Zoe and I spent the afternoon at Boudhanath, a stupa in northeastern Kathmandu that was built, according to some sources, as early as the 5th century CE. These days, Boudhanath stupa is surrounded by an eclectic mix of Tibetan Buddhist temples, souvenir stalls, and boba shops. After walking a few laps around the stupa, we got a rildhuk and tongba dinner from a back-alley Sherpa restaurant.

What was playing during my inDrive ride home:

Narayanhiti

First stop of the day was the Narayanhiti Palace Museum, the palace built by Mahendra in 1963 that served as the royal residence until Gyanendra moved out in 2008 (a whole two years after Parliament told him to bounce). The main building was used to host visiting heads of states (including Queen Elizabeth II and Jiang Zemin among others), and served mostly ceremonial functions. The smaller cottages, Tribhuvan Sadan and Shree Sadan, were more interesting to walk through. Looking through Prince Nirajan and Princess Shruti's rooms at Shree Sadan, you'd think they were any other 80's kids with CD players and casio keyboards. Near Shree Sadan, you can also visit the royal garage which housed a Daimler Benz gifted to Tribhuvan by Hitler. After the museum, I stopped by the Garden of Dreams, although I wouldn't especially recommend a visit unless you feel like dropping 400 rupees to look at fountains.

Thamel

Saturday afternoon was spent sitting around a fire with some of Zoe's friends at Kaalo, an underground art space in Patan. Unfortunately, at some point a fleck of burning firewood landed on me and burned a hole in my chinos :(

After grabbing some teriyaki for dinner, we met up again with a few of Zoe's Kaalo-tangential friends for chhaang near Banglamukhi Temple in Patan. The place we went to offered us a private room with floor pillows and kept the group stocked on chhaang, tongba, and clean ashtrays. The owners eventually wanted to close shop, so we made a quick stop for snacks (white rabbit candies and aloo bhujia) and snuck back into Kaalo, where Zoe and her friend Ryan took turns playing some original songs.

N.B. White chhaang is pretty tasty. Brown chhaang wasn't so great.

Some Nepali music recommendations (courtesy of Ryan):

On Sunday, I finally got to meet Zoe's bandmate, Prince, and his dad, Shyam, at their home in Kirtipur, a neighborhood on the southwestern outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley. Zoe had to stop by to pick up her guitar and plan an American tour for her and Prince's Nepali folk/bluegrass fusion band, Manaslu Blue. Along the way, we stopped to visit some temples and appreciate some panoramic views of the valley.

Manaslu Blue in action:

After two days of remote work, I went back to being a tourist. I spent the afternoon strolling the ancient temple complex at Swayambhunath. Once I got past all the vendors hawking Buddha-themed tchotchkes, I had a nice time exploring and monkey-watching. Sadly, the green spaces around Swayambhunath are full of litter from visitors tossing leftover snacks (and wrappers) to the monkeys. Still, I found the area to be one of the nicer parts of Kathmandu, especially if you're looking for sweeping views and monkey photo ops.

A saga of hunger, determination, ingenuity:

Later, I went to Drunken Master in Thamel to watch Zoe play a few songs with her friend, Ar Un (aka Flying Spirit). Here's a clip of them playing some Springsteen:

No tourist sites to report on today. I only left Jhamsikhel in the late afternoon to meet up with Zoe, Shyam, and Shyam's friend, Hari, for dinner. Shyam took us to a Newa restaurant in Patan for chhaang, beaten rice, potatoes, split peas, and five different types of buff (according to Shyam, there are ninety-nine ways to cook buff, or water buffalo, in Newa cuisine). At some point during our dinner, Zoe mentioned my family is Italian so Shyam and Hari decided to sing Bella Ciao.

After dinner, Zoe and I headed to Beers and Cheers in Jhamsikhel to listen to some of Zoe's friends from Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory jam on stage. We got there early and wound up sitting through two solid hours of conservatory vocal exam performances. Also we got some awful bar nachos. They were just microwaved tortilla chips with shredded cheese and marinara.