We had a great dinner at a very posh hotel (Dwarika) and the food was just fantastic. Definitely worth the 800 rupees (equivalent to approx. 12 USD). I wish I could go back more often! At the spur of the moment I was swayed into going to the the Monkey Temple at sunrise meaning I had to spend the night in Thamel. We ended up renting this really dirty room infested with roaches the size of a mini chocolate bar! Needless to say I was absolutely disgusted and appalled. We tried to kill as many as we could but one was burrowing in my bed. Therefore I had no sleep all night worrying about roaches crawling into my hair/mouth/ear etc. Really, you should see the size of them.
At 4AM we set off to go to the Monkey Temple which is about a 40 minute walk from Thamel. It's really different to walk the streets of Kathmandu in the middle of the night, it's so peaceful, the air is so much cleaner. There are supposedly 365 steps up to the temple and you have to climb all the stairs for good luck... which I did... very slowly and breathlessly. There are a surprising number of people who are at the temple at this time of day and the number of people exercising as well. We watched the sunrise over smoggy and cloudy Kathmandu and was satisfied. I am now craving a warm shower and clean comfy bed.
