One crazy City of Gods...

  Kathmandu Valley, Nepal
Friday, September 5, 2008

Today was our first day of getting into sightseeing, and boy what a way to get into it... We have heard more fancy names for 1 god and his many incarnations than we know how to remember, but do remember that there are 33 million Hindu gods!!! Not too bad for westerners.

We were driven around various parts of Kathmandu in peak hour traffic! Think terrible roads, more congestion than London, worse drivers than the Italians, not one air filter on any diesel car, and you are still nowhere close to what's going on here! We've had a four course meal of Diesel fumes served up with Knife and Fork.

Pashputinath Temple

Our first stop was Pashupathinath - a Hindu temple in Kathmandu near the airport. We were exposed to lepers, the learning disabled and holy men all begging. The various hand bag and bracelet sellers' favourite line was "only one dollar!" A good line in riposte is "Chai Dina!" which apparently means No Thank-you. In some cases it seems to do the trick. The temple itself was great, considering what we as westerners are allowed to see. We did get to see the various stages of a cremation - not in the correct order but hey! - from the opposite bank and were rather horrified, both by the spectacle, but more so by the various people taking photos. Our guide Sam managed to get Hindu basics into our brains but don't think we actually retained too much.

Backtipur Temple

From there we went to Bahktapur, which is the old Newari city just east of Kathmandu and rather spectacular. Buildings are all made of mud and brick, with intricate woodwork doors and windows. It felt quite medi-evil from our point of view with people probably living in the same state as 500 years ago. One stop in the town was the Dubar square where the royals resided. The one palace had 55 windows which we were told was one for each year the king who commissioned it lived.

In Backtipur durbar Square

From there we were driven back to the Tibetan refugee carpet making center. The work is very intricate and beautiful, with one carpet in particular, of Tibet which was spectacular. Unfortunately travelling for 6 months and living in a one bedroom flat doesn't call for a large Tibetan rug!

Buddinath Stupa

Our last stop was the Bouddhanath, the biggest Buddhist stupa in the world. It was very peaceful and with the prayer flags flapping in the breeze, it all adds up to a memorable place.

Once we got back to Thamel (Tourist spot in Kathmandu) we went trawling the stores for last minute trekking supplies - mostly cheap knock-off North Face clothing. Tomorrow morning we set off at 6:15 for the start of our great trek round the Annapurna Circuit. The next news you hear from us will be after 300km's of hiking and climbing to 5400m!!!