Kathmandu 1

Kathmandu

As our plane approached Kathmandu we could see the show covered Himalayas touching the clouds in the distance and the grey-brown haze covering the rest of the country below.  Due to the continuation of old fossil fuel use (burning wood or cow dung for cooking fires) and the exhaust of millions of autos, trucks and motor cycles,  the Kathmandu valley, Delhi and other large cities in India have significant air pollution. We seem to be surviving with only an occasional scratchy throat. More annoying is that it blocks out any view of the Himalays.

After we collected our luggage at Kathmandu Airport we went outside to look for our driver.  We saw the "Steve & Eva" sign and made our way to a young man who guided us to a rather beat up, small, old Suzuki sedan that, as we soon found out, had no AC.  It was far cry from the nice Toyota mini-van that we were accustomed to in India.   The roads matched the car, lots of pot holes and a stretch of dirt road (under construction we assume) right in the center of town.  

The Hotel Buddha is also rather run down, with an air conditioner that is more effective as background noise to cover the dogs, motor bikes and honkng on the street below than it is as a means of cooling the room.  It doesn't matter too much because much of the day the city is without power.  Makes one think of what it must be like to live in Iraq, Afghanistan or other countries where power is intermittent.   

It's clear that many foreign tourists are one-nighters in Kathmandu on their way to trekking.  Lots of huge duffle bags piled in the lobby in the morning.  Streets here in Thamel, the main "tourist" area of the city, are as narrow as the bazaars in India, so we do lots of dodging vehicles. In addition to the usual trinket and local handicraft shops there are lots of mountain gear shops along with the wool sweater/cap shops and knife shops where some fierce looking weapons are displayed.  Oddly, the city is much more international in many ways than Indian cities were.  This is  due partly to its importance as the base for Everest and other Himalayan climbing and trekking expeditions that attract climbers from around the world.  There are numerous French and German bakeries, a Northfield Cafe that has a menu including Mexican, Indian and Continental food.  Out the window at night we can hear live music from bars with some pretty impressive cover bands.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the air conditioner is irrelevant much of the time because of electrical outages.  It seems it is out most of the day.  It came on last night as we were having dinner at a nice Thai restaurant and stayed on until about 3:30 am.  However, I can get wifi so what am I complaining about.  Somehow we made it through the night and were rewarded with some wondrous sights.  Each of them had so much detail that I would recommend looking them up to get more background and videos or pics. 

First was Swayambunath, .  It is a Buddhist temple that incorporates some Hindu iconography. Along with the other Buddhist temple we visited and the two Hindu sites, it is part of a Unesco World Heritage Site.  It is known as the "Monkey Temple" for obvious reasons.  Yes just like the tourists, they like cotton candy.  

The monasteries adjacent to the stupa are open for prayer with a resident monk or lama leading a chant or mantra.  

Ghee (clarified butter) lights are part of the prayer process, similar to lighting candles in catholic churches, but here you can light 108 of them for full impact as that number has special significance for Buddhists. Around the main stupa there are also 108 prayer wheels that people spin as they walk around the stupa clockwise.

The second visit was to the Great Stupa at Boudhanath.  This one measures over 120 feet in diameter.  Monasteries are interspersed with tourist shops, some of which sell very intricate mandalas that are used for meditation.  The monasteries have incredible paintings and statues of Buddha inside.

The great stupa is so impressive and massive.  We walked around both on the ground level where the 108 prayer wheels are and on the next level where you circle the base.  Even the wind in the prayer flags added to the experience.

 It's difficult to see, but the "all seeing" eyes on the top portion of the stupa are blue.

The two Hindu temple areas that we visited will be included in tomorrow's blog as we have an early start tomorrow.