Day 42 - Tuesday, Nov. 26 - Kathmandu

Thamel

Rup, my guide, arrives at 10 o’clock, as promised.  We spend the rest of daylight together.

       First we walk and walk the lanes around the hotel, much of the Thamel neighborhood, including Freak Street, named in the Sixties when American hippies invaded in large numbers.  Shop after shop, mostly grouped by activity:  coppersmiths (see above), guitars, spices, fruit and veg... There are small temples scattered all around, many still damaged from the twenty or so large earthquakes in 2015.  (Rup tells me there were 70,000 tremors in all!)

       Then we meet the driver and head across the river and up the hillside to Swayambhu, the Monkey Temple, the oldest in all of Nepal.  And yes, there are monkeys.  The centerpiece, decked out in prayer flags, is a huge white stupa with eyes that reigns over Kathmandu from the west.  The view would extend to the Himalayas if it weren’t for the smog.  Book-ended by two tall temples, it rises like a square face with a many-tiered pointy hat.  Said to have been built in the 5th century, it was damaged in the 2015 earthquakes and is still being restored.  One exception:  a huge gilded Buddha that came out unscathed when his temple crashed down around him.  Obviously he’s now venerated even more.  Especially as in one temple destroyed, 24 people died.

       Then it’s back into the city, to Durbar Square.  There are many Durbar Squares in Nepal because “durbar”, a Persian-derived term (think Moghul and Taj Mahal), indicates a ruler’s palace, and as each city had a ruler and each ruler had a palace...  On Kathmandu’s square, there is the palace, Hanuman Dhoka, which includes a small museum.  There is also the Taleju Bhawani, a Hindu temple, just to keep things even with the Buddhist stupa.  A guard won’t let me into the temple because visibly I’m not from these parts, judging by my face.  But we see many “chapels” and other rooms.  All are much more ornate than the stupa, with a very different architecture, and mainly in wood.  Another place is called the Kumari Chok, the residence of the Kumari, the living goddess.  Chosen young, a bit like the dalai lama, she reigns until her period comes, then is replaced by a younger version.  Shortly after we arrive, she comes to the window overlooking the courtyard - a young, unsmiling thing of about 8 - then disappears back inside.  I feel lucky, even though to me she’s just a young girl with what seems a sad life... until Rup pops my bubble and tells me she does that all day long.  And indeed, as we leave, we’re replaced by a new crowd negotiating the small, low entrance with the high threshold.  (All entrances are small so that invaders and pursuers had to slow down to get in.  Similar to the thresholds in China to keep out evil spirits.)

Ashok Stupa

Time to head by car across the river again.  This time is to Lalitpur, where Rup lives.  (He calls it Patan, which is the ancient name.)  I would never have known to come here.  It, too, has a Durbar Square.  There we see a baroque fountain which is actually a water storage tank from the 17th century.  We go up the wooded hill to the temple complex in the center of which is another white temple called Ashok Stupa.  I’m not sure where the complex ended but suddenly we’re standing on its limit, with cafés and restaurants and guest homes on its perimeter.  What a view over Patan and Kathmandu that must offer!

       As we drive down the hill and back into Kathmandu, Rup points to the horizon and, lo and behold, that’s not a cloud I see; it’s one of the Himalayas!  Langtang Mountain north of the capital to be exact.  Maybe I’ll be able to take that Mount Everest flight Thursday, if conditions improve.  But it’s not this traffic that will help that.  Yesterday it was rush hour coming in from the airport; today it’s school buses.  Why don’t policemen directing traffic die an early death from asphyxiation or being run over?  I also see a U.N. vehicle; Rup explains they came to keep the peace during the Maoist uprisings and are still here because there’s still a threat.

        We finally get close to the hotel and Rup suggests we walk the rest of the short way.  He guides me to the hotel and says good-bye.  He’ll pick me up at 10 tomorrow morning to go somewhere outside the city.  I trust his judgment.  For the moment I take out more rupees from the ATM to cover tomorrow, then rest my weary feet.  For dinner, I dine on some momos like the ones I couldn’t finish last night.  Tonight’s are round, not long and fish-shaped like yesterday’s.  But every bit as delicious.

       All that’s left to do is read... and sleep!

View of Patan & Kathmandu