Meeting the Kumari

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So for the past few days we've been having our orientation into Nepal. During this time we have been having cultural and history lessons but also have been taking walks around Kathmandu and seeing some of the major areas here. The first place we went to was a local market and then to Durbar square. Durbar square is an area with a few different temples and where many festivals will take place. Right now we are in the middle of the Deshain festival which is 10 days long. This is a festival that involves many sacrifices to be made so if you spend some time in Durbar square you are guaranteed to see an animal sacrifice. Durbar square is also where the palace of Kathmandu's Kumari. No I didn't actually get to meet the Kumari at all, but we did see her look out of her window, during which time we were not allowed to take pictures. There are 3 Kumaris in Nepal and there are slight differences in the way they are allowed to live. The life of a living goddess may sound glamorous but I'm not sure if it really is. Since it's not a lifelong way of life, this leaves the young girls with a fractured life. This is a topic that I'm planning on reading further on.

The other place we visited was Swayambunath, the Monkey Temple. It's perched high on a hill and we walked up there at 5am to watch the sun rise. The walk started with an uphill climb but completed with a 300 stair climb. The views from there were amazing and I will definitely be making my way up there many more times during my stay here. Oh and yes, there were many many monkeys up there. Ok I don't have much time left on this connection since I think the load sharing will be starting soon so I'm going to cut this entry here and get some pictures uploaded.

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