Switching from the Green Mountain of Oman to truly green mountains… Nepal in the monsoon!
If Jebel Akhdar is green, I dunno what you’d call this? But I don’t blame whoever named Jebel Akhdar (literally, 'Green Mountain') in Oman its name. For an arid country like Oman, Jebel Akhdar is indeed green, and cool (even in the scorching summer of Arabia). But in the rain-drenched southern slopes of the Himalayas during the monsoon, green, is everywhere, wherever you can see, except for the cities, and the patches of yellow, here and there, where the trees have been washed away but landslides caused by the rain…
This is Nepal, during the monsoon, where we were stranded for a day (thanks to Jazeera Airways… They were 5 f$$#$@ hours late, which caused us to miss our connecting flight to Dhaka, Bangladesh). Anyway, we’re not people who’d fret over some small hitch or mishap, hehe. Since, we had to spend an unplanned day (and night) in Kathmandu, we took the opportunity to not only wander around Kathmandu (it wasn’t our first visit, by the way), we headed for the hills outside the city!
Welcome to Nagarkot, Nepal, about 30km from Kathmandu (an hour-plus drive, depending on the traffic). We decided to visit early in the morning, before heading directly to the airport to catch our flight to Dhaka!
This was a recommendation from a Nepali friend of Anu’s, the husband of her colleague, Rini, who used to work together with Anu in Haulawng, Mizoram. We’ve met the couple before (twice maybe), in Gurgaon (Haryana) when Justin was really little (2013, I think), and Delhi during Amrita’s wedding. Sadly, the husband committed suicide, a couple of years back. RIP mate.
Mommy, come up, the view’s amazing! (Mommy’s scared of heights), c’mon conquer your fears – Nagarkot Geodetic Survey Tower, Nagarkot, Nepal
Bravo, you did it!
See, it’s nice, isn’t it? You can even see snowy mountains…
And that’s it for this post. Signing out, Nagarkot, Nepal, Jul 2022
And for the Buddhists out there, wishing you a blessed Vesak Day.
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