Day 7 – Birthday in Kathmandu (Wednesday; March 25, 2015)

The sun is shining, birds are singing (despite of the Kathmandu traffic noise) – and it’s birthday time! Initially I planned to celebrate with Randy and Jim here in Kathmandu but as we had to change our travel plans; I am here alone now in Nepal. This is somewhat strange – far away from my Adri, my Valeria and my family and friends. But it is as it is and I decide to make the best out of it. I head back to the Garden of Dreams and enter straight to the Kaiser Café; ordering their (really good!) Sachertorte as my birthday cake. This garden is so beautiful and peaceful – and just a stone throw away from the traffic chaos outside. 

Birthday cake ('Sachertorte) in the Kaiser Cafe of the lovely Garden of Dreams, Kathmandu:
 

The superb Garden of Dreams, Kathmandu:

As next step I decide to stop a taxi and to drive down to Patan. Patan was once an independent city and kingdom but now it is a suburb of Kathmandu. The local Durbar Square and old Royal Palace is probably even more beautiful than the one of central Katmandu. What again impresses me is the fact the Buddhist and Hindu temples stand here side by side at this beautiful square without any tension and that Buddhist and Hindu people joyfully celebrate together. Why can’t the world always be so easy?

Time for a rickshaw bike ride:

Durbar Square, Patan - mix of Buddhist and Hindu temples:

Old Royal Palace at Durbar Square, Patan:

One highlight of Patan (and this is missing in central Kathmandu) is the beautiful garden of the old Royal Palace with a lovely green open air café. I spend some time there, order mi first (and last) glass of wine in Nepal (wine is extremely expensive and not worth it – 0,1l = 4 EUR!) and try to remember the places where I celebrated my birthday. These include:

·         A ski hut in Nauders, Austria

·         Some bars in Lisbon and the beach in Cascais / Portugal

·         The restaurant up on Grouse Mountain in Vancouver

·         The ASTA building of Hohenheim University in Stuttgart-Hohenheim

·         My flat in Stuttgart and Frankfurt

·         CeBit Hannover and ‘Brauhaus Ernst August’ (no joke!)

·         The ‘Saalbau’ in Seckbach / Frankfurt

·         The Hard Rock Café in Mexico City

·         A terrific party in ‘Aribau 39’ (our shared flat) in Barcelona

·         The old “Wasserturm” (water tower) in Heidelberg

·         ‘Lürzer Alm’ in Obertauern / Austria

·         The salt hotel ‘luna salada’ close to the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia

·         A bar (don’t remember the name) in New York City

·         Päffgen Brauhaus in Cologne

·         Rheinterrassen in Düsseldorf

·         The Malaysian Serai Restaurant in Heidelberg

·         …

And today it’s Kathmandu. Not too bad …

The beautifil garden of the old royal palace in Patan:

Exhibition inside the old Royal Palace, Patan:

View down to Durbar Square, Patan:

Nice garden café inside the old royal palace in Patan:

Durbar Square, Patan:

Later I take a taxi back to the hotel and reply to all the comments on facebook and to all birthday e-mails (again THANKS!) as long as I have WiFi (the connection is horrible) and try to call my family (which is not working). Now I am ready to enjoy a dinner in a lovely Nerwani building at the beautiful “Thamel House” restaurant (including dance show) where I reserved a table on the balcony yesterday.

The Thamel House restaurant was a perfect decision - the dinner is super, the atmosphere is great and I really enjoy eating here. I eat a selection of Nepali food and I love to discover the completely new flavors that they add to the dishes here. Only the ‘traditional Nepali dance show’ is a bit lame, but I am basically here for the food and I can highly recommend it. Later I have a last drink at the Reggae Bar close to our hotel which I visited with Randy some days ago. This is the last step of a very nice but also somehow strange “birthday alone” in Kathmandu.

Great dinner at Thamel House restaurant, Kathmandu: