Kailash Yatra – part 1
Delhi -Kathmandu- Pokhara
I am back from the longest vacation I ever took – 25 days away from home.
It is hard to describe the trip. As I mentioned, it was not a regular vacation, it was rather a spiritual pilgrimage. I would divide the trip into two parts: touristy or sightseeing part and the spiritual/transformational. I’ll write about spiritual part of the trip later. For now, I’ll talk about touristy part of the trip.
We arrived to New Delhi at 1:30 am, took a taxi to the hotel I booked on Agoda.com. I am pleased with the Hotel Classic Diplomat , it is a very good choice for the price. The room I selected had a different type of the bathroom than showed on the web site, so the staff showed me a few rooms and allowed to choose the room I want. (The two bed room has a different bathroom than a room with the king size bed). The breakfast was excellent, the staff was very friendly, and later arranged a four hours city tour for me at the reasonable price. The daily rate included breakfast and a complimentary drop-off at the airport. Just keep your booking papers ready to proof that what is included in your reservation so you do not need to pay again.
On the next day we met the group at the airport to fly together to Kathmandu, Nepal. There are some cities in the world where you feel at home as soon as you arrive. I could not say that Kathmandu is my home, even our accommodations were excellent. We stayed at the fancy Gokarna Forest Golf Resort & Spa . 
After unexpected early return from Nepal, we stayed in another resort at Kathmandu –Grand Norling Hotel’s Resort. I like it more than Gokarna since it is less expensive and the food is better. I treated myself at their Dheva Spa with the Ayurvedic full body massage. The cost for the 90 minutes massage is 2,200 Nepalese Rupee (NPR) which is less than $25 US!
The traffic in Kathmandu is horrible; and we spent more time on the road than at the landmarks. Unpleasant discovery was that after spending the hours in the traffic and arriving to the destination , we were not allowed to enter some Hindi temples (Now I can understand the feeling of being discriminated).
I did not have the chance to see the city that was described in the magazines from the Nepal’s Tourist Board. Hopefully, I’ll see it next time… What ever I saw, had his own charm and beauty.
The nice the tree days trip to the lovely Pokhara allowed us to discover the Phewa Tal (Fewa Lake), Peace Temple, Devi’s Fall, Seti Gandaki (Seti River), Bindhyabasini Temple located 3000 ft above from the sea level., and other landmarks. You can get a fabulous view of Pokhara city and the Himalayas from this temple. And the luxurious accommodation at The Fulbari Resort & Spa at Pokhara – the dream gateway!
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