Oct 22, 2014, Wednesday – Kathmandu Nepal

Today was our first real sightseeing day in Kathmandu.  It started with a stop to visit a “special” Buddhist Temple (we saw maybe a million in Tibet), the Swayambhu, one of the temples that is part of Swayambhunath, a World Heritage site.  The main part of this temple was relatively small but had an interesting Buddha on a large lotus blossom.







And a pair of gorgeous, gigantic prayer wheels, the largest I think we’ve seen (notice the man standing to the right of the prayer wheel). 

  

We then drove around the hill to the other side of the complex to climb the stairs to the Swayambhu Mahachaity temple,  that is accessed by climbing a flight of 350 stairs.  At the top were  temples, a number of small stupas (the grey stone structures below) and lots of market stalls.  The area also offered nearly 360 degree views of Kathmandu.

There were lots of monkeys to see along the way.  In fact, the temple is sometimes referred to as the Monkey Temple.

One of the more interesting and highlight activities was a walk from south of the Thamel area through lots of courtyards and tons of narrow streets with a million shops, markets, stalls, and walking street vendors, ...

 

... to Durbar Square (royal palace square).  Royal Palaces, temples, courtyards.

Durbar Square