Thamel, Kathmandu - Nepal

Thamel is the tourist and traveller hot spot in Kathmandu.

It's predominantly made up of hotels, cafes, bars, guest houses and trekking stores and gift shops.

Foreigners use it as a base before and after trekking and there's heaps of non locals in town. It's the closest city to the airport that provides plenty of accommodation and nightlife.

The accomodation can be pretty cheap and reasonable if you take the time to select something with value. I thought my selection was good, but not good enough to find hot water or a warm room with heating. In fact heating in a room is non existent and that makes it tough when it's around 4 degrees at night.

It was inevitable that I would pick up a chest/head cold. Thamel is around 1400 metres above sea level and I'm only going to ascend further so I decided to stay in Thamel a little longer than I planned to recuperate. 

Thamel is a bit of a concrete jungle and because it's so cramped the pollution is worse than I imagined and it's very dusty.

The only really nice place to visit and sit to get away from the hustle and bustle is the main square. Here you'll find the local monastery and an impressive stupa and temple.

There are plenty of roof top bars and restaurants that can provide you with a view of the surrounding hills. The only problem is that this the time of year, in the winter, the fog is constant and obscures everything.