Bhaktapur & Patan, Nepal

Sunday October 19, 2025 

Kranti lives in Bhaktapur so he asked if we minded if the driver picked us up and we meet him there. Of course, that was no problem for us. It was 30 minutes or so from Kathmandu.

We picked him up in town and he took us to see his hometown of Bhaktapur which lies in the eastern part of Kathmandu valley and is the third largest city in the valley. It is famous for elegant art, culture, and festivals. Bhakapur is also known as ‘Bhadgaon’ and locally known as Khwopa. 

The medieval city has its own famous Durbar Square, a World Heritage Site with attractions such as the Golden Gate, Lion Gate, Potter’s Square, National Art Gallery, and the 55-Window Palace, once the royal seat of Nepal. We saw most of the attractions of Bhaktapur city seeing the typical Newari Culture, beautiful temples, wood carved palaces, and amazing architecture of 15th century.

in the van

arrival in Bhaktapur

drying the rice

demonstrating the singing bowl's healing properties

healing what ails me

Cathy's turn

Greg was next

Tom took his turn

None of us bought any of the bowls. I wanted a small one, but it was part of a set of about 10 of the, I have no room to display that many. They did agree to sell just one small one, but it was $75 but I really just wanted a token tourist one. 

the pottery area

lots of dust

of course, we climbed the stairs to check it out

views from the top

we wandered the area until our meeting time

Cathy checking out the merchandise

lunch stop

grilled chicken lunch (the gravy saved the meal)

yogurt for dessert

At lunch Tom & Cathy were regretting not getting a singing bowl, so we asked the guide if he minded taking them back there. Of course, he made that happen and they got the bowl that was made only by moonlight on Buddha's Birthday or something like that. They had it shipped home. While they were doing that, we strolled the alleyway of shops, and I bought 3 pair of earrings (ohm symbol, hands and, orange squares)

Kranti asked if we would like to visit his daughter's school. Of course! What an opportunity to see "real life". His daughter is in preschool, and it was nap time, so her teacher woke her up to see her dad. He has a son as well that is older, but his school was farther away.

the school

the kids wanted their photos taken

Kranti, his daughter and her teacher

leaving the area

Next, we drove about 30 minutes (more due to a traffic jam) to Patan, which is located on the opposite side of the Bagmati River. We started with a walking tour of Patan Durbar Square to see its stunning architecture with palace buildings, artistic courtyards and graceful pagoda temples. Sites included the courtyards of Mul Chowk, Sundari Chowk, and Keshav Narayan Chowk. 

It is also listed as a World Heritage Site that consists of a former royal palace, museum containing lots of statues and religious objects. The temple of Krishna commonly known as Krishna Mandir is one of the remarkable monuments of 17th-century entirely built with stone dedicated to the Hindu god Krishna. 

I mentioned a traffic jam where there were tons of busses, motorcycles and vehicles all jammed in the middle of the intersection. It was impossible to move. We were hit by a motorcycle, but the rider accused our driver. (we couldn't move so not sure how it could be our fault) Anyway eventually a police officer assessed the situation and said there was no damage and it was the motorcycles' fault. It was interesting that the people standing in the street "help" by banging on parts of your vehicle, so the driver knows where to go. Finally, with the police officer's assistantace with his laser pointer the jam freed.

Patan Durbar Square

it's an atomically correct male lion - zoom in...lol

look closely....

preparing for a large gathering

walking to the museum

it was a large museum with many floors

Shiva & Parvati Although seated as a loving couple these are in fact wrathful aspects as denoted by Shiva's contracted brow, skull and serpent ornaments and the the serpents and skull cups the deities hold in their hands.

Ganesha's transport, the Rat

looking out a window

more window views

back at the square

sign on an ATM - praying the ATM gives you the cash you asked for?

the guide stopped to buy some gooseberries - none of us our fans, so we didn't want any

truck says Season Of Love

Last was an hour or so of shopping, and after I bought my token singing bowl and Tom & Cathy were already shopped out, we wanted to skip that and just go back to Kathmandu. I think Kranti wanted to do some shopping as he reminded us it was included in our tour. So, we agreed to meet in an hour. While we were waiting, we saw quite a few parades for Diwali. Of course, I was still using the video wrong on my camera so none of those turned out. We still had time to kill so took advantage of the Baskin's Robbins.

where I got my singing bowl

Tihar in Nepal is essentially their version of Diwali, a major five-day Hindu festival of lights

they had it finished before morning - using dyed rice

views from the Elite lounge

our desserts from the downstairs bakery

singing bowl

gift from the guide (Cathy got a different one)

Saying goodbye to Kranti and the driver was like saying goodbye to old friends. They both were really top-notch. A customer satisfaction guy from Highlights Travel emailed me to see how our trip was going in Tibet and I guess he listened to our concerns with missed activities to the style of our guide. (or just luck of the draw, either way he was awesome!)

Tomorrow, we fly to Pokhara, Nepal

Patan and Bhaktapur  https://photos.app.goo.gl/5EJevyrhkviGNzm78