The Trinational Adventure: Part 4 - Kathmandu (I)

- April 26-27, 2011, Tuesday-Wednesday.

- Alas, it was time to say goodbye to India, and the last thing we experienced in the hotel was a power disturbance, which resulted to my mom and me being stuck in the hotel elevator for around 5 to 10 minutes. Still, I wanted to go back to India, as I have only experienced less than the tip of the iceberg of what India has to offer.

- My mom and I went around the airport to spend our last few Indian Rupees, while seeing some cultural stuff, like the Buddha head's statue, and the handicraft store where live Indian music was being played, as well as some Indians demonstrating how handicrafts were made. Just before going to our gate, a small part of the airport caught on fire. I think it was a minor fire because the staff did not seem to panic, and that no fire alarms were turned on.

An embroiderer in the airport.

A santoor player.

A large Surya head in Indira Gandhi International Airport. 

Oh that Indian air.

Nepalese mountains.

Bright sun.

Nepalese flag.

- The flight to Kathmandu, Nepal, was just a short short flight. The Jet Airways plane we rode was the small one, so it was hard for us to eat and move around. However, the sceneries and the Himalayan mountains that can be seen while descending to Tribhuvan Airport in Kathmandu really "wow"-ed me.

- NAIA might be the "5th worst airport," but I think Nepal's airport was more old-fashioned than NAIA. I won't mention Delhi's Indira Gandhi airport, or Thailand's Suvarnabhumi airport, since both airports are obviously better and more organized than NAIA. Still, I'm still glad that the Philippines isn't that far behind when it comes to upgrades. Tribhuvan airport does not even have the tubes where people enter the planes. Old-fashioned "stairs" were still used to board and get off the plane.

- Upon arriving at Kathmandu, we immediately checked-in at Hyatt Hotel, which itself was a photo-worthy, and went on with our tour to two places that were near the hotel. My first impression of Nepal?? Exactly like Baguio, but larger, more mountains, Nepali-speaking people, and temples instead of churches.

Our nice hotel. It looked like a tourist spot all by itself!!

Monkey with a fruit.

Hyatt Kathmandu.

Saw this stupa while riding the van; it was built by Ashoka in 4th century BC.

A temple.

- We first went to Pashupatinath, which was a Hindu temple that heralds Lord Shiva. Cremations can be seen at the Bagmati River, but the corpses were wrapped in clothes before cremating them and letting them flow with the river (similar to what people do at the banks of the Ganges.) We weren't allowed to enter the Shiva temple because were weren't Hindu. Come to think of it, a lot of Hindu temples in Nepal do not allow non-Hindus to enter.

Selling gulal (colored powder.)

Stores on the way to the temple.

MOO.

Old stupas.

Caught someone being cremated.

Monkey.

There were a lot of monkeys there.

Stupas containing Shiva lingas.

Sadhus.

Roofs of the Pashupatinath.

Furry cow.

Another cremation.

Just hanging out.

More stupas.

- Our guide in Kathmandu twitched a nerve, especially with one of our companions, because he always seemed to be in a hurry with the tour. Our companion already told him to slow down and relax, because we wanted to "feel" the place more. (And aside from this bad habit, our tour guide talks very softly, so much so that even when you're right beside him, it's still hard to hear him. Too bad, he would've been a great guide, because his English was impressive.)

- Our next stop was Boudhanath, the world's largest stupa (uhh, a Buddhist structure used for worship....sort of like the Buddhist counterpart of the Catholic grotto.) I wanted to see this big stupa badly, aside from the stupa we went to the next day, since it was an icon of Nepal, just like how the Taj is to India. Aside from that, plenty of shops and monasteries were nearby, where we could immerse ourselves in the Nepalese-Tibetan cultures.

Another Nepalese pagoda.

Running school girl. She must be excited to go home.

Boudhanath!!

Such a majestic holy place to be in.

Another usual day in Nepal.

Streets inside the Boudhanath complex.

Tibetans.

The tip of the stupa.

Devotee.

My first prayer wheel.

No Photoshop.

It's really this serene.

Tibetan monastery.

A GIANT prayer wheel.

Boudhanath from the monastery's second floor.

A holy person.

A series of prayer wheels.

- Our guide told us that we had to be back at the entrace 30 minutes later, which raised our eyebrows. We couldn't go around the stupa, look at the monasteries, and shop all in just 30 minutes. We asked why he was in a hurry, and he complained that he lived too far, and that we were nearer to the Boudhanath because our hotel was just 5 minutes away. After that incident, we hated our Kathmandu guide even more. :)) :)) :)) :)) One of our companions told him that we came all the way from the Philippines, which is farther from wherever our tour guide lived; our tour guide gave us an hour to go around. Plus, he told us that shops would close around 6pm, and that it will be hard to go around when the sun sets in Nepal. (If only he had sad these conditions instead of him living far away, we would have considered to hasten ourselves a teeny weeny bit.)

- Just as we were about to leave after shopping around the Boudhanath, taking pictures, and visiting monasteries, a big rally passed by in front of the Boudhanath gate. The people were carrying flaming torches and signs. We came to know that there was a political strike, and that the people would have a strike the following day, so many stores would be closing. (Speaking of shopping, it was FUN to shop in Nepal. Everything in Nepal seemed cheaper, since their money is worth almost half as much as the Philippine peso. Everything there, multiplied by 0.5 or 0.6, and that's how much it's worth in peso.)

- Back at the hotel, we also received a memorandum from the hotel manager about the staff, which scared me, because I thought the political strike would ruin my trip to Nepal. However, our guide told us the following day that the strike will not "harm" tourists, nor go to tourist places, and as long as vans will have a "Tourists Only" sign, we'd be fine.

Just a series of photos from out hotel.

While the musicians were still on a break.

Our hotel's gate. Such majesty.

Plenty of mini-stupas in our hotel's lobby.

- Our agenda the following day was a visit to Swayambhunath, another stupa situated on top of a hill, and the three Durbar Squares of the Kathmandu Valley (sort of like a "town plaza" here in the Philippines, only larger. The Kathmandu Valley is composed of Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur.) During out stop at the Swayambhunath, I was happy to see that the stores and stalls there were open. Aside from that, the fresh and cool morning air on top of the hill, and the "Om Mane Padme Hum" chants playing from Buddhist stores gave our Swyambhunath visit a solemn and calming mood.

A demonstration.

Plenty of prayer flags.

A rather recent Buddha statue.

Dog on guard.

Swayambhunath.

Golden Buddha statue.

View of Kathmandu from above.

With the stupa.

Prayer wheels are quite hypnotic.

Religious stores in the compound.

The oldest Buddha statue in the compound.

A series of stupas.

A giant vajra.

Various stupas.

- Our next stop was the Kathmandu Durbar Square, where the legendary Kumari Ghar can be located. The Kumari, or living goddess, is a prepubescent girl chosen from the Shakya clan, whom the Nepalese say is inhabited by the goddess Taleju (aka Durga.) My visit to the Kathmandu Durbar Square was special to me because our play for my Asian History class before was about a fictional kumari during the reign of Prithvi Narayan Shah. However, I was a bit sad that many stores were indeed closed, and that the open marketplace was empty, except for one or two stores. Our guide told us that it was a great day to tour all three durbar squares, because on normal (strike-less) days, the durbar squares would be very crowded, both by locals and tourists, so it would be difficult to move around. Also, because of the strike, traffic was inexistent that day.

- Despite the food news from our guide, he annoyed us even more by his system of guiding tourists. He'll first go around, explaining a little little bit of the place, and giving us free time to roam on our own. I guess it's OK when we're touring a monument or something, but the Durbar Squares have tiny alleys and many corners that might confuse us foreigners. Even more, a lot of the buildings need explaining because a lot of structures in the durbar squares were significant.

- During our free time in the Kathmandu Durbar Square, I was stressed out with taking a perfect picture of the Kumari Ghar, because a lot of annoying Caucasian foreigners were blocking the main entrance of the Kumari House. I don't know why they decide to stop and talk FOR LONG A LONG TIME in front of the Kumari House after leaving the temple. It's not just about me. I think it's also difficult for other tourists and visitors to enter/exit the Kumari House with all those foreigners "hanging out" right outside the SMALL door. (And sadly, I wasn't able to see the kumari, and I wouldn't have had a photo of her/ with her, since we weren't allowed to take a photo of the kumari.)

Welcome to the Kathmandu Durbar Square.

House of the Kumari.

Wood carvings.

I don't know how they were able to preserve these wooden carvings, but I'm glad they did!!

Ouside the Kumari Ghar.

Plenty of wooden carvings.

Taleju Temple.

Nepalese chitchat.

Shiva.

Bhairav - Shiva's wrathful manifestation.

A lot of pigeons!!

Monk wearing his saffron robe.

Kasthamandap - made from the wood of just a single tree!!

Wooden statues depicting divine lovers.

Garuda.

I wanted the birds to fly.

Plenty of hidden statues there.

"Sugat" means "wound" in Filipino.

Hanuman Dhoka.

Plenty of nagas and divine lovers.

Taking as much photos of the Kumari Ghar as possible.

Wooden peacock windows.

- Our next stop was the Patan Durbar Square. It was slightly larger than the one in Kathmandu City, and it housed the Patan Museum, where historic and religious artifacts of Nepal can be seen there, well-explained in English. The museum was located inside a traditional building, so the house itself was just like a big piece of the museum. Luckily, we all decided to enter the museum, although it cost us 450 Nepalese Rupees per person; our tour guide didn't tell us about the museum, nor did he encourage us. Remember, he's just like the time-keeping bunny in Alice the Wonderland.

Patan Durbar Square.

Krishna Temple.

Wooden statues.

There were too many of them all across the durbar squares.

King Yoganrendra Malla.

Krishna Temple again.

Ancient well.

Colorful rickshaw.

Streets of Patan.

Garuda.

Neighborhood men.

Everything wood.

Octagonal Taleju Temple.

Some pieces of information.

Lion with a strange smile.

- Our last stop for the day was in the city of art - the Bhaktapur Durbar Square. I think the Bhaktapur Durbar Square was twice the size of the one in Patan or in Kathmandu, and consisted of two major squares. Upon arriving at Bhaktapur, the city seemed to be a ghost town because of the strike. All shops were closed except for a tiny handful. We had lunch in Bhaktapur first, with us paying for our own lunch, since the guide opted to not let us eat at the hotel; it was off the way. (Practical, but he still annoyed us.) The rain also fell that afternoon, but gladly it stopped just after we finished our lunch. As always, our guide left us on our own while after quickly explaining the whole complex. During our stay in Bhaktapur, we were able to witness a parade that celebrated old people. Our guide told us that Nepal is a good place to be old, because once old people reach a certain age, their family will parade those people (in our case, a really old couple,) and visit temples to pray and thank the gods for giving them much life. These old people are then treated with the same respect as how people treat gods.

My first plate of momos.

Giant temple.

A celebration of old age.

The elderly couple is inside these festive palanquins.

It's the Nyatapola Temple.

It has a giant chariot in front.

Up close.

Bhaktapur alleys.

Oh here they are again!!

Ancient fountain/well.

Gate to the Taleju Temple.

King Bhupatindra Malla.

Big temple lion and a small dog.

Fasidega Temple.

- After going back to the hotel, I was relieved to find out that the strike has ended, and Nepal will be normal the day after, when we'd be travelling by land to Pokhara. Pokhara is an area in Nepal known for its outdoor activities like bunjee jumping, ultralight airplane ride, paragliding, trekking, among others.

Bhaktapur from our hotel.

Musicians.