First Sightseeing Experience in Kathmandu

Namaste!

The past week, a couple friends who teach at American School of Bombay visited me in Kathmandu. This meant I finally got to do some sightseeing and touristy things in Kathmandu!  Sad as it is. I haven't had the chance to see a lot of the beautiful sights in Kathmandu yet.

Two Saturdays ago, I picked my friends up from the airport.  They had only a few hours before they had to board a plane again-they were going trekking in Pokhara, and then returning for one day the next weekend-so we went to Boudha Stupa, and walked around.  The Boudha area is really pretty, and almost reminds me of a little European street inside Nepal.  We looked at the stupa, which is under construction because of the earthquake.

The top portion has been moved for restoration

The road around the stoupa

One of the beautiful gates to the stoupa

More of the stoupa

The stoupa

It's really the first large area that I've seen damaged by the earthquake.  A lot of thoughts were going through my head as we walked around.  First, I was truly astounded by the beauty that was all around me.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the stoupa, even though it was damaged.  The architecture was stunning and intriguing.

We walked around in the area and went to a few shops.  My friends tried their hand at bargaining and bought some souvenirs and trekking gear,  Then, we found a rooftop restaurant where we sat, enjoyed the view, and ate some momos.

When they returned from their trek in Pokhara on Friday, we went out for a nice dinner and made a sightseeing plan for the next day.  We spent Saturday sight seeing, and it was a really fun day.  First, we went to Swayambhu, the monkey temple.  We walked into a beautiful gate and inside it there were two mini temples and a Buddha fountain.  It was beautiful and jungle-esque.  On the mini temples, monkeys were sitting and snuggling with there babies.  There were also dogs around the temples and I enjoyed seeing he monkeys and dogs together.

The Buddha Peace Statue at the base of Swayambhu

The small temples at the Base

Monkeys and Dogs

More of the small temples

More of the small temples

Monkey Snuggles

Then, we began to walk up the stairs to the Swayambhu temple.  There were monkeys on the ledges of retaining walls walking along with us on the left, and monkeys climbing near the edge of the mountain on the right.  It was cool to see them so close.  Just as I got to the top of the stairs,  a few things happened.  First, I saw these AWESOME elephant door handles that I wanted to put on my front door.  And second, I began to hear to beautiful and peaceful chanting music.  The views were amazing.  I cannot do it justice, so I'll just leave a few pictures for you all to see.

My first view of the temple

Prayer wheels

Another temple on top of the temple

Swayambhu from the back

Prayer flags :)

More Prayer Wheels

Swayambhu Temple

Me in front of Swayambhu

My friends and me in front of the temple

Not sure what was happening, but it was cool to witness

The view from the top of the temple

Earthquake damage on top of the temple hill

We spent some time taking in the views of the temple, then walked down the hill.

Prayer flags on the walk down 

 We walked around the base of the hill again, and looked at the mini temples.  We saw this staircase, and wanted to walk up, but decided that the monkeys would not agree with this decision.  So, instead, we took pictures of the monkeys!

An archway filled with monkeys!

The left side of the archway

The right side of the archway

The archway entrance to Swayambhu

Next, we headed to Thamel for some shopping and lunch.  We shopped for some outdoor gear and souvenirs.  I bought a painting (an elephant of course!) and my elephant door handles.  He originally wanted 2200 rupees for EACH handle--4400 rupees total.  That's 42 USD.  I actually only had 1500 rupees in my pocket.  I told him that, and he kept trying to tell me no, 2000 each, so I said "I have 1500 rupees.  I will give that to you for both." He said no, so I walked away.  Then he said, "OK! You have." So, I went back into the shop.  He tried to tell me to pay 1500 for one, but I told him I wanted both.  He said okay.  So, I got both door handles for 1500 rupees, about 15 USD.  My new bargaining strategy is to tell them I only have that much money!  I'll post a picture once they get on my door.

The street in Thamel

Dropping the girls off at the airport.
Thanks for visiting!

After dropping the girls off at the airport to head back to Mumbai, I went back home and took an amazing, long nap!  It was fun to finally see some of the sights in Kathmandu.  Nepal is such a beautiful place filled with amazing people and I'm thankful to be here.