Bathing Optional

Nepal: Kathmandu Valley and Beyond, Apr. 2007

Continents

Continents

Previous Button

Kathmandu, a very, very vast sea of red brick buildings.
We didnt know what exactly to expect in Kathmandus old quarter. We were stunned to see just how beautiful the Old Royal Palace and the surrounding temples are!
Kathmandus old streets are full of markets and constant motion below the hundreds of pagoda-shaped temples that fill the city.
Our favorite thing about Nepal so far: the all-seeing eyes can be found everywhere!
The ubiquitous bicycle taxi.
The heart of Kathmandu is Durbar Square, the temple and palace filled old town center.
Durbar Square, and Kathmandu as a whole, seem to have an endless supply of amazingly carved wooden temples.
Where theres a temple (and tourists), theres a sadhu looking for donations to keep his holy journey going.
Temple roof and Royal Palace wall.
Inside one of the Royal Palace courtyards.
Welcoming, but locked, door inside the Palace compound.
Palace window.
Palace columns.
No piece of wall lacks ornamentation.
Inside another Palace courtyard.
Lady at the Palace.
Palace flowers.
Back out in Durbar Square, marveling at the wooden temples.
Krishna and his wife peer out of one of the Squares temples windows.
Temple lion.
Durbar Square pagodas.
Temple offerings for sale.
Wooden temples -- beautiful!
Closer to our guesthouse, the mini-Swayambunath stupa. For those that cant climb the hill to the real thing, this stupa sits right in the heart of the city, welcomig all pilgrims and giving the same blessing the real stupa would.
Mini-stupas with Buddha images surround the main stupa.
The stupa with its all-seeing eyes.
The monastery by the stupa.
A young boy spins one of the giant prayer wheels at the monastery.
Stupa eyes. The nose is not a nose but rather the Nepal number one, symbolizing the oneness of all.
All those mini-stupas give the local pigeons lots of places to rest on.
Buddhas covered in powder. Nepals most popular form of Buddhism is practiced by the Newari people of the Kathmandu Valley who have definitely blended Hindu and Buddhist practices.
Nearby, believers nail coins to an old piece of wood. The belief is that one coin will heal one toothache. Today, dozens of dentists shops surround the square.
Shops fill the ground floors of many amazing wooden buildings and temples even.
Temple image.
Temple garuda.
View from the temple.
Sadhu walking the streets.
Nepali man in the market.
We arrived in Kathmandu in time for a festival during which this giant tree-like shrine is pulled around the city.
Boys stand on the rolling shrine.
The giant wooden wheels of the rolling shrine.
Shiva, in his wrathful form, stands in Kathmandus Durbar Square.
One of the more colorful wooden temples in Old Town Kathmandu.
Temple carvings.
Weve seen this before! One of the old squares temples is covered in erotic scenes.
A little help never hurts.
Might as well get the animals in on the action too.
Temple figures.
Temple doors. Should we be frightened to enter?
Lots of these grungy little kids run around the streets of Kathmandu.
Sunset was coming fast so we made the 3 km. walk to Swayambunath, one of two giant stupas found on the outskirts of Kathmandu.
The eyes of Swayambunath on their golden face, a classic Nepal photo.
Love those eyes.
Ashe with a Buddha at the stupa compound.
Surprised monk.
Prayer flags reach for the moon.
Us at Swayambunath.
Mini-stupa with more sets of eyes.
Sunset.
A new day begins in Kathmandu and we follow locals with offerings for the temples of Durbar Square.
Even this early in the morning, the market is already active.
The tallest of Durbar Squares temples was for many years the tallest building in Kathmandu (it was considered bad luck to build anything higher). Bad luck has befallen the city and now this temple opens its doors only once a year for visitors.
Bicycle rickshaws wait for that good luck first fare of the day.
Temple statues are the first to be greeted by visitors.
A man shields his eyes from the sun.
Most of the old wooden temples have beams that are beautifully sculpted and some beams are even painted in beautiful colors.
Man resting on some temple steps.
The beauty of Kathmandu is wandering aimlessly and coming across yet another small square with a temple like this one rising from it.
Nepali children.
Walking through the lanes of southern Kathmandu in the Teku district, we found some kids playing ping pong on a table of concrete and net made of bricks. Maciej couldnt help but join the game.
Temple goats.
Very cute girl we ran into along the Bagmati River in southern Kathmandu.
A group of men chat in a temple courtyard.
The ancient city of Patan, once the capital of a great kingdom independent of Kathmandu, is one of the most beautiful towns to be found anywhere in the Kathmandu Valley.
Like Kathmandu, Patans Durbar Square has the Royal Palace on one side and a scattering of temples on the other.
A golden garuda stands on top of the old Palace, now an amazing museum.
Temple arches.
A Hindu guardian sits on top of a tall pedastal in the center of the old square.
We are disappointed to find that hundreds of shops sell exactly the same goods throughout Kathmandu and Patan.
One of Patans more colorful temples.
Temple guardian.
Ashe with her astrological animal at a temple with a pedestal for each animal.
Should we laugh or be frightened when approaching a beast like this?
Patan children. We saw mothers handing over infants to other kids no older than four years old and walking away, leaving their hardly older brothers and sisters to take care of them.
Theyve got their bases covered at this temple. Can there be any more guardian statues?
Patans ancient springs pump out water at a trickle these days.
Patans Royal Palace is no less impressive than the one in Kathmandu.
Carved beams surround the main courtyard inside the Palace.
Statue of Ganga, goddess of the Ganges River, inside the Royal Palace.
Palace lady with bird in her hand.
Giant lions guard the entrance to the Royal Palace.
Walking the upper balcony of the Royal Palace.
Ashe on one of many window seats inside the incredible history and art museum housed inside the Royal Palace.
Museum garden. The Patan Museum has been called the best museum in the entire Indian Subcontinent.
Ashe on one of the Museum benches.
Nepali men in traditional headgear.
Great design elements cover all the Palace and temple buildings.
Ladies in the square.
The most famous of Patans temples: the Golden Temple. It doesnt look too golden from the outside.
Inside the Golden Temple compound, the golden side of the temple is visible. The gods slide down those golden streamers to answer the prayers of visitors.
Golden images cover the entire front of the temple.
One last look at the pagodas of Patan before we head back to Kathmandu.
Back in Kathmandu by its large, central pond, Rani Pokhari.
We decided to spend a second sunset in a row at one of the great stupas flanking the city. We quickly made our way to Bouda, home of one of the worlds largest stupas, and very famous, Boudinath.
Us with those eyes.
Probably Nepals most famous image.
They DO really seem all seeing.
Thousands do laps around the giant stupa every day.
Sunset over one of forty monasteries surrounding the stupa at Bouda.
Day three in Kathmandu. We visit the countrys largest and most important Hindu temple complex with its golden temple at Pashputinath.
Old town Pashputinath.
An important Hindu temple wouldnt be anything if there werent some sadhus around!
Another sadhu takes an afternoon nap by Nandi the Bull.
Steps lead down to the river from the temple compound.
The temple monkeys put on quite a show for all the visitors as they chased each other arond and did cannonballs into the river!
Along the river, too, are burning ghats for cremations.
Hundreds of mini-temples surround the main temple.
Identical Shiva shrines sit in rows on top of the hill over the temples at Pashputinath.
Us at the temple.
Back in central Kathmandu the market is as lively as ever.
Children look out a window.
Bhaktapur, less than an hour east of Kathmandu, is considered a living museum, a perfect architectural image of life in Nepal several centuries ago. The town is a maze of streets and lanes like this one.
Temple tower, Bhaktapur.
Temple image.
Bhaktapur is known for two things: wood crafting and pottery.
Girl looking down from one of Bhaktapurs windows.
All of Bhaktapur is red brick and wood.
Small square.
Lady in a window.
We arrived near the date of the Nepali New Year. We hoped that that explained this cattle hide offering in front of a small temple that had other animal parts on its steps too.
Nepals tallest pagoda style temple.
Temple woodwork.
Temple steps. As you go up, each figure is considered to be ten time more powerful than the one below.
Bhaktapurs buildings.
With three main squares, Bhaktapur is definitely not short on temples and palaces.
Pagoda style temple.
Girl in the street.
Temple step.
Temple image.
Woodwork.
Offerings probably older than the temple itself can probably be found caked onto every part of any Hindu temple one visits.
Temple turtle.
The eye.
Temple guardians.
Ancient water spout in a now empty cistern.
Cobra!
One of Bhaktapurs main squares.
Stupa style temple.
As usual, there was a temple to be found covered in erotic imagery. This time we will keep our exposition to this one photo as on this particular temple, the images got way to explicit.
Bhaktapur street.
Hanging from an apartment window.
Bhaktapur ladies.
Peering down.
Riding a temple guardian.
Street activity.
Buddha.
Grazers by a Bhaktapur temple.
Bhaktapur scene. Very romantic.
Home security system.
New Years festivities in Bhaktapur.
Watching the shrine carried by.
Festival.
Watching the action as the two groups carrying shrines from opposite ends of town battle it out in the small square.
Newari style.
Watching from the stupa.
Textiles like these hang in most of Bhaktapurs tiny squares.
Bhaktapuri man.
Bhaktapuri girl.
Goodbye Bhaktapur.
Pokhara, Nepals second largest city doesnt feel large at all and gives and reinforces the fact that Nepal is just a one city kind of country. Aptly named Lakeside is where all the foreigners hang out by Pohkaras large lake.
Kids in the lake.
Evening boats on the lake.
Each of our three days in Pohkara ended with thunderstorms. The skies turned grey and the trees by the lake filled with this great species of bird.
Some of our most memorable days this year have been spent on a rented scooter. When we saw that we could get one for $3.50 for the day, we couldnt resist.
Part of our scooter tour of Pokhara included visits to three limestone caves. We kept our helmets on -- it was dark in there and one can never be too careful.
Devi Falls disappear into the rock before bursting back out again from the rock below.
Behind the Falls, another limestone cave.
Tea anyone? Innovative and energy efficient cooker beside the Tibetan monastery outside Pokhara.
Cloudy skies over Pohkara.
Hilltop Tibetan monastery over Pohkara.
On an opposite hill, a small Hindu temple.
Blossoms.
View to the Tibetan monastery from the Hindu shrine.
One our third day in Pohkara we did what most do, we rented a boat for the day.
Why hire a boatman when youve got Maciej onboard.
Ashe, enjoying being paddled around the lake.
Fish temple on a small island on the lake.
Temple guardian.
Relaxing in the boat with one foot in the water.
We docked our boat on the other side of the lake and climbed the hill up to the Peace Pagoda.
View over Lakeside from the Peace Pagoda hill.
View of Machupuchare, one of the Annapurna ranges most famous peaks.
Us at the Peace Pagoda.
From Pohkara, we went south to the historic royal capital, Tansen.
Tansen main temple complex.
Tansens main square and huge palace gate.
Tansen block.
Lady in the street.
Tansen is known for its bronze craftsmen. One of the most famous local pieces is this work over a small temple to Ganesh.
Ganesh.
We came across a small local festival at the temple and this man insisted that we join them.
Girl at the festival.
We were quickly dabbed with rice and red powder and given leaf bowls of festival treats.
Maciej quickly joined a group of boys playing cricket in the temple courtyard.
Our timing was great as this traveling exhibition was in town for the day.
The exhibition displayed photos taken during the civil war of the past decade in Nepal. Beyond one outdoor photo stands the old Tansen Palace which was destroyed during a Maoist attack the previous year.
Life goes on in Tansen following the end of the civil war.
Lumbini, our final stop in central Nepal before heading back to Kathmandu. The entire village is brand new, a work in progress designed by a Japanese architect only several decades ago around the spot where the Buddha was born.
A common sight in Lumbini, the baby Buddha with hand raised to the sky. As the story goes, immediately following his birth, the Buddha took seven steps and lotus flowers bloomed under his feet.
The five precepts by which lay Buddhists should live.
The daughters of our guesthouse owner in Lumbini. Very cute.
An even younger daughter.
Lumbini is a vast, green place with only dirt roads connecting the many widely spaced monasteries that dot the plain.
Thats the spot.
If youve ever visited an active Hindu temple youll understand Rule #4 all too well. We were glad to see this sign.
An old tree in the Sacred Garden surrounding the spot where Buddha was born.
Chipmunk in the tree.
Lumbini is very much a work in progress with only 15 of 35 planned monasteries complete. Buddhist organizations from many foreign nations continue to build their monasteries today.
The Tibetan monastery in Lumbini.
Rose and flower garden at the Tibetan monastery.
Gates to the grand Chinese monastery.
Gate guardians.
The Chinese temple.
The giant Buddha inside the Chinese temple.
Beyond the courtyard of the Chinese temple, the huge Korean temple still under construction.
The temporary altar at the Korean temple brought us back to our time in Korea.
The Japanese temple, still going up.
Lily pond at the gate to the Vietnamese temple.
The Vietnamese monastery.
Huge bird at the Vietnamese temple.
Sunset at the temple.
Sunset over the Austrian temple.
The next day we began at Lumbinis Peace Pagoda.
The German Tara Foundation monastery is one of Lumbinis most beautiful.
The German temple.
Temple stupa.
Baby Buddha at the German temple.
Grass! The German temple was surrounded by a great garden.
Although true to Tibetan style, the German temple still had some style all its own.
The murals on the German temples walls were some of the best wed seen as the individual style of each artist was quite clear.
Lotus blossoms in the pond.
Lotus flowers.
Original art.
More original art.
The Thai monastery.
Thais love their goldleaf.
The Burmese temple.
The Burmese golden pagoda through Ashes eyes.
The golden pagoda, just like in Myanmar!
Buddha reflection.
Us at sunset near the Chinese temple.
Sunset over the water in Lumbini.
The key chain for our room in Lumbini. The devil heart added to the end certainly adds some punch to the message.

View all picture thumbnails...

Move your mouse over a pin on the map and you will see some information here!