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This blog (Nepal) is one of four for our trip to Asia to Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and India.

The entire trip involved lots of being driven in cars/vans, around 2,000 miles driving between cities.  Not counting numerous driving trips around the cities and surrounding areas to visit attractions.

All the Nepal sites were very good.  Some extra special places:
    The Walk from south of Thamel to Durbar square in Kathmandu
    Sarangkot (view of Himalayas)
    Flight along the Himalayas

Specialty Albums (Blog photos that fit the category, plus other photos.):
    Animals
    Flowers
    Getting around
    Nagarkot
    People
    Sarangkot
    Streets, Markets, and Shops
    Temples, Stupas, and Shrines

Slide show of photos in this blog:
   Blog photos

Flickr:
     Our Photostream

Oct 21,14 Monday – Nepal Border - Kathmandu

Arrived at the China departures building very early to get in line and hopefully beat the worst of the crowd.  We were right behind Erin and Adam in the line (see our Tibet blog for info about our intermittent travels with Erin and Adam).

Travel companions - Paul, Mary, Adam and Erin

Getting across the Chinese border was relatively easy.  Sorting out the chaos on the Nepal side was a bit more work.  However, eventually our guide showed up with another individual and took us and our luggage to the Nepal customs building to get our Nepal visa.  The room was packed with all the westerners dutifully lined up.  Our guide took our paperwork and $50 and basically cut to the front of the line.  However, we had major problems with our US bills.  We kept pulling out $20s and $10s but they were never quite flawless enough.  We finally found a pristine, uncirculated $100 and they were satisfied with that so we got our visa and change.

By then we had also acquired three additional “porters” who proceeded to grabbed all of our luggage and head down the street towards our car, leaving Mary with her heavy backpack.  

Narrow streets of Kodari

The town on the Nepal side, Kodari, was very narrow as it was squeezed between the river and the mountain.  The town was basically the width of the buildings on either side of the road and a narrow, bumpy, occasionally paved road.  The streets were sometimes down to one lane, as trucks were parked on the sides of the road waiting for nightfall, when trucks were allowed to cross the border.

 

The drive from Kodari to Kathmandu is about 150 miles and took about four hours (with a lunch break).  The drive was bumpy, windy, dusty, narrow, and spectacular.  Nepal is very mountainous with rice paddies climbing half way up the mountains.  It was really a spectacular drive.

Rice fields and valleys of Nepal

Road through the slide

Part of the drive was through a massive slide that occurred a couple of months before we arrived.  The slide wiped out a large section of hillside, destroyed a village and killed a number of villagers, and blocked part of the river, creating a lake.  The makeshift road through the slide was very slow, very bumpy, and very, very dusty.

Lake made by the slide



Kathmandu lies in a large valley surrounded by mountains.  The views driving into the city were good but the air was quite hazy.  

Statue of Shiva

And there was lots of traffic. Quite a shock from Tibet, where the air was clear and there was very little traffic after Lhasa.  Lane lines, including the center lane line, were only a suggestion.  Lots of motorcycles.  They and cars, ours included, took a lane out of the other direction, since our direction was packed, and the other direction had lighter traffic.  The oncoming traffic just moved over to accommodate.

In the evening we went to a dinner and cultural show that had dancers and musicians performing Nepalese dances. 

Watch video in new large window.  

If HD does not show at end of progress bar, click there for better quality.

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

Oct 23, 2014, Thursday – Kathmandu Nepal

Today is a day of many and varied sights - mountains, villages, rice fields, a Living Goddess and much  more.  A veritable feast for the senses.

Today we were up before the crack of dawn to go to the airport for our “Mountain Express” flight along the southern face of the Himalayan mountain range.  The plane had three seats across but they did not place anyone in the aisle seats...everyone had a window seat to see the mountains.  The flight flew east about as far as Mt. Everest and then turned around and flew back.  It was really awesome.  We saw the Himalays four times from planes:  this flightsee, and commercial airlines from Pokhara to Kathmandu, Kathmandu to Paro (Bhutan), and Paro to Delhi (India).  All gave awesome views.

After breakfast we headed out to see two old nearby villages, Bungumati and Khokana, that have not seen much modernization.  The streets were narrow and windy and livestock was roaming everywhere, including cows, goats, ducks and chickens. 

Typical street in Bungumati

Drying corn and garlic

Making a Mandala for the festival

Khokana

Water reservoir in Khokana

Playing Cricket

Rice Drying

In one of the villages we came upon a festival going on.  It was fun watching the dancers and listening to the music.

Watch video in new large window

If HD does not show at end of progress bar, click there for better quality.



Doing the dishes

It was New Year’s Eve on the Lunar Calendar and everyone was celebrating the Festival of Light.  As part of the celebration the women were cleaning everything in sight.  It is a thankless and endless job as the streets are so dusty and the newly scrubbed front steps seemed to attract dust. 

Rice drying in the square

In addition,  it was also rice harvest season so many women were seen raking the drying rice and separating the grains from the chaff tossing the mix into the air for the breeze to blow away the lighter bits of chaff. 

In the meantime, since it was a holiday, the men were seen sitting around playing cards. 

Not often do you see a sign pointing the way to a goddess.  

And we actually visited the Living Goddess and were blessed by her in Patan, a town very close to Kathmandu.  There are several Living Goddesses in Nepal.  These kumari, or "living goddesses," are pre-pubescent girls considered to be the earthly manifestations of divine female energy, incarnations of the goddess known as Taleju, the Nepalese name for Durga.  The one we visited is only 7 years old.  The Living Goddess is handpicked by a council of high priests based on rigorous criteria, including that she must be healthy, dark-eyed and dark-haired with no physical imperfections, and be a Buddhist.  She is worshipped by Hindus and some Buddhists.  They retire upon puberty, as that is when the goddess vacates her body.

Nepal is loaded with World Heritage Sites and our next one was the Great Boudhanath Stupa.  It is 141 feet (43.25 meters) high and the area is 120 feet in diameter.  It was jaw-dropping and the “Buddha Eyes” near the top had us convinced that Buddha really is watching everyone all the time.
 

Buddha is Watching You - Great Boudhanath Stupa

Great Boudhanath Stupa