patan पाटन

patan (lalitpur) was my second favorite place in nepal after the bauddhanāth. the city isn't big so we intentionally chose a nice airbnb to stay. it's located right in the heart of the old town so it's easy to get around. and since there wouldn't be that many places to go, we assumed we'd have lots of time to stay in and relax. in fact, we decided to travel to patan, aside from the gorgeous old town, was because we found some charming places on the airbnb listing. they are actually traditional newari houses with beautifully crafted façade, but the interior are nicely designed with modern touch. the properties are owned by a french couple in collaboration with some nepali. and i have to say that choosing to stay in this place eventually defined our overall experience in patan. in the apartment they provided a small guidebook, very pleasantly designed, and about more than 60% of our adventures roaming the city was based on their recommendation. we went to a tibetan restaurant, a newari restaurant, also a modest western restaurant ran by a local, and some others. most of all these restaurant was not on the main road and don't even have any sign. so you really need to do your research, or in our case have information from the local.

it's also in patan i guess we really experience the hospitality of the nepali. the staff we met were really friendly and it didn't feel like a forced hospitality between a host and a guest, but more of a nice interaction between human beings. also here in one of the restaurants, a local from a neighbouring table voluntarily explained the dished we're eating since we're obviously foreigners and the restaurant didn't have any menu.

the rest of our time when we're not going to the recommended eating places, we were basically living basic daily life. went to the supermarket, went to a local bookstore, went for drinks at night, went for tea in the evening. i even finished reading one book on buddhism and hinduism that i bought here. also one night we cooked some instant noodle, brewed some tea in the middle of the night just because we have for ourselves a nice outdoor pantry. i think it was in these kinds of mundane activities that we're able to really experience a city, and not just visiting touristic landmarks.

from patan, we ended our trip back in kathmandu, in bauddhanāth to be exact. and i have to say out of the many places i've visited, nepal definitely is one of the places that leave the most impact. it made me rethink of humanity, of faith, of compassion, and of many other things. it's one of the trip that made me think not only for myself but also for all the people i met. like you just want to wish all the goodness for all these people and this nation.

kathmandu काठमाडौं

approaching kathmandu we could see from the tiny window of our airplane the gorgeous snow caped line of the himalaya. getting closer we saw from above the stacks of buildings which altogether form what looked like an ancient city. stepping out from the airport we were greeted by the chaos of the traffic and the thickness of the dust covering the city. in all this foreign but marvelous feeling we wandered around the city and within short couple of days fell in love with its culture, its people, its food. the uncountable hailing of taxis, walking around the city, hopping from one temple to another, the quest of trying as much street food as we could, all of these made kathmandu and nepal an adventure of its own. and i left with nothing but such great awe and care to this country which has been our host for a short period of time but certainly one of those who left me lots of values to hold and to revisit.

tokyo 東京, kantō.

I very often see people on twitter said that once you visited Japan, the only place you would want to travel to again is Japan, the place you plan to travel to next is Japan. Now that I've been to Japan I don't think I share the sentiment although I understand it to a certain degree. I guess it's true especially for people who like convenient. Japan is convenient. It's clean, it's organized, it's safe, it's friendly, it's quirky, it's aesthetically pleasing, it's fun, it's familiar, it's culturally rich. Also maybe because my visit in Tokyo was very short and I only visited famous commercial areas that feel similar to each other, shopping places, that it didn't really seeps into me. Compared to Nepal, for example, which still is a dear place to me because I felt so involved in the local experience although logistically it's not the most convenient place. Sure I would love to explore another places in Japan, even also in Tokyo or Osaka again, but I still have many other places in the world I would like to see and experience.

That said, Tokyo is indeed something. For the massive amount of people I see every second in every places, somehow it didn't feel suffocating. I remember living in Paris and felt so sick of the crowd, I was so relieved when I went to Sweden and got to feel the space with so much less people. Maybe because of the cleanliness, and again the organized Japanese, like how they would leave spaces when queueing for the subway, compared to the chaos of being in Châtelet station in Paris, for example.

Another thing I noted was how all the LED signs that crowded the city didn't actually look bad. I just mentioned not so long ago how the LED signs that replaced the neon signs in Hong Kong were all so ugly and unpleasant to look at. In Tokyo, and Osaka, they all look just normal. Like it's there and didn't bothered me as much. I really don't understand why. But also I was so happy finding a lot of places that still do use neon signs they all mostly use real neon, not the fake LED "neon-flex" which looks cheap and ugly.

There are many more small things I can say about Tokyo and Japan. Like how I love the intimate setting of their very small restaurants and bars. How everything is operated by machines. But all in all I was just happy being there. I remember the last time I went to Milan I felt like being in the city made me feel like I can do things, like there were a lot of possibilities of how life could go. But in Japan I was just be. I didn't think much, I wasn't stressed or being optimistic or anything, I was just happy to be.