Day 4

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Living in Thamel isn't pleasant, so it was off to Patan Durbar square today. Although this is a tourist hotspot, in fact a guy didn't even wait for me to get out of the taxi before he started to ply his wares,it is well worth the visit. I used one of the guides vying for my business and was given a really comprehensive 1 hour tour. What a great place, so much to see and so much information.The experience would have been so much the poorer if i had insisted on simply walking around on my own. The old palace of Patan is on the right and was inhabited by many a ruler of the region, each ensuring his own immortality by building temples to the various gods you see on the left.
I would recommend visiting the school that creates some of the 5 tanka paintings, but beware, the more beautiful paintings that are painstakingly done by highly skilled monks are very expensive. It takes 10yrs for a student to gain the skills to become competent...what patience they have. They are very willing to let you observe the students practicing their art...again just be prepared to part with some serious cash if you want the best quality souvenir; all profits got their the school.

Another point of interest was that at the bottom of the vertical struts on one of the temples, the king had carved positions of the khama sutra; this was the first sex education in Nepal hundreds of years ago.

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Photos

Cooling down
Children around water are the same the world over