get a view of Kathmandu is from the top of the Bhimsen Tower just south east of Durbar Square. The view includes Durbar Square and the hill of Swayambhunath.

Kathmandu 05 04-2 Kathmandu, Durbar Square, and Swayambhunath View from Bhimsen Tower

Kathmandu 05 04-3 Kathmandu, Durbar Square, and Swayambhunath Close Up View from Bhimsen Tower Here is a close up view of Kathmandu, Durbar Square and Swayambhunath from the Bhimsen Tower south of Kathmandu.

Kathmandu 05 04-3 Kathmandu, Durbar Square, and Swayambhunath Close Up View from Bhimsen Tower


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