Moped traffic jams and temples in Kathmandu

My first encounter with Asia was special. After nearly 24 hours of traveling from Norway, I arrived at Kathmandu Airport on the morning of September 2, 2025, and it almost felt like I was on an assembly line.

Having barely slept on the flights, I just had to go with the flow. You could say I had a somewhat luxurious first encounter with Nepal, as the hotel arranged a taxi from the airport and I was driven in an electric SUV. I don’t think I experienced that kind of “luxury” again during the rest of my stay.

The first culture shock I noticed was the traffic. It was complete chaos, and cars and mopeds were driving in every possible direction. I myself became unsure whether the road was one-way or two-way.

Despite the chaos, it seemed like the drivers had very good control. I would never have managed to drive in those streets!

As soon as I arrived at the hotel, I noticed how helpful everyone was. It was almost as if I wasn’t allowed to do anything myself. I was utterly exhausted after the long journey, and after exploring my room, I lay down to sleep.

After a few hours, I took a shower and got ready to have dinner with some fellow students for the first time.

The walk to the restaurant was also my first walk in Kathmandu. Evening had fallen, so the traffic had calmed down, but we still kept right to the side of the road as we walked along the street.

I stayed in Thamel, Kathmandu’s tourist district, and quickly lost count of how many times I was offered hash.

Unlike the rest of Kathmandu, Thamel is packed with lots of exciting shops that mostly sell the same things. You’ll find interesting restaurants with food from all over the world on the menu, and lots of people.

For dinner we ate Nepal’s national dish, Dhal Bat, which is a meal made up of various components, such as curry, lentil soup, rice, and lots of side dishes.

My first meeting with my fellow students was interesting, because everyone came from different places and had different academic backgrounds.

Some had completed a master’s degree, while others had not studied before. This meant that many different perspectives emerged in our conversations during dinner and throughout the entire stay.

Kathmandu is probably best known for its beautiful temples.

Kathmandu has countless Hindu and Buddhist temples, and during the four days I was there I visited three of them. The day after I arrived in Nepal, some fellow students and I went to Durbar Square, a large square filled with many different temples dedicated to the various Hindu deities.

This was also our first encounter with the city in daylight. The streets were filled with lots of people and we constantly heard honking. A guide showed us around Durbar Square and we were eventually led to his mandala shop, where I almost felt it was mandatory to buy a painting.

The next day, together with a large group of students, I did a so‑called “temple run” where we hired a taxi to drive us to various temples.

We got a lot out of these visits, as we gained an insight into Nepalese culture, encountered loads of wild monkeys, and even witnessed a cremation by the river.

We ended the day by going out on the town and to the nightclub Lord of The Drinks, ranked as the 44th best in the world in 2025. A fun experience and a little taste of what the rest of the stay would be like. The nightlife can’t be compared to going out in Norway; everything was much bigger.

The day after was calm, and since this was during the monsoon season, it poured down on our last day in Kathmandu. The next day we got up at five in the morning to make the seven-hour bus ride to Pokhara.