Top 10: Most Instagramed Pictures of Kathmandu

Instagram is a place of inspiration and countless day dreams. Here, we count down the top 10 Instagrammed pictures from Kathmandu with stunning photography.

1. Swoyambhunath
A golden spire crowning a conical wooded hill, Swayambhunath Stupa is the most ancient and enigmatic of all the holy shrines in Kathmandu valley.

A photo posted by Laura Becker (@lauraabecker_wahl) on Feb 25, 2016 at 1:55am PST

2. Bhaktapur Durbar Square 
Bhaktapur Durbar Square, located in the center of Bhaktapur city, is a conglomeration of pagoda and shikhara-style temples grouped around a fifty-five window palace of brick and wood.

A photo posted by Saurabh Shrestha (@_saurae) on Feb 24, 2016 at 7:25am PST

3. Boudhanath 
It is the largest stupa in Nepal and the holiest Tibetan Buddhist temple outside Tibet. It is the center of Buddhist culture in Nepal.

A photo posted by @jonaske on Feb 28, 2016 at 8:16pm PST

4. Thamel 
Thamel has been the center of the tourist industry in Kathmandu for over four decades, starting from the hippie days when many artists came to Nepal and spent weeks in Thamel. Even though Thamel has been referred to as a "ghetto" by some, many low-budget travelers consider it a hotspot for tourism.

A photo posted by Masaya.S (@msy.shimajiro) on Feb 21, 2016 at 2:42pm PST

5. Patan Durbar Square
Patan means eternity itself and Patan Durbar Square is a spectacular sight. It is full of Hindu temples and Buddhist monuments with bronze gateways, guardian deities and wonderful carvings.

A photo posted by @travellifesd on Feb 13, 2016 at 5:26pm PST

6. Ason
 A walk through Ason brings you to the heart of “normal” Nepali city life. It is the Kathmandu of many generations of inhabitants. There more temples for the gods than there are houses for people in Ason.

A photo posted by Suraj Shakya (@surajshakya) on Dec 2, 2015 at 6:59am PST

7. Pashupatinath 
 The Mecca of Hinduism attracts millions of devotees worldwide during the last week of February for the Shivaratri festival.

A photo posted by Hopetilltheend (@akpanthi) on Feb 26, 2016 at 5:49am PST

8. Kopan Monastery
Home to 360 monks, lamas. teachers and workers, visitors from all over the world come here to attend courses and enjoy the spiritual atmosphere of the place for study and practice

A photo posted by Mark Foster (@mistersmims) on Jan 8, 2016 at 8:45pm PST

9. Basantapur
Kathmandu Durbar Square in the heart of old Kathmandu city in Basantapur never fails to impress first time visitors with its intricate wood carvings and rich history.

A photo posted by @vlad_butik on Feb 10, 2016 at 11:16pm PST

10. Nagi Gompa
Nagi Gompa nunnery sits on a mountainside high above the Kathmandu Valley and is home to more than 100 nuns. Here, nuns from all over the Himalayan region have come to study, practice and meditate in quiet and peaceful surroundings.

A photo posted by @nono2loco on Oct 16, 2015 at 10:28pm PDT

Recovering from the quake

Photo by: Rocky Prajapati

Every century, with a cycle of around 80 years, a devastating earthquake shakes up the two continental plates below Nepal, jolting all life above it. With each repetition, buildings collapse, lives are lost, and normalcy turns upside down for a while.

Yet every time it happens, the country comes together, gets stronger, and works harder to build back. And build back it does. Better, stronger and more resilient. This has been proven time and again.

The two major earthquakes of 25th April and 12th May caused widespread damage in some districts in Nepal, no doubts about that. That was the earthquake doing its thing.

The reaction of the people, considered to be one of the best crisis managers in the world, was extraordinary. Before the government or international aid could kick in, the youth, business-people, monks, nuns, schools, colleges all started to work in relief, and before anything had even arrived in Nepal in terms of aid, had conducted an astounding amount of relief runs, mobilising funds and resources and moving tons upon tons of relief into areas that needed it.

In the far flung villages, the youth had dug up bodies, cremated them, and had started on emergency shelters within a few days already, conditioned by centuries of living in isolated small valleys and knowing how to be self-sufficient.

This strength and resilience is something worth experiencing, the nature of this incredible mix of over 100 ethnic groups living in this stretch of land that is Nepal, nestled between giants of China and India, never colonised and never conquered.

In tourism, the reaction was similar. First priority was getting everyone home safe, so rescue missions were organised to get stranded travellers out of the way. After that, companies started looking after their own - staff, guides, porters etc who needed help. After that the industry rallied together to start a recovery process, running as we write and which has developed into a very unique industry led initiative thats taking the lead in turning the tourism of this country for the better. An understanding of this process and the participation in it, can change ones understanding of how an industry should react in disasters of this magnitude.

At socialtours, we are working hard on several aspects of the recovery process

1. Leading an industry initiative to recover tourism through engaging in designing of mitigating strategies and actions to back it up. A big positive results of this has become the new recovery website endorsed by the government www.nepalNOW.org . We urge all partners to also endorse this, as this is beneficial for the one voice that is required to drive customers to buy trips again. 
2. Developing post quake recovery products that are experiences that encompass what we have described above. Most of our trips have already become relevant in the recovery process, as travellers can now meet survivors, relief workers and real champions in order to understand how a country responds to something like this. This is a strong promise and in Nepal NOW easy to deliver. We ourselves are survivors and socialtours alone has organised and is implementing over 50,000 USD worth of relief works and we continue to do so since day one. 
3. Initiating confidence building campaigns like the I AM IN NEPAL NOW and I AM GOING TO NEPAL campaigns that are viralling on social media. 
4. Finding ways to make the travellers in this two year window feel even more welcome, sometimes things as little as finding out which room is allocated and leaving a nice note for them.  

Together in Tourism!