Kathmandu

We settled in Kathmandu for about one week.

Kathmandu was the city we really enjoyed being in. It is actually a total chaos. Streets in old city are narrow, noisy and full of sellers and local people who just try to kill the time, but something in the atmosphere of Kathmandu is special.
Why else Kathmandu was very popular getaway place among hippies in 1970s. Then it was possible to get a room on the Freak street for only few rupees (110 NRS= 1 EUR). Now hippy times are over and streets are full of western tourists and all kinds of facilities meant for them, but somehow it is still possible to imagine and feel how the "Golden age" could have looked like.

In general, Kathmandu is a cocktail of many different things, also when it comes to religion. Buddhism and Hinduism are happily co-existing there. There are even some temples that are visited by both - Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims.

Negative thing for many tourist might be the realization that if you want to go on the main historical square (Durbar square) of Kathmandu, you have to pay huge amount of money. The same applies also to historical Durbar square in Kathmandu's satelite town Patan, Huge Stupa on the square of Bouddha, hilltop Changu Naryan temple together with the old town and many more places in Kathmandu valley.

Positive thing, however, is that each of these places have an official entrance, but also unofficial entrance. It is not totally possible to isolate the city center from the rest of the city. So if you mix with locals, they might guide you into the attraction site from somewhere around the corner or through an inner courtyard and you can for free enjoy the wonderful Nepalese architecture or simply observe the everyday life of locals going by.

And if you happen to be caught by a security who asks your ticket, you might do just as we did, playing stupid tourist, who have just got to know that there exists such stupid regulation, according to which you have to have a ticket to enter to the main square, make a long face and walk away showing your disappointment.

















Freak street - hippie paradise in 70-ies

















just a small part of the main square in Kathmandu
















hard work
















street in Kathmandu
















street in Kathmandu in the evening after shops have been closed
















coconut seller
















harmonium maker's shop






























Stupas - Buddhist religious monuments, symbolizing meditating Buddha
























"holy man"
















side street of Kathmandu
















Stupa
















afternoon nap
















Every morning we heard small bells ringing through the hotel room window. Afterward we figured it out - Hindus are putting food for their gods and then ringing the bell so that god will know to come...























Flute seller. First price 25 EUR, last price 300 NRS (less than 3 EUR), real price probably even less...














one piece of the Durbar square in Patan


Quite a special atmosphere were in another Kathmandu satellite town Bouddha - huge stupa situated in the middle of the square. Tibetans praying, walking together clockwise (as it is in custom to walk around any Buddhist building) around the stupa and spinning the prayer mills.

Entrance to the square was again with the ticket that only tourists had to pay, but usually it is so that when there is no way then there is still some way. So we blended with the crowd of local people and got in for free. Later discovered that many side streets are without any check-point.


































Tibetan woman praying















Tibetan women in their traditional costumes and with praying beats

















praying mills



Another trip took us to small village Nagargot, at elevation of little more than 2000 m. Again the purpose was to see the magnificent view of the ceiling of the Earth. Unfortunately that day we had to go back to Kathmandu in the evening little bit disappointed since all we could see was a grey sky.

One night went by and next day we were full of enthusiasm again and decided to give it one more try. Drove all the way 30 km back to Nagargot, faced again the fearful bus ride up to the village, with overloaded bus, people also sitting on the roof and so stupidly only on one side of the bus, that during all the ride we were tilted towards the steep gorge. Second time however, we were wise enough to sit on the seats where we could not count cm-s trough the window between bus wheel and steep falling.

But nevertheless, all our effort was richly paid off.

As a bonus, we made a 5-6 km walk from Nagargot to see a famous hilltop Changu Narayan temple that is thought to be the oldest Hindu temple in Kathmandu valley, built around 4th century and dedicated to Lord Vishnu. The road from Nagargot to the temple was extremely beautiful, quite and peaceful, passing a small Nepalese village, that took us to a totally different world for a while.

To get into the temple and the surrounding small hilltop town, there is quite an expensive ticket again - only for foreign tourists (This discrimination we have for now met also in many interesting places all over India. Tourists are being seen as ATM-s, but what about homeless, unemployed travelers with limited budget, who just want to experience different cultures and open their mind ?? Well, that's another and long topic for argumentation).
That was the only ticket we bought while being in Kathmandu valley. Later we discovered a free entrance also to this place.



































































Vishnu temple



Inside Kathmandu there is another interesting temple - Swayambhunath, also known as the Monkey Temple. Although the site is considered Buddhist, it is equally worshiped by Buddhists and Hindus. By the way, we got to know that Buddha is also considered as one god in Hindu religion - reincarnation of Vishnu. However some say that when Buddhism started to thrive in India during the first millennium BC, Hinduism stayed more in the background. Thus announcing Buddha as incarnation of Vishnu, was a trick by Hindu priests to bring people back to Hinduism again.


Again a useful tip for Kathmandu valley travelers - Swayambhunath temple also costs something, but if you enter to the area from the side of 3 huge golden Buddha statutes, the entrance is for free.

First of all there are many DOGS in the "Monkey temple". Then there are many handicraft and souvenir sellers trying to attract you with all kinds of stuff and ruining the spiritual atmosphere.
Monkey clan only came to see if there is some action going on, when we were about to leave the place. And since there was no action going on, they fixed this problem easily and gave a nice show to all the spectators.















































































one monkey took over the souvenir selling work :-)


























Buddhist monks carrying out their ceremony:
































































Buddha eyes