Kathmandu 3

I said there was a lot to see in Kathmandu.  Here we are at the fourth World Heritage Site, Durbar Square.  There are basically two parts to the area, the outer one that has many Hindu temples and the inner one that is the royal palace.  As usual there are lots of tourist shops and hawkers with their wares spread out on blankets on the square.

The architectural style of the royal palace and some other buildings is more Chinese or "pagoda" style.  The buildings were built between the 12th and 19th centuries and the main palace (most of the left side of the square) was occupied by the kings of Nepal until mid 20th century.

Like so many buildings in india, the wood carving on the windows and doors is just incredible, especially when you consider that much of it is done in teak, an exceptionally hard wood.

The main god of the external shrines is to Shiva the destroyer and is, as you can see, black.  Another important statue in the palace complex is of Hanuman who is portrayed as a monkey.  Unfortunately they cover most of the statue with robes so you can't see much.

I climbed the 9 stories to get the view from the top of the palace.  A "no photo" zone had a collection of 16th and 17th century temple carvings that were beautiful.  Again, there were so many temples and courtyards that it is hard to do justice to the area.

On the way to Durbar Square we got stuck in a huge traffic jam.  Thousands of people were crowded around the fence to the National Palace parade grounds where they were celebrating a festival  by having horse races.  This is the Kathmandu version of the Green Monster.