While you may see Kathmandu as an entry point for your trek to one of the many mountain ranges, Kathmandu is much more than temples, Thamel and ancient city squares. The city is built on the backs of those that toil behind the scenes, away from the gaze of the tourism industry. We have designed this day specifically to show you a living and breathing Kathmandu, not one that you see in brochures and pamphlets of travel agents. We will start this experience with you meeting one of the many artisans who have designed and built all those picture perfect temples you see in the brochures that lured you to Nepal in the first place, but we won't stop there, we will actually have you sit with a craftsmen at his workshop and learn from him how to carve on a wooden piece. It's not back breaking work but it's not a walk in the park either, we can say this much though, it is one of the most rewarding experiences ever. Once you've made your masterpeice, we will head over to where your host generally has his meals which also happens to be on of the most popular momo stalls in the city. :) Some would say that many regular neighbourhoods in Kathmandu appear to be slums by western standards, and there maybe some truth in that, but there are those who live in conditions that even the residents of those regular neighbourhoods would call slums. Rarely seen by the public, these are the people who've fallen through the cracks. We'll take you to a slum where a slum dweller, Kamala, will share her story about how she came to live in the slum and also show you around the slum that she calls home. Next we'll hop over to Thamel to learn how to make kites and fly them, the favourite activity of children during Nepal's biggest festival of Dashain which comes around every year. Note here that whether the kites will fly will depend greatly on the weather. With your kite lesson over, we'll head over to a food stall that is popular amongst both locals and budget travellers alike for dinner. Itinerary 9:00: You will be picked up at from your hotel 9:30 - 10:00: Take vehicle to Heera Ratna's wood carving workshop 9:30 - 13:00: Wood Carving workshop 13:00 - 14:00: Momos for lunch at the most popular street momo joint in kathmandu 14:00: Leave for Thapathali 14:30 - 15:30: Tour of the Kupondole bridge slum by Kamala (slum resident) 14:30 - 14:45: Kamala will relate her story about how she got to live in the slum while showing you her hut and that of her neighbours 14:45 - 15:00: Visiting the slum school 15:00 - 15:30: tour of the areas of the slum that were destroyed when the Bagmati River changed course 3 years ago and also explain some of the challenges faced by slum dwellers, social stigma being the least of them 15:30: Leave for Kite making class in Thamel 16:00 - 17:00: Make your own kites and learn to fly them on the rooftops 17:00: Walk towards Western Tandoor for Dinner 17:15 - 18:00: Dinner at Western Tandoori