Kathmandu II

Waking up to a morning in Nepal was something else, the chilly air seeping through our tiny room, yet it was still cozy with picture frames of the Buddha Eyes and Ganesha hanging on the walls.

Lisa wasn't a morning person so I jokingly urged her with a "Let's go?" just as she showed signs of waking. And off we went downstairs to get our breakfast: omelet, toast, honey, mango juice, and milk tea. A hearty meal. I was reading a pamphlet on Boudanath Stupa that I found tucked away on the lounge's book stands. This was where we were going first. A guy in Elbrus Home called us a taxi and off we went.

I found myself comparing the streets of Kathmandu to Dhaka, it was much cleaner here. That's for sure.

We were dropped right in front of Boudanath and our senses were immediately simulated all over. The scent of incense and spices wafted through the air. The sounds of bells, chimes, and chanting echo from afar. The sight of all the faithful and pilgrims circumambulating the stupa. Plus, the overall energy of this place was very much palpable. What a welcome to Nepal. It was at this moment that it really dawned on me, "I'm in Nepal."

There were a lot of shops selling Buddhist items and there were hundreds, if not thousands of pigeons all around, on the stupa, on the roof of the houses, and even on the ground itself. Lisa and I walked around the stupa, before going in further through a small entryway. We got to see some huge prayer wheels and some more tiny ones outside. The people had a strange way of praying here, doing a full-on prostration. Some people had towels on their hands to make their sliding and bowing much smoother and easier on the wooden boards. After we finished the inner circle, we also did another round around the outer perimeter of the stupa.

I also asked Lisa if she wanted to stop by the Shechen Monastery, as I really wanted to show her more Tibetan (Vajrayana) Buddhist aesthetics. It was on the way to our next destination, Pashupatinath Temple, so it was all good. We were lucky that we even found a park with a majestic statue of Guru Rinpoche at the center of a pond.

Shechen Monastery was absolutely breathtaking, to say the least. The architecture, colors, and symmetry got us completely mesmerized. While the monks were busy with their daily duties, we approached the temple entrance where the Four Heavenly Kings stood sentinel. The inside was just as extravagant with intricate idols of various Bodhisattvas and Buddhist deities.

I let Lisa lead us to Pashupatinath. It was interesting to see how the neighborhood shifted from Buddhist to Hindu, but throughout our walk, the smell of incense was around every corner which made exploring the roads of Kathmandu such a simulating and memorable experience. Soon, we ended up on the opposite side of the actual entrance so we followed the river around the temple complex to the main road where the crowd started to converge. Seems to be the right place. The smell of ganja flowed in the air as this was Shiva's domain now. We got our tickets and were immediately approached by some tour guides but this wasn't going to be the day. We explored a bit on our own but ended up getting snagged by another dude hanging below near a pond where a Shivling stood under an ancient tree. Flanked by both Gauri and Ganesha, we were taught about how to do a puja for them which was quite educational, to be honest, though I also felt like this was going in a direction we wanted to avoid as well. As we went upwards to get a better view of the main temple (which only Hindus are allowed to enter), we at least got to see a statue of Nandi, Shiva's bull, and some other parts of the temple.

The temple complex was huge, and indeed, it's one of the largest Hindu complexes in the world. It took us a while to explore every nook and cranny as much of the structures hugged a hill. We were able to see the cremations happening by the river, which induced a sense of introspection on the impermanence of life and reduced our attachments to materialism. Who is a better teacher than Death?

From the top, we started to head down the other side back to the first entrance where were first stumbled upon. We took a taxi to go to Kathmandu Durbar Square next, another Unesco World Heritage Site.

We decided to have lunch here first at one of the rooftop restaurants and I got the cottage cheese curry which was surprisingly good and filling and an Oreo milkshake which I couldn't resist getting. After our lunch, we took a look around the bazaar. I was looking for another bracelet to add to my collection but ended up getting some prayer wheels for some peepz back in Japan.

It seems like we were one of the only few tourists wearing the big ID to signify we paid for the tickets. There were plenty of other entrances around the area that don't have much security so I'm pretty sure we would have been able to just sneak past from one of the other entrances but hey, at least we were supporting the local economy by paying.

Kathmandu Durbar Square was even grander than both Boudanath and Pashupatinath, it was huge with both Buddhist and Hindu structures towering above each other, as if they were having a contest to see whose spire could first touch the sky. It seems like Mahakala, an epithet of Shiva, was a huge deity in this area. Doors with three eyes, and a giant black idol of Mahakala himself in the center square. There was a museum inside one of the buildings that goes into detail about the history of Kathmandu, a tumultuous one at that.

With plenty of time to kill before sunset, we decided to go to another Tibetan Buddhist monastery. They had construction going on around here which didn't exactly make it a peaceful visit. Nevertheless, it was a short detour but we were closer to the Monkey Temple, Swoyambhu Mahachaitya, from here.

Then we went to the National Museum as well. They were closing a bit early today which was okay as we weren't planning on staying long. The Buddhist artifacts and artworks were some of the highlights of the visit. While we didn't have time to visit all the buildings, we decided to visit the Numismatic Museum for the last stop (having no idea what "numismatic" meant at that time). Turns out, "Numismatic" relates to money so we ended up looking at a couple of floors worth of the currency through the ages. It was...interesting to say the least.

After many detours, it was finally time to begin the journey to the Monkey Temple. After a short hike up, we got to see another one of the Buddha Eyes stupas, except this one was golden. True to its name, there were indeed plenty of monkeys hanging around the temple grounds. The sounds of a chorus playing traditional instruments permeated as we absorbed the atmosphere of the area. Aside from the main stupa, there were plenty of smaller and medium-sized stupas scattered all around. The highlight here was, of course, the epic views of Kathmandu Valley and the sunset.

We also visited the Maha Manjushri temple on the other side and made our way down towards Buddha Park, where three giant golden statues of Buddhas stood in place. We opted to use a motorbike taxi this time going back to Thamel. I find it's a much more immersive way of seeing the city, not through glass windows, but by feeling the wind caress your face as the world around you goes by.

Back in Thamel, Lisa and I went to find dinner which ended up being in the form of momos, Nepalese dumplings. I also got to buy a sweet chillum that I was excited to use with my friends back home.Read more