To make this easier to read, I'm going to divide this post according to the main events of our day, of which there were 4, to which I'm choosing to give whimsical names (because I can): Fog and Haze, Templepalooza, The Secret Garden, and The Enchanted Forest.
Fog and Haze
We ventured back to the airport this morning for our sightseeing tour of Everest. Waking up at 6 am on my first official day of vacation, I was mentally grumbling to myself that this mountain better be damn majestic. Unfortunately I still can't speak to it, since our flight was cancelled. We arrive at the airport, check in, go through security, and have been sitting at the gate for a good 30 minutes when airline reps announce that there is haze and fog obscuring the views of the mountains. We could have gone up and seen one or two of the lower peaks, but we decided to try our luck tomorrow morning - keep your fingers crossed for clear skies!
Templepalooza
Our next stop was a town about 15 km away from Kathmandu called Bhaktapur. This is a very old city with more temples per square foot than, well, anywhere else in Nepal I guess. Seriously, you can't trip over your own two feet in this town without bumping into a temple on the way down. This town is so full of beautiful buildings and charming alleyways that they charge an entrance fee just to enter the town - $15 USD.
We were approached outside the city gates by a "friend" of our taxi driver who also happens to be a guide for the city. He was very persistent about being our guide, which annoyed me, but when he told us that it would only be 200 rupees (about $2-3), we agreed to let him show us around.
According to our guide, this town has been around in some iteration since the 13th century. One of the kings of the region really invested in the town in the early 18th century because most of the temples were built around then. We saw a bunch of different sites - so many that I won't try to list them all. A few interesting ones were as follows:
Some gigantic lion statues
The highest pagoda temple in Nepal
Some Hindu temples in the "mountain" style of architecture
Shopping for souvenirs
Pottery being made on the street (by Ami)
A private bathing area for the king, protected by snakes
If I had to pick one word to describe this town, it would be peaceful. No one seems to be n a hurry to get anywhere. There are areas all around town where people just sit and chat or enjoy the view. People hang out on the steps of temples, in doorways, cafes, wherever. They take things at their own pace. It's sometimes easy to forget where you are when you're in a town, so i like the fact that people here take the time to smell the roses.
After all, THIS is the view they have to enjoy every day...
Our guide proved himself to be knowledgeable about most things related to the town. He did make me uncomfortable several times by insisting that I stand next to him and appreciate the artistic carvings from the Kama Sutra that adorn most temples here. Is that me just being a prudish American? I don't know.
Our guide also told us that the pagoda style of architecture was created in Nepal - that's something I want to double check on, since I would have guessed it originated a but further east than here. This brings me to another point about this town - and Nepal in general - that I find fascinating. Buddhism and Hunduism coexist here in harmony. They are both very popular religions around here, and some people even practice both (?!?). We asked our guide about this when we noticed that nearly every Hindu temple in town had a Buddhist stupa within a stone throw's distance. Apparently those two religions are given equal prominence in Nepal, which explains the pairings of temples. My initial impression of Nepal has been that it is a country with a mix of Indian and Chinese influences in general. The features of Nepalese people resemble both Indian and Chinese people - it's like the two cultures blended into each other in this small mountainous region alone...
For lunch we ordered a Nepalese thali. The food was absolutely delicious - similar to an zindian thali. It different enough that it's clearly from a different region. The spices were slightly different, as were the styles of preparation. A highlight of the meal was the dessert - fresh yogurt with local honey. It reminded me of the yogurt and honey I had at a monastery in Greece once - so fresh and tangy with the perfect amount of sweetness. Mmmmm.
We stopped at one of several schools in town specializing in thanka - a form of very intricate paintings indigenous to this region. The paintings are beautifully done - we were flipping through some of the "student" paintings and were very impressed with the detail and colors used. Then we are shown some paintings done by thanka "masters" and are blown away. The level of precision that goes into these works of art is incredible - they use only a brush with only a single hair on it to create the detail. For those of you who have seen my apartment in Chicago, I know what you're thinking: "don't tell me you bought another painting - you're practically out of wall space!" Well, that may be true, but I still bought one :) I'm pretty sure there is some space to the right of my bedroom mirror where it would fit. Plus my bedroom already has artwork from Chile, Prague, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and Tanzania hanging in the walls - what's one more?
The Secret Garden
On our way out of town, we decided to stop and see one of the crematorium ghats. A ghat essentially is a place where people enter the river for one purpose or another. Crematorium ghats are places where bodies are burned on the river banks, and then the ashes are sprinkled in the river. This is a common practice in the Hindu religion from what I can tell.
The ghat we visited wasn't being used at the moment - except for a stray dog lying in the pile of ashes where the bodies are usually cremated. I found that a little unnerving, but whatever. We took the opportunity to explore this area around the river, though and were handsomely rewarded for our adventurous spirit.
We are meandering around the banks of this riverbed and stumble upon a doorway that leads us to a secluded spot with two small temples - one Hindu and one Buddhist, of course. The entire area is covered in lush greenery. Corn stalks and hibiscus and ivy and tall grass and lots of other things I didn't recognize were all growing in this small little hamlet. When we climbed up onto the steps of the Hundu temple, we we're treated to a beautiful vista, replete with fields and mountains and beds chirping. There was even an old Nepalese woman taking her pet goat for a walk. The sun was shining through the clouds onto this little piece of heaven, and all Ami and I wanted to do was get a book and lie down on the temple steps to watch the sunset.
The Enchanted Forest
Our last stop of the day was Nagarkot - a village at the top of the mountain range surrounding Newar valley (where Kathmandu is). We had heard it was a beautiful place to watch the sunset, so off we went with our trusty taxi driver. Well, actually it took a little negotiating to get him to take us there. We hadnt included Nagarkot in the original itinerary, so he took the opportunity to renegotiate our fixed fee. Apparently he hadn't been expecting us to take do long in Bhatkapur so felt he should be getting A LOT more money. We finally got him down to a reasonable price, although I'm pretty sure he was going quicker over the bumpy parts of the road in retribution for our aggressive negotiating tactics.
Side note - negotiating here is a trip. Vendors quote outrageous prices to start with and the. Act really offended when you counter with something at a 90% discount. They end up accepting an 80-85% discount in the end, so clearly I should have started from a position of a 95% discount! Their line is always the same when you provide a counter offer - "ooooooooooh nooooooo! Is not possible. Not possible at that price." Clearly there is some Nepalese school of haggling that they all have attended that teaches this script :)
Anyway, the drive to Nagarkot turns out to be almost more beautiful than the view from the peak. The drive consisted of us winding around mountains on narrow switchback roads where each minute brought a different view and often a peek at an entirely new alcove of the valley that had previously not been visible. There re rice paddies and houses built into the green mountains, stepped fields and sunlight streaming through the clouds. There is greenery EVERYWHERE - lots of trees as well as cultivated land, so we remark that it feels like we came straight from the secret garden to an enchanted forest. As we get higher and higher up the mountain, the view of the valley below - with its rolling hills and curving paths - looks like it's out of a fairy tale. I can't even begin to do this scenery justice with my words - you all need to see it for yourselves...
We climb to a viewing pont at the top of the mountain and take a bunch of photos. Then we return back to the small village to find a restroom and buy some veg mo-mo's (we have decided to eat mo-mo's at least once a day for our entire trip - they're that good). The mo-mo's are made to order, typically, so we wait for about 30 minutes while theyr're being made and watch the fog roll into the valley below. As the sun sets, the only lights visible below us are the fleeting glimpses or car headlights as they wind their way around the mountain roads. Ami correctly compared the sight to fireflies (if that gives you any idea).
The ride home was long but satisfying. I had worn the wrong shoes for the day, since we ended up wading through puddles all day in Bhatkapur, so I was able to experience one of the simplest but purest joys in life when we got back to the hotel - changing out of wet, muddy shoes into warm, dry socks...
Tomorrow I'm wearing rubber shoes, no doubt about it.
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