Around Kathmandu, and Pokara

I'm looking back to last week for this post, but I wanted to add a short note about right now. It is 40-45 degrees during the day right now, which is REALLY REALLY hot!! I've found it interesting that when it gets so hot, I better cover up. I generally don't go outside without covering my head, and I'm sorry that I didn't bring a long-sleeved cotton shirt.

My last few days in Kathmandu I spent visiting the areas outside the centre. Bodhnath (also known as Boudha) is yet another stupa said to contain a relic of the Buddha. I spent half the day wandering around visiting the monasteries and watching the pilgrims. One monk led me through a prayer in a monastery. For a while, I also watched a nun prostrating herself around the circumfrence of the stupa. I also tried Tibetan tea, which is made with yak butter.

From there I made my way to a tiny village which has a beautiful Vajrayogini temple. On the climb I met a god coming down the mountain, carried by people living there. Just as I got to the top it started to rain and thunder, which was great because I had been missing rain and thunderstorms, but not so great for photos. I also had some time where I thought I might get soaked getting back down the mountain in time for the last bus.

The next day I visited Patan, and was very impressed with its Durbar Square. I've included a photo where you can see King Yoganarendra's statue on a pillar in the centre, which is over 300 years old. This square was much quieter than the one in Kathmandu proper, because traffic was blocked, and there were no markets set up.

On a walking tour around Patan I came upon a festival at the Kumbeshwar Temple, which has five storeys. I'm not sure what was going on, but almost all the women were dressed in red saris, and the focus was on teenage boys dressed in yellow, with shaven heads and decorated bow and arrows. I watched them go through several stages of puja.

The Buddhist Golden Temple was filled with beautiful icons, and you can see more photos in the Facebook B-list. Nepali temples are strikingly different from Indian temples. They are usually built with pagodas, and I saw as many as 5 tiers on the roof. They also have a metal banner laying down one side, which I don't know the meaning of, and I definitely intend to learn more about this style of religious architecture!

Pokhara is a much smaller and MUCH quieter tourist town, where many people begin a trek to the Annapurna range in the Himalayas. Due to a lack of time and a still-healing ankle, I only did short walks around the hills. On the hike to the World Peace Pagoda I grabbed the first foreigner I saw, so I wouldn't have to walk alone. He happened to be a really cool American named Ben, and I don't think we ever ran out of things to talk about. First, Devi's Falls, with some amazing erosion, but not such an amazing amount of water. I'm really starting to see the effect of the summer dry season. I was somewhat disappointed with the World Peace Pagoda. I hear it has some really great views of the Annapurnas, but the haze/pollution really got in the way of seeing anything.

Finding Ben to split the cost of an early morning (five am) taxi made it worthwhile to go up into the mountains to Sarangkot, where there are legendary views of the sunrise in the mountains. That day there was a running commentary from a stout German man to everyone within range, so there was no doubt when the sun rose over the mountains. It was amazing to see Macchupucchre, the most distinctive peak in the range, looming through the early morning glow. It shook me repeatedly to realize that when I looked for the peak, I always needed to look higher. Then, the best yet. After a small breakfast on the mountain, we decided to go back for one more look, and there were the mountains! It continued to get clearer for the next hour, but it was impossible to capture on film. The mountains actually fill the sky.

The hike back down was nearly as interesting, because we decided to disregard the locals' advice that we "wouldn't find the path" and spent some time wandering through the terraced fields, and eventually walking down a dry stony riverbed. That afternoon we visited one of the Tibetan refugee settlements, and watched young monks at the monastery sit through a ceremony with various levels of boredom. Finally, since the local public transportation is not designed for tourists (ie. non-existent for tourists), we hitched a ride back into town on a tractor. That got us plenty of smiles from the locals we passed!