Monkey temple and booking a trek!

We checked when check out was and headed out in search of some breakfast. After not spending much the previous day we treated ourselves to a fancier breakfast than usual (in reality it was under £3). I had a bowl of muesli, fruit and soya milk which was so nice. Afterwards we wandered around the shops again where I purchased some dungarees. I've been trying to get dungarees in england for months so was very excited to get these, especially as I managed to barter them down to £5.60. Though a rat did run across the shop as I was trying them on...

Afterwards we checked out and moved hostel. It was only an 8 minute walk but felt like longer through the busy streets. We checked in and started speaking to the owner about our plans to go trekking. We'd been quoted $190 USD each by two tour companies for a 3 day, 2 night trek which seemed ridiculous in a country where a hotel room is about £2. After a long discussion about the pros and cons of having a guide, a potential route etc. we ended up booking a 4 night 5 day trek for about $80 each. This price included hiring a guide, our trekking permits, the cost of the return bus to the city where we start the trek from, and a return taxi between the town and the trekking start point. This seemed very reasonable, and whilst the man said we'd probably be fine without a guide we opted to have one anyway due to questionable navigational skills!

We paid a deposit on the trek and after some lunch headed out to see some of Kathmandu's main attractions. First we went to the royal palace, which was very underwhelming from the outside. It turned out to be a museum (?) and with a high entry price for foreigners we decided against visiting. We instead walked to Monkey temple, about an hour away. The walk was nice as it took as through the less touristy parts of the city where we could see small shops and people's houses, and were less likely to be hit by a motorbike. The temple itself was up a lot of steps covered in monkeys (hence the name) but they were very tame and didn't seem bothered much by humans.

The view from the top of the temple was amazing; it was panoramic over the city and we were really high up! Just as we were about to leave a man told us to walk down some steps and see a pool where the monkeys swim, but as we got there it started to rain so they weren't in there. We wandered around a bit more before venturing home, stopping for a drink on our way. We went out and had some dinner and another browse of the shops before heading back to the hostel for bed.

Laura x