2012_10_31 Kathmandu City Day

Spoiler alert.  I tried to type a bit about this yesterday and saved it to load when I had access.  Here it it after the fact:

Got a little more sleep last night I was pretty tired by the end of yesterday. Went down to the business center and got a solution for the power connections.  The adaptors they gave us in the room was too "loose" and would not keep a good connection.  The fellow in charge had maintenance bring me a power strip that lays flat and "hello" stuff is powering again.  I may look for one of these power strips in town later today or see if they will let me borrow it until we return to the Hyatt at the end of the trek.  

I went out on the veranda to see exactly where the famous Bodhnath stupa is and it really is only a 10 minute walk from here.  A stupa is what we would know as a temple.  The guide book says they the Bodnath stupa is Asia's largest and is center of Nepal's Tibetan community.  Rich told us you go out the "back gate" from the hotel grounds and make a couple of turns and you are there.  I took a few images BUT (there is always a but) the view from the hotel towards the stupa is directly to the east.  This of course is exactly the wrong light.  We leave pretty early tomorrow morning for the airport but I think I may try to get over to the stupa as the sun rises.  We'll see……  Failing that there is always the last day before we fly home.  This WILL happen!

We only had to get up at 7:15 this morning .  That meant Connie and I were supposed to be up at 7:15 but I was out walking around as is my usual way.  It's a little chilly in the morning - a flannel shirt did me quite well.  By the time I got the power strip and got back to the room Connie was up and about.  Moving around some stuff from bag to bag in the room in preparation for the trek.  Having a nice cup of tea as I write this as well.  We're supposed to meet up for breakfast by the pool at 8:00 sharp.

Here's a few images:

Elena and Sree.  Sree would be our guide for the day and Elena was Rich's contact for all activities in Kathmandu

Stupa along the way to Bhaktapur Square

Bhaktapur Durbar Square

Entrance street into Bhaktapur

Gate entrance to Bhaktapur from inside

I love the doors

Doors are made small so you lower your head before Buddha

Street scene with lady hanging out wash to dry on rooftop

Connie said "You have to shoot this with your camera".  She was right!

Dude!  Luis, Paul and Chio with a neighborhood eccentric?

 
Square with one of those tractor vehicles

Woman sorting out rice or grain

Here's a close up of the grain

Temple guard dogs

One on MANY temples

Courtyard 

There is a guy crouching under that umbrella selling something!  Click on the image to have a better look.  Seems like the other guy is taking a closeup image.

Paul shopping?  Or just looking?

Entering ceramics area

We had lunch on the second floor of an old building facing this square

Lunch - The other table.  We were at the kids table!

Kid's table - R. Rediker image

Temple from window of restaurant

Wood carvings holding up roof of restaurant

Nepali flag from the restaurant.  The Nepali flag is the only flag in the world that is not rectangularly shaped.  It is made to look like mountains.

Over doorway to another temple

Leaving Bhaktapur - heading for bus to go to Kathmandu Durbar Square - in another area of Kathmandu

Bus dropped us off here and we walked across this bridge.  Then about a half mile to another Durbar Square

Kathmandu Durbar Square

Kathmandu Durbar Square, or Basantapur Durbar Square is the plaza in front of the old royal palace of the Kathmandu Kingdom. It is one of three Durbar Squares in the Kathmandu Valleyin Nepal, all of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Entering the square

 This is one of the new additions (around 1900)

Even the wide angle lens couldn't capture it all.

We rushed over to this temple where twice a day a young girl appears in a window above in a small courtyard.  It was continually stressed that no pictures could be taken.

Here we are in the courtyard and Sree is trying to explain how lucky were were to see this young girl.  She eventually appeared at the appointed time and looked out at us for about a minute.  I guess we were supposed to be honored to have seen her.

At the southern end of Durbar Square is one of the most curious attractions in Nepal, the Kumari Chowk. This gilded cage contains the Raj Kumari, a young girl chosen through an ancient and mystical selection process to become the human incarnation of the Hindu mother goddess, Durga.

O.K.

Carvings inside the courtyard.  The pigeons are not impressed!

Some more temples and then back to the bus

Cows everywhere.  Even in line to see a temple?


Swayambhunath Temple - The Monkey Temple 

Back into the bus for transport to the Monkey Stupa.  We got there for the sunset and the views were probably pretty good as it's way up on a hill.  We got there just a little late so it was already pretty dark. We climbed up to the very top and then back down again.  We spent way more time at Bhaktapur Durbar than either of the other two.

At the bottom of the hill

Monkeys all around

At the top

This is at the end of the day at the "Monkey Stupa" just before sunset.  Way up on the top of a hill with pretty spectacular views of the Kathmandu Valley.  Called the Monkey Stupa for the hundreds if not thousands of monkeys that live there.  Pretty eerie - at the end as we were walking down from the top all the monkeys were running back up the stairs right past us to go to sleep in the trees.  Pretty sweet!  You can see some of the prayer flags and the Buddha eyes on the stupa.  There are always Buddha eyes facing to the four directions on a stupa.  The Buddhists believe that Buddha is always watching you!  So straighten up and fly right as my Dad used to say!