Kathmandu, Some Photos Before and After the Earthquake

I am very sad to see the huge destruction in Kathmandu and other places in Nepal after the magnitude 7.9 earthquake yesterday. I am glad that all my Nepalese friends there were safe, but they were not exactly fine. They could not go home yesterday and have to stay in open areas, in case a round of strong after shocks would shake the ground again.

Below are some before-after photos of Durbar Square, Kathmandu. These two photos were posted and reshared by some friends in fb, and were also used by a NYT article today.

Upper photo from my camera, lower photo from Bigyan Prajapati; not my friend but his photos were shared by some friends in fb. My good friend Charu Chadha of Media 9, which publishes Business 360 and World of Women (WOW) magazines, toured me for half day after I came back from Pokhara.

Below, same photo sources as above, From my camera,  upper photo, and from Bigyan, lower  photo.

My lone solo photo that day. Charu insisted that I should have at least one.

See also my previous articles about Kathmandu and Nepal in this blog:

January 2015: Shangrila Hotel Pokhara, Kathmandu to Pokhara by plane, My great friend Charu, Media 9 People in KTM, Tribhuvan Airport, Grand Hotel KTM.

February 2015: Durbar Square, Swayambhu Temple, Kathmandu from the Air.

Durbar Square, Kathmandu

This is definitely a famous tourist site in Kathmandu as it is within the city center. It's a wide plaza not far from the old Royal Palace. One can  just walk to  it from the public market, the tourist area, other famous landmarks in the city center.

Now I do not  know the names of each of these structures. I just took photos that afternoon of January 13, 2015, where my good friend in  Kathmandu, Charu Chadha, toured me by foot. There was a "banda" or strike that day in the city anyway, so no taxi to ride.

Being unfamiliar with the Buddhist culture, history and religion, I found some of those structures to be "eerie" looking. Like this one. Forgive me, my Nepalese and Buddhist friends for this impression.

This one looks like an abandoned palace, eerie looking exterior.  But it may be interesting iside?

The plaza.

Nepal flag being waived by some locals. Maybe  it was related to the strike that day?

Thanks again Charu for that interesting tour.
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See also:

Kathmandu, Random Pics, January 08, 2015

My Great Friend in Kathmandu, Charu Chadha, January 16, 2015

Kathmandu from the Air, February 11, 2015

Swayambhu Temple, Kathmandu, February 12, 2015

Swayambhu Temple, Kathmandu

Swayambhu Temple/Complex is among the famous sites for tourists in Kathmandu.  It's on top of a big hill that offers almost 360 deg view of the city. This is the main entrance. Somehow steep stairs going up. I went there last January 14, 2015, my last day in Nepal.

My tour guides, Media 9' Sanchit and Sushi, just brought me there, we did not go up. We walked at one  side of  the temple as there are  many interesting sights there. Like this big red circular thing.

And these wall paintings and sculptures.

Our service car then picked us up, it went at the back, went uphill a bit and parked. Very few people go there, nice route. Then we started the climb. I bought a few souvenir items from this shop at the top.

A big image of the Buddha at one temple on the top.

The main, big structure at the top.

This complex is also mildly called the "Monkey Temple." There are just too many monkeys there, roaming freely. It's good they are not violent that can harass people, like some wild monkeys in the Philippines.

Luckily I brought a banana in my bag, I threw it at one monkey, the others saw it, they approached me, I walked away.

Thanks again for that tour, Sanchit, Sushi, Charu.
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See also:

Kathmandu, Random Pics, January 08, 2015

Nepal Tribhuvan Airport and Immigration, January 08, 2015

Kathmandu from the Air, February 11, 2015

Kathmandu from the Air

Continuing my photo-essays about Nepal. This photo I got from Razan Bhattarai, on our trip to Pokhara last January 11, 2015. He was seated on the left side of the plane, this was around 9:15am that day. Kathmandu is expanding fast.

The next three photos I took on our flight back to Kathmandu from Pokhara, January 12, Monday, around 4pm. The plane was descending. Smog and smoke blurs the view of the mountains. There are very few buildings that are 10 storeys or higher.

Dust and smog blurs the view of the city.

The roads between those houses and structures are generally narrow, they are not visible from this elevation.

The next four photos, I took last January 14 morning from Swayambhu temple, a huge temple on top of a hill and has almost 360 deg view of Kathmandu city proper.

Roads and trees between those structures are not too visible too from the hill.

There are few straight and wide roads and streets in Kathmandu, most roads are narrow and winding. Hence, they are not easily seen even from this position.

Big trees are seen on the foot of this hill. A smaller temple on a lower hill, right side.

Thanks again to my friend, Charu Chadha, Editor of Media 9, for that guided tour. Two staff of the publishing house, Sanchit and Sushi toured me in this temple.
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See also:

Kathmandu, Random Pics, January 08, 2015

Nepal Tribhuvan Airport and Immigration, January 08, 2015

Kathmandu to Pokhara by Plane, January 21, 2015

Kathmandu to Pokhara by Plane

After the 3rd Asia Liberty Forum, Media 9 and Business 360 sponsored me and Prof. Cris Lingle for a trip to Pokhara, Nepal's 2nd or 3rd biggest city known mainly for tourism. So last January 11, Media 9's David Shakya picked me and Cris from our respective hotels and we headed to Kathmandu Tribhuvan domestic airport. Another Media 9 staff, Razan Bhattarai followed us. We boarded this Yeti Airlines, 30-seater plane.

Pokhara is about 30 minutes by plane from Kathmandu, it's on the north-west of KTM while Mt. Everest is on  the north-east of KTM.

At the Kathmandu domestic airport departure lounge. From left: Cris Lingle, Razan Bhattarai, me and David Shakya.

This is our plane. Small but fast enough. They serve candies then  a cup of coffee to passengers. I was seated on  the right, where the Himalayas are visible.

At first, the ice-covered mountains are far from  the plane's path. Maybe on the 4th or 5th row of mountains. The mountain below near the plane showed forest clearing, meaning  there are human settlements already there, so the forest cover is removed and replaced by agricultural crops and houses.

Then "white mountains" become clearer and nearer. A carpet of clouds are resting on a plateau.

A wider, bigger carpet of clouds in  another plateau.

My Great Friend in Kathmandu, Charu Chadha

I arrived in Manila yesterday noon. 7D/7N in Nepal, stayed in three hotels, Grand Hotel Kathmandu (4 nights) during the 3rd Asia Liberty Forum, Shangrila Village Hotel (1 night) in Pokhara, then Royal Singi Hotel (2 nights) in Kathmandu. My 8th night was at Kathmandu airport then on a plane above China airspace, Kathmandu-HK flight.

My great friend way back in 2005, Charu Chadha, editor of a dynamic publication Media 9 in Kathmandu, hosted my extended stay from Jan. 11 to 14, including my hotels in Pokhara and Royal Singi in Kathmandu.

In late September or early October 2005, I and Charu were among the 20 Asian participants who attended a one day roundtable discussion on "The Constitution of Liberty in Asia" where we discussed Friedrich Hayek's book, "The Constitution of Liberty" (1960). It was sponsored by the Atlas Economic Research Foundation and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF). Then we attended the bigger forum the next day, same hotel, the Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia 2005 conference.

From left: Simon Lee (HK), Mr. ____(Turkey), Chung-ho Kim (S. Korea), Colleen Dyble (Atlas then, US), Mr. You (Japan), Charu Chadha, me, Hiroshi Yoshida (Japan).

Another photo, Leon Louw (S. Africa, holding a camera) and Mohit Satyanand (India, rightmost) joined us.

I have been contributing for Media 9's Business 360 magazine for two years under the column "Free Market". When I told Charu that I wanted to attend the 3rd ALF in Kathmandu, she gladly prepared things for me, including a visit to Pokhara (flight with Yeti Airlines) and a night stay at Shangrila. Our photo at the start of ALF, January 8 evening.

The next day, our other co-participant in the Phuket roundtable on Hayek's book, Cong Minh Nguyen, now editor of doimoi.org, came from Vietnam. There were only three of us from the Phuket conference who attended the ALF in Soaltee Crowne Plaza.

Really nice Pokhara's ice covered mountains, seen from  Shangrila Village Hotel.

One day before I left Kathmandu, I visited Media 9 office. Two of their new staff interviewed me on many things, from free trade vs. protectionism, free market vs. forced collectivism and socialism, migration and brain drain vs. brain gain, etc.

Then lunch, then a tour of the Durbar Square and its fantastic Buddhist structures, like this one.

Few hours before I  would go the airport last January 14, Charu brought me and her friend Alice to Boudha, another famous Buddhist area in another side of Kathmandu. So many people there, both locals and foreigners.

Then Charu brought us to their house, where I met her mother, her sister and her dog. Nice  place in a good neighborhood.

I also met Charu's partner for six years now, Sandesh. Sandesh is a cool guy, a multi martial arts (MMA) fighter and athlete, he can do karate-taekwondo-boxing-wrestling all in one. We talked on many things, I should blog those things that we discussed soon.

From left, Charu's friend Alice; Zaihani Mohd Zain, owner of the nice restaurant where we had dinner, and Shanti Chada, Charu's cool mom.

What a memorable stay in Nepal after the conference. Thanks a lot Charu, Sandesh and Media 9 staff. You are all very friendly, you simply rock n roll. Cheers.

* See also, Business 360 and Media 9 People in Kathmandu, They Rock, January 14, 2015