Kathmandu is a crazy, heavily-polluted vibrant city and we loved it straight away. We were thrown in to the chaos of Shivaratri when we arrived - the biggest Hindu festival in the calendar - so it was even more chaotic than usual.

When we could drag ourselves away from our beautiful hotel, we got lost amongst the side streets full of markets, motorbikes and mystical temples. Further afield in the Kathmandu Valley we visited the historic town of Patan and walked the cobbled lanes in-between normal life and 5000 year old temples.

Pashupatinath was definitely one of the more extraordinary places we've been to. It's the site of Nepal's most important Hindu temple and on the banks of the holy Badmati river. It is also the most scared place in Nepal for Hindu's to be cremated and these are performed publicly on the river bank.

We found this shocking to watch but also rather intriguing once you see their rituals taking place and realise that this is normal for most Nepalese. If you're wondering what the crazy painted men are in the photos, these are Sadhus - wandering holy men who have given up everything in their life for religion, but to us outsiders all they seem to do is shout, charge for photos and smoke chillums all day long!

The final stop on our whirlwind taxi tour was Boudha where the World's largest Buddhist Stupa is and home to many Tibetan exiles. This huge white dome was an impressive site against the bright blue sky, with Tibeta prayer flags flying in the wind.

As we were in the land of the big mountains, we also took time to see the views from Nagarkot which were meant to be breathtaking. Unfortunately it wasn't our day and the cloud and mist covered most of the view, but jut knowing that Mount Everest was somewhere on the horizon was enough for us!