Despite the pain in my head and ear which did not improve, we slept for about 14 hours that night. The following morning after googling my systems we headed out to explore. From what I understand it seems to be some sort of aero-sinusitis, the symptoms all match and it seems that it could take up to 2 weeks for the pain to go away. This put my mind at rest and after breakfast and some painkillers we set about getting lost.
Thamel is the central backpackers district and is a maze of small streets with stalls and shops selling everything you could ever need and a few things you would never need. Most of the shops are selling fake hiking gear and North Face stuff is everywhere! As well as that is a lot of cashmere and clothes made out of yak wool and bags made out of buffalo leather. As well as all the usual tourist jewellery, carvings and other trinkets. What makes this nice is that a lot of this stuff seems unique to Nepal, in Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand it was a lot of generic "Asian jewellery and crafts". Some of the clothes and cashmere scarves are gorgeous and this would be the perfect place to come shopping for the winter wardrobe. And of course for those people wanting to buy all the equipment needed to hike up Everest, its paradise! (We thought we would leave that for another time!)
Craig had the shave he has been waiting so long for....
The following day we had arranged for the driver that took us from the airport to take us on a trip to Nagarkot, 32kms east of Kathmandu. Nagarkot sits at an elevation of 2,195 metres and offers panoramic views of the Kathmandu valley.
It took us a couple of hours to get there, following an amazingly dangerous road with amazingly beautiful views.....
When we reached the top the clouds started to come over, which made for quite an eerie atmosphere, you could literally reach out and touch the clouds.
As we were standing there at the viewpoint having our photo taken I noticed something...
We were standing right next to a marijuana plant, just growing there on the side of the mountain...
It was really bizarre to see it there, growing wild. What was even more amusing was watching the other people come up and have their photo taken, and then realising what they were standing next to.
And as if to keep with the theme, all of the bricks in the surrounding structures were "peace" bricks.....
On the way back down the weather really started to close in and we just about made it back to the hotel in time to avoid the mammoth downpour.
The next day was Monday which meant a trip to the Indian Embassy to apply for our visas. The first visit is between 9.30am-12.30am on a week day, we had been advised to get there at 7.30am to be first in queue. But in our typically organised style we got there at 8.45am, but there were only about 10 people in the queue, and the gates opened on time at 9.30am. You all have to file in and take a number, when it your turn you go up to the booth to give in your online submission by hand (I know!). So when our turns comes up we go, the man behind the counter is not a happy chappy. He starts asking us about our professions, and why we only stayed one month in India in November when Craig had a 6 months visa. In fact we only applied for 3 month visas for our stay in November but for some reason they gave Craig 6 months. In addition to this they initially refused my visa as I worked for Social Services, which is why i left it off the form this time. Anyway we got through all only to be asked for £80 for the visas. When I did my research online it said the visas were £27, so obviously I questioned this, I then got shouted at and told to read the sign on the board. Which I did, as it turns out it is £27 for the rest of the world to get a visa to India, but for UK citizens its £80. Added to this, this does not guarantee you a visa, it has to be accepted or rejected by the Indian Commission and if it is rejected you don't get your money back. Anyway what choice did we have, so we paid it, and left fuming with a ticket that told us to return in a week (well on a Saturday, when they are closed, so we took that to mean Monday). When we got back to Thamel I was still fuming so I turned to my good friend Google. I found out that due to English Immigration Services for some reason tightening the rules for Indian National visiting the UK, the Indian decided to retaliate by upping the price of their visas for UK Nationals. Well isn't that just awesome!!!
The next couple of days were spent wandering around Thamel shopping and just generally walking around in amazement at the craziness of the place........
At the southern end of Durbar Square is one of the most curious attractions in Nepal, the Kumari Chowk. This building contains the Raj Kumari, a girl chosen through an ancient and mystical selection process to become the human incarnation of the Hindu mother goddess, Durga. She is a living goddess and is worshiped during religious festivals. She is usually between 3-5 when she is chosen to be Kumari, through a widely inaccurately reported selection process. Then when she is 12-14, her innocence is thought to have gone and she is returned to her family and replaced. There are so many different views about this, but if you would like to know more there is a book called From Goddess to Mortal, co-authored with Scott Berry in 2005, its really interesting. Anyway you don't get to see the Kumari except during religious festivals, but this is a picture from Google.
She is always dressed in festive red, glittering jewel accessories, long and heavy eye makeup and a striking third eye on her brow. Kumari is a massive tourist attraction but she is more than just a tourist icon: she is a living embodiment of the Kathmandu Valley Newar culture and its harmonious mixture of Buddhism and Hinduism. It is also an important part of Nepali history because it was on Indra Jatra day more than 250 years ago that the Gorkha conquest arrived in Kathmandu Valley.
Anyway that's Kumari, which I thought was fascinating, but here are some pictures of the rest of Durbur Square.
Whilst walking around Durbur Square I was quite excited to see two Sadhu's and managed to get a couple of pictures. So imagine my surprise when I look back at the pictures to see they are the same Sadhus on the front of our guide book!
In the next couple of days before going back to see if we have been granted our Indian Visas we walked to a couple of different temples. Now whilst on the subject of walking, we have been walking everywhere in Kathmandu and the weather is truly crazy. One minute its crazy rain and then beaming sunshine, despite it being monsoon season and quite elevated it is still really bloody hot. But despite this we had to by some waterproof jackets, really nice Gore-tex ones for £10 each, probably about £80 at home, nice.
The first temple we went to was Swayambhunath, also known as monkey temple because of the all the Rhesus macaques, which apparently are holy monkeys. They are holy because Manjushree, the bodhisattva of wisdom and learning was raising the hill which the Swayambhunath Temple stands on. He was supposed to leave his hair short but he made it grow long and head lice grew. It is said that the head lice transformed into these monkeys.
The Tibetan name for the site means 'Sublime Trees'. For the Buddhist Newars in whose mythological history and origin myth as well as day-to-day religious practice, Swayambhunath occupies a central position, it is probably the most sacred among Buddhist pilgrimage sites. For Tibetans and followers of Tibetan Buddhism, it is second only to Boudhanath.
The walk up to the Stupa was fairly epic comprising of about 300 steps, with some pretty amazing views
When we got to the top it was well worth the climb, the Swayambhunath complex consists of a Stupa, a variety of shrines and temples, some dating back to the Licchavi period. The stupa has Buddha's eyes (the two eyes represent wisdom and compassion) and eyebrows painted on. Between them, there is something painted which looks like the nose - but is the Nepali symbol of 'unity'
Each morning before dawn hundreds of Buddhist and Hindu pilgrims ascend the 365 steps from eastern side that lead up the hill, passing the gilded Vajra and two lions guarding the entrance, and begin a series of clockwise circumambulations of the stupa.
The views from the top were really something else....
You could feel the Buddhist influence here as all was peace and love between the monkeys, dogs and pigeons
And then we had to walk all the way back down again running the gauntlet of holy monkeys.....
The following day we visited Pashupatinath, it is one of the most significant Hindu temples of Shiva in the world, located on the banks of the Bagmati River 4kms east of Central Kathmandu. There are many legends describing as to how the temple of Lord Pashupatinath came to existence here. My Favourite is the cow legend. Legend says that Lord Shiva once took the form of an antelope and sported unknown in the forest on Bagmati river's east bank. The gods later caught up with him, and grabbing him by the horn, forced him to resume his divine form. The broken horn was worshipped as a linga but overtime it was buried and lost. Centuries later an astonished herdsmen found one of his cows showering the earth with milk. Digging deep at the site, he discovered the divine linga of Pashupatinath.
When we first walked along the river one of the cremation was just starting and although I knew what to expect it was still quite a shocking experience. All in all whilst we were there, there were 3 cremations. Its very difficult to describe it to be honest, its quite a quiet place so you can hear the cries of the families from the other side of the river. There seems to be a lot of ceremonial detail that happens before the cremation, which include family members circling around the body. This all happens whilst the body is laying on a cremation platform wrapped in sheets. Then with the help of what looks like dry hay or straw they set alight to it, unfortunately as it burns away the straw and sheets you can see the body burning. Then I believe at the end the remains get brushed away into the river. I had heard people complain about the smell, but to me it just smelled smoky, it was a good experience and I am glad we went. But I couldn't really tell you how I feel about it....
After watching the cremations for some time we walked up another about 100 steps to another set of temples above the river the was totally over run by Sadhus and monkeys. Now I really want to get some good Sadhu pictures but they usually want paying, which I don't agree with. The monkeys however are happy to pose for free.....
The following day we went back to the Indian Embassy only to arrive at about 9.20am to find there were about 30 people in front of us, so we took our ticket and waited. When it was finally our turn we went to the window and were told that we had been accepted but only for 3 months not 6. By this point we were just happy to get them and we handed over out passports and were told to come back the next day at 5pm to pick them up. The next day 5pm we were there and so were our passports with visas, all in all the process was not as bad as people make out, but the fee's for UK citizens are a joke.
With all this sorted and all in all having spend nearly 2 weeks in Kathmandu it was time to move on. Next stop Pokhara which lays next to the Annapurna region of mountains which make up part of the Himalayas. The bus leaves from some random main street at 7am tomorrow morning.
I just remembered that when driving from the airport to the hotel we drove past the Nepal passport office and there must have been 300+ queuing outside, it was chaos. When we asked the taxi driver he said that all the young people are going to work in the middle east as there is no work in Kathmandu.
Kathmandu is the country's economic engine and pulls in young Nepalis from the mountains with irresistible force. That together with refugees fleeing the Moaist insurrection in the 200's, the valleys population has doubled in the last 15 years to more than 2 million. The concrete has spread almost to the valley rim of the North and Western sides and smog obscures the view of the mountains on all but the clearest days.
There were just a few photos from our time in Kathmandu, that I thought the only words necessary were Kathmandu is crazy but I love it!
For now though Bye Bye Kathmandu
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