The day began at 2:30am after 90 minutes of sleep. Any time I will get to spend in Ahmedabad will always be insufficient to satisfy the mind. We have 2 hours of transit in Delhi. The poet Mir Taqi Mir yearned of Delhi, after he moved to Lucknow:
dilli ke na the kooche aurag musavvar the, jo shaql nazar aayi tasveer nazar aayi - The streets of Delhi are from a painter's folio, each face a painted image. My mind echoes this strong sense of nostalgia for Delhi, a city I have always transited through by train or plane in this lifetime. Connected intricately to this city from previous births, even a breath of air in Dehli brings back the feel of comfort of many happy lives lived here.
Jyoti and Rajeshji picked us up at Palam and took us to the international airport an hour away in Delhi traffic - this was news to us, the MakeMyTrip.org site had registered the booking without any information on the airports being an hour away for transit. We spent a couple of hours in the airport lounge - the last time we met Rajeshji was at exactly this spot 3 years ago, when coming back in Sep 2014 from Kailash, and the human dynamo is as energetic as ever.
The flight from Delhi is short - and in 3 hours, one of the most scenic landings in the world brings us to the Kathmandu valley of Nepal. There were a couple of folks from Karnali who put us in a car to Nagarkot - a town 30 kilometers and an hour away from Kathmandu.
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| 32 kilometers, 90 minutes from Kathmandu |
It took us a good hour and a half to reach, the young driver was an expert hills driver, manouevering complex turns in a mountain road plagued with mudslides, construction activity and at the moment, drenched in heavy rain.
At an elevation of 2,195 meters or 7,200 feet, Nagarkot is a sizable jump in altitude from our sea-level living in Dallas, Ahmedabad and Delhi.
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| a couple at the edge of the cliff, enjoying the view of the Kathmandu valley |
Our reservation in Nagarkot is at a small and classy hotel, well-maintained with a quality and courteous staff. This was a recommendation from Hiraji, owner of Karnali Excursions. He did not want us to think of going to Muktinath or any such excursion before the yatra.
When we insisted we were coming 4 days before leaving for Lhasa and wanted to see more than downtown Kathmandu, he recommended Nagarkot, a perfect choice for the first day in Nepal. The short trip to this resort of breathtaking beauty was exhilarating - easy to understand why it was the summer retreat for the royal family for generations. Also, Nagarkot has traditionally served as an outpost for the Kathmandu royals, to keep an idea on neighboring kingdoms.
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| view of the mountains from the restaurant |
The hotel reception and our room could have given us Nagarkot's stunning views of the Himalayas - 8 of Nepal's 13 Himalayan mountain ranges are seen from here - Annapurna, Manaslu, Ganesh Himal, Langtang, Jugal, Rolwaling, Mahalangur (Everest) and Numbur - with magnificent views of the Kathmandu valley and the Shivapuri National Park. Thanks to the clouds squatting on the various peaks around, Sagarmatha could not be seen though Everest base camp is just one town away from here - my father wants me to visit Nepal again in the future, so be it.
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| Nagarkot offers a view of Everest and many other Nepal mountain ranges |
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| step farms |
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| one day, we will build this in Jageshwar |
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| nothing compares to the beauty of the Himalayas |
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| could have shown me Everest |
After the late lunch, we settled into a quiet afternoon nap that stretched into a snooze only interrupted by my alarm to start working - it is 2 hours before Dallas working hours. I worked through the night, there was o appetite for dinner after a long journey of naps interrupted for meals, a long day in Ahmedabad with shopping interrupted by snacks and finally a late relaxed long lunch in the restaurant. The work that started that evening in Nagarkot went on till brahmamuhurta the next day, all time spent on calls while outside the sun set and then rose over the step farms on the soft slopes of Nagarkot.
4am in Nagarkot, I was wondering if I should actually sleep now, or start the new day. I stepped outside into the balcony into a cloud.
With this fantastic balcony view of the Kathmandu valley and the Himalayan ranges of Nepal, I knew Shiva wants me to sleep for a couple of hours before going down for breakfast. So reset the alarm on my iPhone and went to sleep.
AUM Namaha Shivaaya
At an elevation of 2,195 meters or 7,200 feet, Nagarkot is a sizable jump in altitude from our sea-level living in Dallas, Ahmedabad and Delhi. 
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