Asia it is an amazing travel destination. It has everything, history, landscapes, culture, religion ... a trip to any corner of Asia is sure to revolutionize the life and feelings of anyone. Especially if the destination is a place like Nepal.
Today we will know some of the charms of Nepal so if your dream is to pack your backpack and go on an adventure, this article will be the best start. Let's travel to Nepal, the country of the Himalayas.
Nepal
It is a country that There is no exit to the sea and that it's in the himalayas, bordering China, India and Bhutan. Mountains abound in it and yes, if you're thinking about it Mount Everest It is here that the highest mountain in the world is located.
The current contour of Nepal was born in the middle of the 2006th century from the hand of a king who unifies different regions under his command. It had a reigning monarchy until recently, but today it is not only a secular state, until XNUMX the official religion was Hinduism, but also a democratic federal republic.
It's a country with earthquakes and in 2015 there were two that cost the lives of thousands of people and the destruction of sites that UNESCO had declared a World Heritage Site. It is also ravaged by monsoons, so you have to take into account what time of year you go.
As for its geography, it is a country with about 147 thousand square kilometers of surface divided into an area of mountains, another of hills and the so-called Terai areas, all furrowed by rivers that descend from the high peaks. Terai is the border area with India so it is hot and humid, the hills are between one thousand and four thousand meters high, with the green and fertile Kathmandu valley, and the mountain region is on the border with China and owns the Everest.
Nepal has five different climates, tropical and subtropical, temperate, cold, subarctic and arctic, and the four well marked seasons, plus the monsoon season.
Tourism in Nepal
Your destination will depend on the type of tourism you want to do. Do you want to visit cultural and historical sites or do adventure tourism? Let's start with this type of tourism that for some time now has become popular with people of all ages.
In nepal you can climb mountains, fly between mountains, trekking, zip flying, parachute jumping, bungee jumping, rafting, canoeing, mountain biking and paragliding. Nepal has eight of the highest peaks in the world as well it is an Eden of climbers. There is not only Mount Everest but there are also Makalu, Cho Oyu, Lhotse and Kanchenjunga, among others, and 326 more mountains that can be climbed: Pokhara, Dolpo, Manaslu, Tengboche ...
The walks in flying zip They take you to fly 600 meters high at about 140 kilometers per hour for more than kilometers and a half of distance. Nepal offers many of these flights but it is the only one in the world that offers one of these extreme characteristics: it is the longest, the steepest and the fastest of all those who there. The site is the top of the Sarangkot, in Pokhara, with a great view of the Annapurna mountain range and the valley below.
Paragliding It is an activity that has been practiced here since 1995 and you can be a beginner or an expert, fly alone or in a duo or with the help of an expert pilot. You can even get your international paragliding license in Nepal. Where? In the Annapurna Mountains and in Pokhara. Here near Pokhara, you can also practice bungee jumping. The appointment is in Tatopani, near the border with El Tibet.
The jump is from a 166 meter wide steel bridge that joins the two sides of a deep valley over the Bhote Koshi River. The scenery is beautiful and you can include rafting or climbing in the same place. You can also do bungee jumping in Hemja, Pokhara, from the only tower in the country for that. It is about 20 minutes from the lake and the view is wonderful. Another option is the skydiving and nothing less than in front of Mount Everest.
Amazing! If you don't want something so extreme then you can try something gentler in Pokhara, near the mighty Annapurna mountain range with Fewa Lake below. The postcard is unforgettable, beautiful. And if you still want something softer you can always fly in a plane: You leave Kathmandu domestic airport in the morning and fly for an hour around Everest, its lakes and glaciers. And all passengers have a window seat.
You can also fly over Annapurna in a simpler flight, in a small plane with only two seats and one engine. Or in helicopter, excursion that includes flight around Everest, breakfast and round trip to Kathmandu.
With my feet on the ground I tell you that in the Himalayas you can go rafting and you will be in one of the most special settings in the world. It doesn't matter if you know or don't know, there is something for everyone. The rivers flow down from the mountains and in their waters, sometimes turbulent, sometimes calm, you can do many water sports. Where? On the river Tamur, on the Sunkoshi or on the Karnali. Also in the Trishuli where the rapids range from category 1 to 6.
These adventure excursions are planned with local travel agents and you can take a day or three day excursion or even longer trips that include camping and hiking through forests and waterfalls.
Now, if adventure tourism is not your thing, Nepal has cities, temples and shrines they are wonderful. A good destination is the Kathmandu Valley where there are three interesting cities: Bhaktapur, Patan and Kathmandu.
The valley has long been a meeting point of cultures and religions and the ruling dynasties have decorated the city of Kathmandu lavishly. This city cannot be missed because it is so beautiful with its Buddhist and Hindu religious sites and Newari architecture everywhere. At the same time it is a modern place, with restaurants and tourist facilities, after all it is the largest city in the country and the cultural and political capital.
Kathmandu city is an open-air museum- Visit Swaymbhunath, Pashupatinath Temple, Vishnu Budhanilkantha Temple and the Garden of Dreams. With a little more money you can hire a tourist flight through the mountains and see the enormous Everest in the distance or pay for a course in wood carving or traditional pottery or meditate with height.
Eight kilometers to the east is boudhanath, an unforgettable place if you visit it because it has la stupa largest in the entire valley: 36 meters high and many monasteries around, the center of Tibetan Buddhism in the country and shaped like a mandala.
Another important religious site is the Pashupatinath Temple, built in the XNUMXth century, the largest temple complex in Nepal, on both banks of the Bagmati River, a sacred river here. Gilded ceilings in the main pagoda, silver sides and exquisite wood carvings, as well as other divine temples dedicated to other Buddhist and Hindu gods.
It is three kilometers from Kathmandu and in total there are 492 temples and 15 Shiva shrines plus 12 more shrines to explore. This temple is World Heritage but obviously he is not the only one: Sagartha, Lumbini, Chitwan and Swayambhunath add to the valuable list. On the other hand you should consider Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha and one of the most important spiritual sites in the world as it attracts millions of Buddhist pilgrims.
Buddhism is studied here and you can visit the Mayadevi Gardens, where Buddha was born specifically, and the temple. Lumbini has monasteries built all over the world, there are from China, Myanmar, Japan, France, and the Mayadevi Temple itself, which is 2 years old, nothing more and nothing less.
So, in Nepal you can do adventure tourism or religious and cultural tourism. In today's article we focus more on the first, but we will return to the second in the future, to complete everything a traveler who has his compass set in Nepal should know.