Our first full day in Nepal is almost at an end – we’ll spend the rest of the evening just chilling in the hotel chatting about the day and playing cards (Joanna and I intend on teaching Chuli and Suzi how to play ‘spoons’!)
Today has been a fascinating day, a fun day, a busy day, a beautiful day!
It has been a touristy day – we went to see some of the major tourist attractions in Nepal – we start meeting some of the local Christians and their projects tomorrow.
We started at Bhaktapur, an ancient city to the east of Kathmandu. the jeep journey there was….interesting? We often complain about potholes in the UK, but we’ve got nothing on the nepalese roads! At one point Joanna actually left the seat because of the force of the bump (back seat passengers do not have the luxury of having a seatbelt!). The city itself is a beautiful place, there a mountains just next to it that tower over it covered in lush green trees, the smell of incense and spices permeates the air. It is a very small, narrow streeted (I know thats not a word!) city, but it doesn’t feel crowded at all! It has a very relaxed atmosphere about the place – when we were having lunch (apparently at an expensive place, but it was only £23 for 5 people to have lunch and drinks!) we all wanted to stay. Try and picture the scene, we on the balcony of the 3rd story of a resturant, there is Hindu music playing from a local shop and the quiet murmur coming from people walking underneath and the occasional truck or bike tooting their horn. To the right of us is a narrow street with some vendors selling their wares in front of a temple, to the left there is a big open square with temples on 2 sides, shops on another and our resturant on another. In front of us their is a street winding its way away from us going deeper into the city. All the building are ‘rustic’ looking – wooden shutters, red tiles, red bricks, and over the top of the far away buildings we can see the foothills of the himalayas. Gorgeous, just gorgeous!
After Bhaktapur, we went to a Hindu crematory on the banks of the Bagmati river. This was an interesting, if slightly strange, visit. Watching families cremate their loved ones as we watch from a distance, ashes being swept into a ‘river’ where little water actually runs – it is blocked by human waste of all kind and mounds of earth that make it more of a stream, and a random cow having a nap under neath the cremation platforms. It was an interesting place though – learning who is allowed to be cremated (pregnant women, children nder 6 months and Holy men are buried rather than cremated). Learning where people come from to be created – bodies are flown in from around the world to be cremated here. It was also interesting to hear their approach to death – they are born naked, so they are cremated naked (wrapped in a cloth) and the see the cremation (or burial) as a giving back of the elements the body is made of to the earth. We met some very friendly Hindu holy men while were there, a very relaxed and reflective group of men!
We also went to the Monkey Temple – we knew it was high up, but didn’t realise that you had to climb 365 steps before you got to the top, not just 365 steps, but 365 very steep steps! The top reminded me of my trip to the Holy Land in November 2008, a religious site covered in Gold plated religious artifacts and the smell of incense being very over-riding. The view from the temple at the top was incredible – a fantastic panoram of the Kathmandu valley and of many high Himalayan foothills – we were scoffed at by Bibin, our guide for the day, for calling them mountains – despite them being 2-3 times the size of the highest mountian in the UK!
We were able to enjoy some Lassi with our dinner, a sweet Banana milk drink – it tastes quite like the yoghurt in this Muller Corner. we also had some Momo, little packets of meat in a lovely pastry case, simply gorgeous!
As those of you who know me would expect, I have been busy documenting our day in photos as well as words. This country is such an incredible place, i haven’t felt this at ease and safe in a city since I was in Jerusalem, it is such a spiritual place – and people are not afraid to talk about spiritual matters! Something we could learn from in Western countries!
One thing that made me laugh today – on the back of many trucks driving on the crazy roads, they have painted the words ‘Good Luck’ on their rear bumper – very fitting I thought……
Hi, Joanna here. Just a quick message because I’m shattered after such a busy day. Spoons may have to wait, alas.
As Chris said, today was Bhaktapur, Pashupatinath, and the monkey temple. Bhaktapur was odd – it was such a quick visit that I didn’t really have time to process what I was seeing. It is definitely a place that would require a longer trip to fully appreciate. We went up the first level of what Lonely Planet describes as the highest temple in Nepal. Sadly we did not have time to visit the naughty elephants temple.
Pashupatinath was frankly weird. The smell was more smoke than BBQ, but the arm with its fingers burnt off dangling off the pyre was rather offputting. The Sadhus (holy men) really just sat there and had their pictures taken. I assume they do holy stuff when the visitors aren’t around! It was, however, a fascinating glimpse of a side of Hinduism that can’t really be experienced in the UK.
The stairs to Monkey Temple were challenging at time of the afternoon and in that heat, but the view was worth it, even with the dust/smog haze prevening us seeing the Himalayas. It was definitely interesting to see the Buddhist imagery and architecture. The monkeys were very used to visitors, so Chris got some lovely photos.
On the way from the restaurant were we had tea back to the hotel, we passed an enormous cart which Bibin said would be dragged through the streets. Slightly Wickerman-esque to look at, but a pillar rather than a body. We may go out tomorrow night to see if it and the associated ceremonies/celebrations are still there.
For those of you who are interested in such things, you may be pleased to know that none of us have upset stomachs yet!
Hello! So today was our first day and very busy. The weather was mega hot – which was lovely apart from when your climbing a lot of steps to get to a temple!! Which had monkeys – oh yeah they were so cute!! The old city of Bhaktapur was lovely – why would anyone want to ruin this?? It had a few temples – which seem to be everywhere here in Nepal – but are great to see them!!
At the monkey temple there was a great prayer thing – this rolers were built around the ‘monkey temple’ and people could walk past and role them – apparently whilst saying a prayer and ringing the bell at the end!! Was great – the rolers had lots of patterns and pictures which when rolled looked brill! 
Also another prayer thing that we have seen is the prayer banners – they have mainly sqaure shaped clothes with prayers on them and they hang them all around – in all temple places and even just hung up in houses – brilliant ideas and look great so maybe be taking them ideas home with me!!
So i will go – you heard most of our days events from Chris and Joanna – but i didn’t really like the crematory – just can’t get me head around the idea!! Anyways thanks for all the prayers! Hugs xx
hey, hey, I am blogging for the first time on Chris blog and I am not sure who in the world is going to read this, but I am on top of world both literally and symbolically. Chris has given you the highs and the lows of today, but I am still stuck in the crematorium near Kathmandu by the Bhagmati River. Seeing all those dead bodies lying in state (according the caste system) got me thinking about how life and death is openly visible here in Asia, whereas we do not talk about death in the UK. One sad part was that women were not there to mourn the death of their loved one. Anyway, much more at some point tomorrow – watch out for news about Yeti Airlines!!!
