March 24, Saturday
I was awake early because I had heard dogs barking off and on all night, but I managed to fall back to sleep until 8:30. Got up and went downstairs to find a beautiful courtyard / patio where breakfast, lunch and dinner are served. While I was having breakfast, the hotel “travel agent” came to my table to introduce himself. I had mentioned when I checked in that I was interested in a city tour today.
Nepal: Small country north of India where elevations vary from only 60 meters above sea level to the towering elevations of Mount Everest at 8,848 meters; all within a 150km distance. The weather goes from subtropical to Arctic in a matter of hours.
Kathmandu, Capital of Nepal, approx 1 million inhabitants, but it is actually larger than that if you include Lalitpur (Patan) to the south and Bhaktapur to the east. (Something like Orleans and Kanata used to be before the amalgamation to Ottawa.) At 1,400 meters altitude I did not need any of my altitude pills; strange, I always thought that it was in the Himalayas, but it is actually in a valley in its foothills.
Kathmandu street views
Gate at the bottom of the hill for pedestrians to walk up to Swayambhunath Stupa.
We started off with the “Monkey Palace” formally known asSwayambhunath Stupa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Yes, there were “holy monkeys” everywhere, but thankfully if you don’t approach them, they don’t approach you. “The 2,500 year old monument is a holy site replete with symbols. The mound represents the four elements of earth, fire, wind and water. The 13 gilded rings of the spire symbolize the 13 steps of the ladder leading to Nirvana, the final salvation. The shrine is bedecked in colorful prayer flags. Pilgrims and tourists pass to Swayambhunath's holy premises through a path of 365 steps.
This is a huge complex situated on the top of a big hill within the western section of Kathmandu. Some people were actually walking up from the city street level. Thankfully I was driven to the top, but would probably have enjoyed walking back down the 365 (supposedly) step staircase in a beautiful park setting. As time was limited, my driver acted as my guide and walked me through the top of the mountain site.
Near the entrance, the smaller stupas
Some of the "holy" monkeys
The first sitting Buddha on the site.
And another
And quite a few smaller ones
The main stupa and its entrance, called the Golden Temple. Painted eyes on four sides of Buddhist Stupas =“All seeing Buddha”
The entire site is packed with statues, shrines and temples
This is the walkway from the bottom of the hill to the top.
There were prayer wheels everywhere in the main portion of the site. As you walk in front of them you touch them with your hand to make them spin. There are quiet ones however.
This is the large stupa again, and the cone on the head is in horizontal strips. You really have to see if from further away to see the full effect. The largest stupa (renovated in 2010) is the star attraction with “Buddha's eyes and eyebrows painted on. Eyes of wisdom and compassion.” This is one of the oldest religious sites in Nepal, founded in 464-504 CE. They use a different calendar than ours so I had to do some research to figure out how old by our calendar, about 2000 years. Although it is mostly a Buddhist site, it is also revered by Hindus. 
Does this shape look familiar? It has some hindu influence.
Gold standards to go with the Golden Temple
More prayer wheels and a fancy lion / dragon guarding them.
Views of Kathmandu from the top of the hill
A patient little boy sitting beside his mother
Statues within the museum
A lying Buddha in the museum
The Golden Pheasant on top of a column
Beautifully decorated header on top of the door to the golden shrine
Zoom on the details of the door
More decorative details
And a zoom on the monkeys playing on the golden shrine
Everywhere you look, there is a small hidden gem. The bigger of these two statues is only about 8" tall.
The entrance to the museum
Just monkeying around !
Down one part of the hill and up the other, looking back at the smaller stupas
And a lot of prayer flags everywhere
Another section of the hill with even more small stupas... and monkeys
Views of Kathmandu from the other side of the hill
More lions guarding another temple
He's whispering sweet nothings in my ear
This is the temple the lions are guarding... because obviously the dog isn't doing its job !
From the other side of the hill, I had a great view of the Swayambhunath Stupa and now you can see the details of the horizontal stripes on the top of it.
Almost back down to the car
Check out the eyes on this monkey; it has a haunted look
From there, we drove partway down the mountain and stopped at Buddha Park that appeared to be fairly new though I could not find any information about when it was actually built.
On the way down hill
Buddha Park and its huge statues. If you look carefully at the base of the Buddha statue in the middle, you will see that there are people standing there. Gives you a bit of perspective about the size of these statues.
Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara) “is the Bodhisattva of Compassion. A bodhisattva is an enlightened being who has decided to delay becoming a fully enlightened Buddha and who lives in a compassionate spirit life for the sake of all beings. He has taken vows to save all beings. With a mantra, Om mani padme hum! (Hail the jewel in the lotus), he tirelessly attempts to deliver all beings from suffering.”
Buddha
Guru Rinpoche, the second Buddha, or Precious Master, or Lotus Guru (Padmasambhava) is the founder of Buddhism in Tibet (640 – 842 CE)
One of the details at the base of each of the three statues.
At the back of the three statues are shrines. Note the golden grill at the top.
This is what's inside. Another Buddha.
And yet another detail of the bases holding up the statues
Giant Prayer Wheel
Details on a miniature mountain
The back of the Chenrezig statue. Check out the gilded belt on his waist, and the decoration under the sauce he sits in.
Leaving Buddha Park through its gate
This is the gate at the bottom of the hill to walk up to Swayambhunath Stupa
Streets of Kathmandu. Check out the wooden house here. It looks like a boat.
Trilokya Mohan Narayan Temple
New newer portions of the old Durbar Palace
Some of the statues in the square
Beautifully carved wooden doors
A portion of Durbar Square
Bagmati Sacred River where cremations are carried out on this ghat. There are actually two bodies on the other side of the river, being prepared for cremation.
Looking across the river at the Golden Temple and other shrines. Huge crowds here as well since an important person was being prepared for cremation.
Entrance to the Golden Temple. This is as close as I could get.
Since non-Hindus are not allowed within the temple itself, my guide led me to an elevated area where I could sneak a peek down at the beautiful gold temple and statues within.
Taking a peek into the inner courtyard of the temple
Beautiful golden bull within the temple. Check out the hug beads around the bulls hump.
My first look at the Boudhanath Stupa
The streets surrounding the Stupa
A closer look at the "all seeing eyes"
Another huge prayer wheel in one of the buildings surrounding the stupa
The main staircase leading up to the terrace roof of the stupa
From the terrace roof of the stupa
Looking back at the entrance gate to the area
Tiny little child looking at the pigeons. He / she was mesmorized.
Boudhanath Stupa
A thick layer of whitewash covers the stupa and you can actually walk on its upper terrace. Buddhists walk around the stupa in a clockwise direction while praying, at dawn and at dusk.
By 4 pm I was back at the Blue Horizon Hotel, ready for a very late lunch / very early dinner. I ordered a vegetarian quesadilla which was absolutely marvelous; a combination of lentils, carrots, onions, green peppers, tomatoes and god knows what else, all finely diced into a thick mixture. Quite delicious.
I was supposed to make an early night of it since I have to get up at about 4 am tomorrow to drive out of the city and see the sun rise over the Himalayas. I ended up watching TV until past 11 because I could not sleep.
I was awake early because I had heard dogs barking off and on all night, but I managed to fall back to sleep until 8:30. Got up and went downstairs to find a beautiful courtyard / patio where breakfast, lunch and dinner are served. While I was having breakfast, the hotel “travel agent” came to my table to introduce himself. I had mentioned when I checked in that I was interested in a city tour today.
Nepal: Small country north of India where elevations vary from only 60 meters above sea level to the towering elevations of Mount Everest at 8,848 meters; all within a 150km distance. The weather goes from subtropical to Arctic in a matter of hours.
Kathmandu, Capital of Nepal, approx 1 million inhabitants, but it is actually larger than that if you include Lalitpur (Patan) to the south and Bhaktapur to the east. (Something like Orleans and Kanata used to be before the amalgamation to Ottawa.) At 1,400 meters altitude I did not need any of my altitude pills; strange, I always thought that it was in the Himalayas, but it is actually in a valley in its foothills.
By 9:30 I was off with the same driver who picked me up at the airport yesterday. We were going to visit a series of Hindu & Buddhist temples as well as the historic part of the city centre.
Kathmandu street views
Gate at the bottom of the hill for pedestrians to walk up to Swayambhunath Stupa.
We started off with the “Monkey Palace” formally known asSwayambhunath Stupa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Yes, there were “holy monkeys” everywhere, but thankfully if you don’t approach them, they don’t approach you. “The 2,500 year old monument is a holy site replete with symbols. The mound represents the four elements of earth, fire, wind and water. The 13 gilded rings of the spire symbolize the 13 steps of the ladder leading to Nirvana, the final salvation. The shrine is bedecked in colorful prayer flags. Pilgrims and tourists pass to Swayambhunath's holy premises through a path of 365 steps.
Near the entrance, the smaller stupas
Some of the "holy" monkeys
All the stone work is elaborately carved
The first sitting Buddha on the site.
And another
And quite a few smaller ones
The entire site is packed with statues, shrines and temples
This is the walkway from the bottom of the hill to the top.
There were prayer wheels everywhere in the main portion of the site. As you walk in front of them you touch them with your hand to make them spin. There are quiet ones however.
Gold standards to go with the Golden Temple
More prayer wheels and a fancy lion / dragon guarding them.
Views of Kathmandu from the top of the hill
A patient little boy sitting beside his mother
Statues within the museum
A lying Buddha in the museum
The Golden Pheasant on top of a column
Beautifully decorated header on top of the door to the golden shrine
Zoom on the details of the door
More decorative details
And a zoom on the monkeys playing on the golden shrine
Everywhere you look, there is a small hidden gem. The bigger of these two statues is only about 8" tall.
The entrance to the museum
Just monkeying around !
Down one part of the hill and up the other, looking back at the smaller stupas
And a lot of prayer flags everywhere
Another section of the hill with even more small stupas... and monkeys
Views of Kathmandu from the other side of the hill
More lions guarding another temple
He's whispering sweet nothings in my ear
This is the temple the lions are guarding... because obviously the dog isn't doing its job !
From the other side of the hill, I had a great view of the Swayambhunath Stupa and now you can see the details of the horizontal stripes on the top of it.
Almost back down to the car
Check out the eyes on this monkey; it has a haunted look
From there, we drove partway down the mountain and stopped at Buddha Park that appeared to be fairly new though I could not find any information about when it was actually built.
On the way down hill
Buddha Park and its huge statues. If you look carefully at the base of the Buddha statue in the middle, you will see that there are people standing there. Gives you a bit of perspective about the size of these statues.
Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara) “is the Bodhisattva of Compassion. A bodhisattva is an enlightened being who has decided to delay becoming a fully enlightened Buddha and who lives in a compassionate spirit life for the sake of all beings. He has taken vows to save all beings. With a mantra, Om mani padme hum! (Hail the jewel in the lotus), he tirelessly attempts to deliver all beings from suffering.”
Buddha
Guru Rinpoche, the second Buddha, or Precious Master, or Lotus Guru (Padmasambhava) is the founder of Buddhism in Tibet (640 – 842 CE)
One of the details at the base of each of the three statues.
At the back of the three statues are shrines. Note the golden grill at the top.
This is what's inside. Another Buddha.
And yet another detail of the bases holding up the statues
Giant Prayer Wheel
Details on a miniature mountain
The back of the Chenrezig statue. Check out the gilded belt on his waist, and the decoration under the sauce he sits in.
Leaving Buddha Park through its gate
This is the gate at the bottom of the hill to walk up to Swayambhunath Stupa
We then drove towards downtown Kathmandu’s historical area known as Durbar Square. Since parking is limited in that area, the driver parked the car on one side of the Vishnumati River and we walked across the bridge to get there.
Garbage is dumped on the river side. Have these people not heard about WATER POLUTION ! The smell was probably the worst in the more than 7 months that I've been travelling. I actually had to block my nose and breathe through my mouth.
Durbar Square (Hanuman-dhoka) is also a World Heritage Site and contains some 40 different historical temples, shrines, buildings and statues. It is also where the old King’s Palace is located; a series of buildings built from the 1700s to 1908. The palace is now a museum, but photos were not allowed inside; too bad because I climbed up the 9 story Basantapur Durbar (built in 1770 all in wood !) and the views of the old downtown area was impressive to see from up there.
One of the water wells. Locals come and fill up there containers with water for their households. No running water in these homes.
Streets of Kathmandu. Check out the wooden house here. It looks like a boat.
Trilokya Mohan Narayan Temple
New newer portions of the old Durbar Palace
Some of the statues in the square
Beautifully carved wooden doors
A portion of Durbar Square
Chyasin Dega (1649)
The entrance gate to the Hanuman Palace
Within the courtyard of the palace. Old portion all in wood(1770). Newer portion (1908) in brick covered with stucco.
A closer look at the older portion of the 9 story building.
Beautiful Dragon statue guarding one of the doors of the inner courtyard
Another entrance to the palace, but this one was closed
Every temple, statue, building made of wood has intricately carved details on it. Beautiful artistic work.
Durbar Square
The palace buildings as seen from the street. (New palace and old)
Details on the older portion of Hanuman Palace
After about 2 hours, we moved on to the southern part of the city (Lalitpur area) to visit the Patan Buddhist temple complex where the Golden Temple is located (?12th century?).
“The city was founded in the 3rd century by King Veera Dev and has the distinction of being the home of the finest Newari craft. The finest Hindu and Buddhist monuments are scattered around but the most important monuments are in the square or close by. Other features like the Golden window, the royal bath of Sundaru Chowk, the Taleju Temple, and Keshab Narayan Chowk are worth visiting. The four stupas, located in the four cardinal directions, were erected by Indian Emperor Ashoka the Great.”
There were many temples within the Patan area
Building of brick with beautiful carved wood
Everywhere you looked and saw something made of wood, it was always intricately carved.
Many huge temples all in a row
Decoration on top of one of the roofs
I only did a quick walk around here because there was some type of official gathering, people talking on a loud speaker, and huge crowds. My driver for the day speaks very little English and I can only catch one word here and there of what he is trying to tell me. I actually think he is speaking to me in Hindi half the time, but he is very nice and smiles a lot.
On the way back to the car, we stopped of at a museum / temple, that led to a courtyard
Entrance to the temple museum
Buddha in the courtyard
Back in the museum, a little girl and an apprentice were singing
The temple / museum
From there we drove north east to Pashupati Nath, a Hindu Temple complex where they perform cremations on a daily basis. This one is on a hill as well, so there was a lot of climbing and descending huge staircases. “Pashupati Nath is considered one of the holiest shrines of all the Hindu temples. It is 6km east of downtown Kathmandu. The temple has remained the presiding deity of ruling Nepalese Royalty. The two tier magnificent golden temple, with four triple silver doorways, is a unique example of the Nepalese temple architecture. It is one of the largest Hindu temple complexes in South-Asia with hundreds of Shiva Lingam shrines and icons Hindu Gods and Goddesses. The temple is spread out over a large area. The main entrance, for Hindu people only, is on the western side. Tourists may peak inside, or go on the other side of the river to have a glimpse of the temple complex from above.
The entrance gate to the Hanuman Palace
Within the courtyard of the palace. Old portion all in wood(1770). Newer portion (1908) in brick covered with stucco.
A closer look at the older portion of the 9 story building.
Another entrance to the palace, but this one was closed
Every temple, statue, building made of wood has intricately carved details on it. Beautiful artistic work.
Durbar Square
The palace buildings as seen from the street. (New palace and old)
Details on the older portion of Hanuman Palace
After about 2 hours, we moved on to the southern part of the city (Lalitpur area) to visit the Patan Buddhist temple complex where the Golden Temple is located (?12th century?).
There were many temples within the Patan area
Building of brick with beautiful carved wood
Everywhere you looked and saw something made of wood, it was always intricately carved.
Many huge temples all in a row
Decoration on top of one of the roofs
I only did a quick walk around here because there was some type of official gathering, people talking on a loud speaker, and huge crowds. My driver for the day speaks very little English and I can only catch one word here and there of what he is trying to tell me. I actually think he is speaking to me in Hindi half the time, but he is very nice and smiles a lot.
On the way back to the car, we stopped of at a museum / temple, that led to a courtyard
Entrance to the temple museum
Buddha in the courtyard
Back in the museum, a little girl and an apprentice were singing
The temple / museum
Bagmati Sacred River where cremations are carried out on this ghat. There are actually two bodies on the other side of the river, being prepared for cremation.
Looking across the river at the Golden Temple and other shrines. Huge crowds here as well since an important person was being prepared for cremation.
Entrance to the Golden Temple. This is as close as I could get.
Since non-Hindus are not allowed within the temple itself, my guide led me to an elevated area where I could sneak a peek down at the beautiful gold temple and statues within.
Taking a peek into the inner courtyard of the temple
Beautiful golden bull within the temple. Check out the hug beads around the bulls hump.
We were climbing up hill to reach the highest temple and were only about half way there when I told my driver/guide/escort that I could not climb the rest of the way. He didn’t seem to understand what I was saying until I pointed up hill shaking my head “NO” then pointed back down the hill and said “GO BACK TO CAR”. It was a good thing because when I caught a look at myself in the car mirror my face was very red from the exertion. I must have downed an entire litre of water today.
It was only a short drive to continue to the “pièce de résistance” which is the Boudhanath Stupa World Heritage Site. “It is the largest stupa in Nepal and the holiest Tibetan Buddhist temple outside Tibet. What Mecca is to the Muslims, this Boudhanath Stupa is for Tibetan Buddhists. Every year thousands of pilgrims flock here from all over the Himalayan region. Since the arrival of Tibetan refugees in the 60s, this area has grown into a big city. Boudhanath = Lord of Wisdom, also known as Boudha Bhagawan = Lord Buddha. It has since become one of the most significant objects of worship in the Buddhist universe”. “One of the oldest and the biggest Buddhist monument ever built in the Himalayan Kingdom it is 36m in height. The stupa is unique with its three level, mandala style platforms. The structural features of the stupa are somewhat similar to the Swayambhunath stupa. One lap of the stupa is approximately 150 meters.”
My first look at the Boudhanath Stupa
The streets surrounding the Stupa
A closer look at the "all seeing eyes"
Another huge prayer wheel in one of the buildings surrounding the stupa
The main staircase leading up to the terrace roof of the stupa
From the terrace roof of the stupa
Looking back at the entrance gate to the area
Tiny little child looking at the pigeons. He / she was mesmorized.
A thick layer of whitewash covers the stupa and you can actually walk on its upper terrace. Buddhists walk around the stupa in a clockwise direction while praying, at dawn and at dusk.
By 4 pm I was back at the Blue Horizon Hotel, ready for a very late lunch / very early dinner. I ordered a vegetarian quesadilla which was absolutely marvelous; a combination of lentils, carrots, onions, green peppers, tomatoes and god knows what else, all finely diced into a thick mixture. Quite delicious.
I was supposed to make an early night of it since I have to get up at about 4 am tomorrow to drive out of the city and see the sun rise over the Himalayas. I ended up watching TV until past 11 because I could not sleep.
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