The area contains several main settlements, including the royal cities of Patan, Bhaktapur and Kathmandu. The buildings are predominantly red brick with intricate carved wood windows. The temples in the courtyards are mostly Hindu, although there are a number of Buddhist stupas too. Throughout the busy streets people of many different castes and regional origin bustle about doing daily business. Mostly this revolves around the supply and purchase of food.
Every street has fresh vegetables, spices, rice and cooked food available.
The fact that Nepal is an agricultural nation is very evident. From the royal cities of the valley, I embarked on a few days of adventure inthe lowlands of the South. Access is via a hair-raising road that form the main supply route from India. The trucks and buses come at you on random sides of the road, and often two abreast. In general, driving in Nepal is nerve wracking, but this road was really quite extreme.