काठमाडौ यता म आउछु

Today wasn’t so much of an early start (thank goodness). I didn’t sleep all too well so I was glad of the extra hour or so that I could sleep in.

We got ready and went downstairs to drop our laundry off and then to have breakfast. I was feeling more brave here than I was in India. I trust the food here – especially at this hotel as it is super clean.

We finished and left our laundry with the front desk so it could be done ready for us coming back tonight.

We asked the desk about the driver for the tour today. We only had to wait a couple of minutes and we were told the driver was ready for us in the car outside.

We jumped in and set off about our day. We had booked the mountain view tour. I was looking forward to it.

Our first stop was to Swayambhunath Temple. The driver dropped us off at the front and we paid our रु200 entry fee (one thing I read on the government website is that they operate a “Positive Discrimination Fee” when it comes to entry prices for foreigners). It was a really nice, sunny day and there were stairs to the top (ugh, I hate stairs – except when travelling). We hovered around the entrance for a little bit and were taking pictures. I then decided I wanted to go up the stairs to see what was on offer.

There were tons of monkeys around and there were a couple of dogs also. Monkeys DO NOT like dogs. Every time one would go near them they would screech and then run off and climb the buildings and the trees.

I got to the top and the views were pretty cool. You could see right across Kathmandu valley. It was cool to see the monkeys too. They didn’t care about the people here. They just wanted food.

Whilst up there, we saw a guy throwing a gold-coloured liquid on the big dome because of Dashain and in readiness for Diwali.

I walked around and one of the people here started to tell me about the dome and the temple and I told him I was looking for my guide and he just left straight away. I carried on walking and found a shop that was selling lanyards. I got myself a nice blue one. I then had to go to the bathroom because breakfast was starting to work its magic.

I messaged Ken asking where he was and he was at the top. I walked halfway up and had a look around and I messaged him again and he said he was almost at the car. I walked back down and then we got in the car to go to our next stop.

The next stop the driver said was one of the heritage squares here. Ken asked him if it was the city tour and he said it was. We both told him we should be doing the mountain tour and he started to call the hotel. I said he should just go back there as it might be quicker since the hotel weren’t picking up. He didn’t listen and just continued to drive slowly until they picked up. He was then told the tour we should be on and he turned around.

He said the drive to the first spot would be about 90 minutes. He said on a normal, non-holiday day that it would be a little over 2-hours. I was happy to sit back and enjoy the scenery and take pictures until we got to the stop.

It was a nice drive through the mountains and the views were stunning. They reminded me of Switzerland. Small houses scattered about on the sides of the mountains and lush green grass. I won’t lie though – some of it was scary because of the hairpin bends and narrow roads and cars and motorcycles coming the other way. Several times he had to break hard because of it. We made it though.

Here are some pictures of the scenic drive to the first stop (not too many though as I took A LOT).

We got out at the first stop and all we could hear were bugs making an almighty noise.

We climbed the stairs at Bagmati and at the top, there was an observation tower. You had to climb that to get the views as there was a lot of overgrowth stopping you from getting good views otherwise. I wanted to climb the tower but the state of the ladder and how it was pretty much vertical was putting me off. Ken climbed it though – mad fool!

I was happy to let him take the pictures – until I decided that I wanted to go up. I went to go up and got about five steps up and came back down. I couldn’t see because it was so bright but also couldn’t see because of the cap. I couldn’t take the cap off either because I couldn’t see, but I didn’t want to keep it on because I also couldn’t see. I went and sat on the bench with Ken and remembered I had sunglasses so put them on and it helped.

I decided to go back to the ladder and as I was standing there, some stupid-ass woman said to me “You’re so fat”. I retorted with “And you’re so rude”. I wanted to swear but I didn’t because of the kid she had with her. I’m glad Ken wasn’t there to hear her because he would have had some choice words to say!

We left here and then went to a lower point that the driver said offered panoramic views out across the valley. The drive down was just as scary with cars and motorcycles having to share almost the same amount of space on the road. I’m so glad we had a driver that was good and knew the roads well.

We finally got to Nagarkot and the clouds were rolling in. The driver said they should disappear in a few minutes – this wasn’t the case though. The fog continued to roll in and we left after about 30 minutes. I tried to get some pictures but my phone was overheating so the screen was dark and I couldn’t make out what I was getting pictures of – not to mention because of the bright sun too.

Once we left here, the adventure really started. We started to drive on roads that were only half there because they had fallen away. It was super crazy. The views were equally as amazing though. At one point, we drove past some kids so I stuck my hand out for them to slap it and 2 of them did and they laughed.

I will add a few pics from this part of the drive (again, not too many as I took A LOT here too).

At one point, we got stuck behind several slow drivers and the driver was trying to get past them – even with cars and motorcycles coming down the other way. Scary again!

Our next stop was Changu Narayan temple. The entry for this was रु400. We could’ve done it without paying the entrance fee by going down the side road there. We didn’t though and we paid the fee.

We went in and both moaned at more steps. Haha. This temple was really dirty. As a place of worship we both said it should have been cleaner than it was. We both wondered what the money we were paying for was going to. A lot of these places it’s just foreigners that pay a fee too. We weren’t here for very long because it was a small place.

We got to the temple area and went to take some pictures right by the main temple but Olan Mills and his models were taking their sweet time. We got close to where they were in the hopes of hurrying them. I think we did. I told Ken to get in for a picture and I took my time taking them too. One of the girls tried to get in after Ken but I quickly got in and got Ken to take some of me (I hate my picture taken though). One of the girls told me to smile and Ken said that I don’t smile. They then asked why and he told them I was miserable.

We walked around some more and then headed to the driver. On the way, we both wanted a drink and we found somewhere that had cold fizzy and Ken asked the price and they said रु170. Ken said no and that it was expensive for where it was. Readers – it still wasn’t a Late Lizzy Quid.

We got to the car park and there was a shop there selling cold drinks. We both got one and the price here was रु200 each. We should’ve got them back there and Ken could have saved himself a whopping twenty pence per bottle. Ha.

We jumped back in the car for the scary mountain drive back down to the valley and our final stop at Bhaktapur Durbar. The driver dropped us off and told us where he would be parked. As soon as we were out of the car one of the touts came up to us and accosted us. We told him no and he told us the entrance fee here was रु1,800. We both were shocked at the price (at least the locals have to pay here too – though nowhere near that).

We walked a bit further up and then found another entrance. We decided to just walk in and see what would happen. We started taking pictures and someone came up to us asking about our tickets. I think he was a tout but he wasn’t giving up. He told us we needed tickets and practically dragged us to the ticket office. Someone else came up and said we needed tickets. We both played ignorant and asked what he meant by tickets. He said we needed tickets for the square and we just said we thought it was free entry.

We went back to meet the driver but he wasn’t there. He was probably expecting us to be there for a while. He came back and apologies and we said it was fine.

I hope we get a chance to go here (if we have money and time left over).

He said instead of going back to the hotel he could take us to Pashupatinath temple. We said we would do that. We got there and paid the रु1,000 entry fee. This one is a little different because you have to pay the रु1,000 each day you stay there too.

We went in and started walking toward the temple area. We saw a cow just standing on the banks and a monkey that wasn’t brave enough to go anywhere near it!

We walked across the bridge and around the buildings here and then walked along the river a little bit and Ken realised there was a body there wrapped up ready for cremation. We didn’t stay too long because the smoke and incense were hurting our throats.

We crossed back over the bridge and sat on the steps across from where the body was and sat for a little bit wondering what would happen. Ken said the cremation would probably be at sunset because that’s how they do it in the Hindu religion.

We carried on walking around and started walking up the stairs. We saw a lot of monkeys in this part and every so often someone would come round with food and they would just try and grab what they could before another one would get it. It was fun to watch.

We carried on walking up and I had to stop at the top. These stairs took it out of me for some reason. I blame it on being sick. We walked some more and were pretty much at the edge of the temple grounds.

Ken saw a monkey and saw someone feed it and then he asked if he should. I said he should and he found a peanut on the ground. The monkey was happy.

We started to head back to the car and on the way we saw that the body that was wrapped earlier had been washed and cleansed ready for cremation. We decided to stop and see what was happening. It was really interesting to see how they performed this. They were very respectful of the body. They wrapped it in orange cloth and then carefully carried it to where the funeral pyre was. They performed another ritual and then they picked the body up and placed it on the pyre. They then took away the cloth that it was wrapped in and threw that in the river. After this, they threw the makeshift stretcher into the river too.

The body was then left in the orange cloths on top of the pyre. They then placed some other things on it. I’m not sure what they were though. They then placed more wood around the body. As they were doing this, in the back there was another body that was carried to the river and they started to get that ready for the washing.

At this point, there was also a sizeable crowd. I’m guessing most of the have never witnessed this either.

I was watching the body be prepared for the washing. As I was doing so, they had started the fire to cremate the other body. It looked like they had removed his face covering and placed more wood (not sure if this was to keep the body stable) and then placed what looked like straw across the entire body.

I share these pictures not to mock, but because I haven’t seen a Hindu funeral before and I was extremely curious and intrigued at how it happened.

We then headed back to the hotel to relax for the night and get some food.