Johnnie was desperate to leave the flee pit as he called it (mid-range hotel to most normal people). We met for breakfast at the Funky Budda Restaurant. Although we had a lovely meal there last night this mornings breakfast was poor as the service was bad and it took about 45 for our breakfast to arrive even though there was no one else in the restaurant. It was a shame as I was really looking forward to eggs florentine. My food was good but Johnnies was poor and the coffee was rubbish and took ages.
We decided not to go to the Monkey temple and instead get out of Thamel as fast as possible and go to a place recommended by Miranda close to the airport for Johnnie's early morning flight tomorrow.
I popped into a local shop and bought some snacks for the hotel (so that we do not have to pay for the mini bar) and I also bought 6 beers for all of the guys at Everest Mountain Bikes and then dropped off the beers to say thanks for the fantastic job that they did tuning and cleaning my bike.
We put my bike on the roof rack of a taxi and headed across town to check in at the Dwarikas. This place is fantastic and was an amazing place to stay. It was really lovely of Johnnie to put me up in a great hotel and an utter luxury. It is an oasis in the middle of the busy Kathmandu. All of the architecture is Nepalese and was created from one man's (Dwarika Das Shrestha) dream to restore works of Nepalese art. He had collected thousands of pieces of art work over the years to stop them being thrown away and used for firewood. He decided to construct a building in the old Newari style of Kathmandu using the carved doors and windows he had rescued. The edifice which was built to give the ancient works of art a new life is now one among several buildings of Dwarika's Village Hotel. These buildings contain some of the best wood-works of olden times restored to life and made to function for a modern age within the traditional architectural setting.
Here is what the blurb says about it:
Dwarika's Hotel is a unique place in South Asia. It is a living example that tourism need not destroy heritage and the environment. On the contrary, it has demonstrated that a proper blending of cultural restoration and tourism leads to the preservation of historical artifacts and contributes to the growth of skills and culture that would otherwise have eroded from the crass commercialism of today. It has shown that heritage can be preserved and be used for further preservation works. In fact, it could be the model to demonstrate what must be done to preserve the look of Kathmandu Valley - a stepping stone towards the larger and more gigantic task of rehabilitating the uniqueness and beauty of Kathmandu currently experiencing severe environmental stress of uncontrolled modernization.
We spent a relaxed afternoon wandering round the grounds and a looking at the restaurants as well has having cheese cake and coffee :-)
There was a fantastic thunderstorm just as we were going to go down for dinner. As the BBQ is outside by the pool and to get there guests have to walk across the court yard we decided to wait a while but gave up waiting and just got soaked.
There was a blues band playing in the bar and the food was good but not amazing. A lovely way to spend a last night in Kathmandu.
We decided not to go to the Monkey temple and instead get out of Thamel as fast as possible and go to a place recommended by Miranda close to the airport for Johnnie's early morning flight tomorrow.
I popped into a local shop and bought some snacks for the hotel (so that we do not have to pay for the mini bar) and I also bought 6 beers for all of the guys at Everest Mountain Bikes and then dropped off the beers to say thanks for the fantastic job that they did tuning and cleaning my bike.
We put my bike on the roof rack of a taxi and headed across town to check in at the Dwarikas. This place is fantastic and was an amazing place to stay. It was really lovely of Johnnie to put me up in a great hotel and an utter luxury. It is an oasis in the middle of the busy Kathmandu. All of the architecture is Nepalese and was created from one man's (Dwarika Das Shrestha) dream to restore works of Nepalese art. He had collected thousands of pieces of art work over the years to stop them being thrown away and used for firewood. He decided to construct a building in the old Newari style of Kathmandu using the carved doors and windows he had rescued. The edifice which was built to give the ancient works of art a new life is now one among several buildings of Dwarika's Village Hotel. These buildings contain some of the best wood-works of olden times restored to life and made to function for a modern age within the traditional architectural setting.
Here is what the blurb says about it:Dwarika's Hotel is a unique place in South Asia. It is a living example that tourism need not destroy heritage and the environment. On the contrary, it has demonstrated that a proper blending of cultural restoration and tourism leads to the preservation of historical artifacts and contributes to the growth of skills and culture that would otherwise have eroded from the crass commercialism of today. It has shown that heritage can be preserved and be used for further preservation works. In fact, it could be the model to demonstrate what must be done to preserve the look of Kathmandu Valley - a stepping stone towards the larger and more gigantic task of rehabilitating the uniqueness and beauty of Kathmandu currently experiencing severe environmental stress of uncontrolled modernization.
We spent a relaxed afternoon wandering round the grounds and a looking at the restaurants as well has having cheese cake and coffee :-)
There was a fantastic thunderstorm just as we were going to go down for dinner. As the BBQ is outside by the pool and to get there guests have to walk across the court yard we decided to wait a while but gave up waiting and just got soaked.There was a blues band playing in the bar and the food was good but not amazing. A lovely way to spend a last night in Kathmandu.
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