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Published: April 16th 2008
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Buddhist Monk, Bodhnath
This female monk sat in front of the altar while worshippers walked by and turned the prayer wheel at Bodhnath Stupa Nepal....just saying the word conjures up all sorts of images - vistas filled with sparkling white mountains, monks winding their way through hilltop villages chanting buddhist mantras, tigers stalking their prey through overgrown jungle and strangely painted Sadhus wandering on foot along dirty, dusty roads.
While many of these images are accurate (and some of them we even saw), there is also a different side to Nepal - people will calmly wait in a queue for several hours or days to fill up their car, tuk-tuk or motorbike with petrol; people are welcoming, friendly and hospitable despite the fact that the country only opened up to foreigners in the last few years; and finally it is a place where the prevailing attitude is one of "what can you do" (usually accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders). All of these factors combine to make Nepal one of the most interesting, beautiful and varied travel experiences we have had to date.
Arriving from Hong Kong, we were met at the airport by a representative from Intrepid (the tour company we had booked our independent tour with) and taken to our hotel in downtown Kathmandu. The Shangri-La hotel is a very
Prayer Fires at Swayambhunath
Devotees light prayer fires at the Hindu temple at Swayambhunath, also known as the "Monkey Temple" pleasant, comfortable hotel and we made the most of it that first day - we didn't leave the room as Janice was still feeling the effects of the flu and I had plenty of blogging to catch up on.
The next morning, having caught up on our sleep, we met with Indra, the tour guide with whom we would spend the next ten days and our local guide Krishna who we would spend the day with exploring the highlights of the Kathmandu Valley. Our first stop was Kathmandu's Durbar Square, once the home of the Nepalese King (durbar means palace in Nepali). Dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, the buildings around Durbar Square are fine examples of Nepali architecture and we spent an hour or so wandering around with our guide studying the wooden structures with their many tiered pagodas and erotic carvings adorning the roof struts. We then visited the Kumari Bahal; House of the Living Goddess.
There are a number of legends that explain the origins of the Kumari - in one tale it is said that a paedophile King killed a prepubescent young girl and as penance he began worshipping a young girl as
a living goddess; in another legend it is said that the goddess Durga possessed a young girl and that from then on a young girl was brought to Kathmandu to live as a real goddess. In any case, today there are a number of Kumaris in Nepal, though the most important one lives next to Kathmandu's Durbar Square. Entering her red brick, three storey house we were ushered into a courtyard with latticed windows on each level to wait and see if she would do us the honour of showing herself. A few minutes later, an extravagantly dressed, pudgy and made up young girl came to the window and looked at the crowd for maybe three minutes - before she appeared we were given strict instructions not to photograph or look directly at the Kumari when she appeared.
The selection process for the Kumari is quite complicated - they must come from a particular Nepali caste and meet a stringent set of 32 physical criteria as well as pass a series of other tests. Reverting to a mortal is much more simple; as soon as they reach puberty or suffer an injury that results in a significant loss of
Erotic Carvings, Jaganath Temple
Jaganath Temple is the oldest structure in this part of Kathmandu and dates back to 1563 - it is particularly noteworthy because of the erotic carvings on the roof struts blood they are removed from the post and the search for a new Kumari begins (leaving the former Kumari with a monthly pension 4X the average salary).
Leaving Durbar Square, we headed towards Pashupatinath, the most important Hindu temple in Nepal and a major gathering point for the Sadhus of India and Nepal, particularly around the time of Maha Shivaratri (Shiva's birthday). Unfortunately, non-Hindus are not allowed to enter the temple, but the major point of interest at Pashupatinath are the cremation ghats that line the banks of the Bagmati River. There are six cremation altars along the river which means that there is almost a cremation taking place - watching these ceremonies is a little ghoulish (a bit like going to a stranger's funeral), but they are very interesting and provided that you stay a respectful distance away and keep quiet the families don't seem to mind.
The most disturbing thing is that the river, although it is holy like the Ganges in India, is absolutely filled with filth and rubbish in addition to the remains of the dead that are swept into the river following the cremation. Why you would go to all the trouble of
cremating your loved ones, only to sweep their earthly remains into a polluted stream I don't know - tradition is a powerful thing.
The second time we visited Pashupatinath (which was right before we left Nepal), it was a few days before Shiva's birthday and there were hundreds of Sadhus gathered around the temple grounds that had walked from as far away as India in some cases. These strangely dressed and brightly painted figures, with their matted, dirty hair and bare feet were the very picture of wandering holy men; in addition many of them were completely stoned (obviously broadening their minds to better connect with the universe).
Then it was off to the medieval Newari town of Bhaktapur where we got to witness one of the most interesting things in our trip to date - a blood sacrifice!! There is a Hindu tradition that when a young boy reaches a certain age (I think it's about 10 or 11) there is a big family gathering where a number of ceremonies take place, culminating in the sacrifice of a buffalo on the temple altar. Luckily for us, we happened to be walking through the medieval streets of the
Last Respects
This lady pays her last respects at Pashupatinath cremation ghats, Nepal village and happened to see one of theses ritual slaughters in progress - while it was not necessarily for the faint of heart (there was blood everywhere) it was a great photo opportunity and not something you see everyday in most Western countries........ :-)
Our last two stops in the Kathmandu Valley occurred after our return to Kathmandu from Chitwan, so I'm going to step out of chronological order here and we'll get back to Chitwan and Pokhara in another entry. The third of the three Kathmandu Valley Kingdoms, Patan, is the oldest and also has a higher concentration of temples and stupas per square metre than either Kathmandu or Bhaktapur; as such spending a couple of hours wandering around is worthwhile just to see all the different architecture the city has to offer. The high point for me was the Golden Temple as after looking around in the courtyard admiring the monkey statues, prayer wheels and altars we wandered upstairs to the monastery where a buddhist ceremony was taking place and the monks kindly allowed us to sit down and observe them as they went through their chants and mantras.
The final place we visited in the
Kathmandu Valley was Bodhnath or Boudha, home to one of the world's largest stupas as well as a large population of Tibetan exiles. As such, the area is full of buddhist monks and it's a great place to get a feel for what Tibet was like prior to it's transition to China. While there, we had lunch at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the massive stupa (built around 600 A.D and supposedly containing a piece of Buddha's bone), walked around several levels of the stupa with the locals and monks watching as they spun the prayer wheels and muttered their mantras and called into a Tibetan monastery where I chatted with a foreign monk and got to sit and observe them chanting their devotions amidst the banging of drums. All in all, Bodhnath was an awesome place and I'd highly recommend it to anyone traveling to Nepal.
Leaving the Kathmandu Valley behind, we headed for the charming, if somewhat touristy village of Pokhara, the jumping off point for our three day trek in the foothills of the Himalayas!!
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Craig Goldsmith
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Fantastic Dan
Wow, amazing photos some of my favourite from your trip so far, some many interesting things going on, love them! Looking forward to catching up for a beer soon!