Baktapur, Nepal - 12 October 1984 Baktapur is an ancient, historic city of the Kathmandu Valley, located 8 miles east of the capital. When I visited in 1984, the city seemed to have been frozen in a medieval time warp for millennia. Unfortunately, that stasis was shattered by a major earthquake in 2015, which shattered many ancient shrines, stupas and temples.