Advertisement
Published: October 16th 2011
K - We are now in Kathmandu, Nepal and experiencing the usual cultural onslaught that is Asia - noise, traffic, dirt and smells coupled with vibrant colour, beauty and frenetic energy.
We are staying in touristy Thamel - chockablock with shops selling fake North Face mountaineering gear, DVDs and other tourist "essentials" but it's very convenient and makes a good base camp. You see - here 3 days and I am using trekking terms already!
Although wandering around the streets, people watching and snacking on momos and samosas is almost adventure enough we have forced ourselves to venture slightly further afield. On our first day we hired a taxi for the afternoon and headed off to a couple of temples. Pashupatinath is Nepal's holiest Hindu site (80% of Nepalese people are Hindu) but unfortunately despite the astronomical foreigner entry fee we are not allowed to enter the temple proper. However we were allowed to photograph the entrance and also to enter the Ghats - the areas by the river where people bathe and also cremate their dead. Many people find the idea of public cremation distasteful but we saw several funerals in progress and although moving and emotional it
was in no way unpleasant. We obviously did not take photos. However, it was slightly strange seeing people bathing and laundering their clothes a few feet downstream (on the opposite side of the river). The bathers colorful saris against the brown river and blue sky were visually stunning but as washing in public is not done through any exhibitionism but due to necessity we again did not invade invade what little privacy these people had managed to create with a camera.
The second sight we visited was Boudah - the most important Tibetan Buddhist monument outside of Tibet. A huge, white stupa topped with a central spire from which prayer flags flutter this monument is believed to contain relics from Buddah himself. The atmosphere is very spiritual despite the tourists and commercial interests and watching the Tibetan monks and pilgrims spinning the prayer wheels we could have been in Lhasa.
We both agreed that these were the 2 most interesting temples we have visited and we still have a couple more to visit. We have however postponed this until our return from trekking........yes trekking. On Monday we head off to the Annapurna region of the Himmalayas for a
Lakgtang Mountain (7246m)
First of many Himalayan sunrises!5 day, 4 night "gentle" trek......
Feeling a little unfit after 4 months traveling (camping adventures not quite compensating for wine tours, driving and braais!) we decided to do a trial run and headed up to Nagarkot, a ridge about 2 hours to the North of Kathmandu where at 5.45am we got our first full view of the Himalayas. And what a sight they were, despite the low cloud. I anticipate mountain photo overload in future blogs so have restricted myself to 1 photo here - but wow - I can hardly wait until Tuesday!
Scroll down for more photos.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.074s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0386s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
