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Published: November 21st 2007
Pashpatinath - Birth place of Lord Shiva.
Non hindu's may not enter, so this is the best picture I could get. Been recuperating for a few days here in Kathmandu while I was waiting for Rutger to arrive. I really like Nepal, I am already sure I will come back here another time. The people are friendlier and less pushy, the streets are less dirty, there's less noise, and the scenery is ... woooooow. But you'll see more of that once I leave Kathmandu.
Kathmandu, especially the Thamel area, is well catered for tourists, and more specifically for trekkers. The big names amongst trekking gear companies even have shops here, like The North Face for example. The entire area is filled with shops that sell Nepali arts, handicrafts and clothes. A bunch of small shops also sell backpacks with the North Face labels on them, but the prices are a little too low for the branding to be credible. I could spend a lot of money on clothes here. But gotta have some discipline and try to stay within budget.
Yesterday (Tuesday) I went to Pashpatinath, an area east of Kathmandu. There is a big Shiva temple there, that marks the birth place of Lord Shiva. Because of this, the guide told me, this place is holier than Varanasi. A
Pashpatinath - Fertility temples
Each of these mini temples contains a Shiva Lingam, a symbol of the union of male and female. Women come to pray here if they want to get pregnant. Mekka for Hindu's ; each Hindu should visit this place at least once in their life times to end the wheel of life cycles. Like in Varanasi, cremation ceremonies are held on the river banks, and having your ashes thrown in the water will purify you from karma.
And today, Rutger arrived :-)) He still had the energy to walk around all afternoon, after having spent more than 20 hours in airports and planes... But then, he is the kind of guy who needs only 5hrs of sleep a night.
We have to decide tomorrow (or asap) what trekking we are going to do, how many days and which route and with or without guide. Really looking forward to the trekking. We'd better buy warm winter coats mind you, it's around minus 10 degrees Celcius in the mountains at night, and probably around zero during the day. Even in Kathmandu, the nights are pretty chilly now. The days are sunny and comfortably warm though.
Alright, that's it for today, Folks! Hugs to all and probably till after the trekking :-)
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Gaelle
non-member comment
aha...
So now i have a better idea of the man i have been chatting with! Hello to both of you. I'll take that JB-coke, with a view of the woods in Tremelo. Cheers! (Sas... stop loosing weight!). I wish you the best of times, and i'll burn some incence for your knee to work fine in the next weeks. Ram Ram. (and hugs)