Nepal's not for the faint hearted and that's why it's ace!

Day 247 - Monday 15 September 2008

I'm glad that I had 34,569 miles of travel behind me before I arrived in Kathmandu - for it's certainly the place most removed from what I used to know before I left England - Nepal still feels 'relatively' untouched by the influences of the west - and it's still awesomely shifty - I can't walk the streets of the backpacker area of Thamel without receiving whispered offers of opium and hash - and that would have made me jump earlier this year - but not this new version of me - the one who's wandering the back streets of Kathmandu in bewilderment, excitement and muddy shoes!

Kathmandu is exactly what I've been searching hard to find - a vibrant, alive, big city in a topographical location surrounded by mountains - Queenstown had it but I wouldn't call that a city - Denver or La Paz didn't have it because of distance and smog respectively - but it's here - there's simply nothing better in travel than sitting on a roof top cafe in the centre of Kathmandu and looking across a mass of ancient roof tops to the foothills of the biggest mountain range in the world (in every direction) ... the Himalaya

Himalaya is the Sanskrit word for 'abode of snow' and I'm having such a great week in anticipation of what's to come when I trek to Everest Base Camp via Gokyo

http://www.intrepid-travel.com/trips/NXH

I've bought my new shoes/boots (Adidas!), stocked up on bin bags to keep my stuff dry, found high factor sunscreen, negotiated cheap 'knock off' The South Face shirts and socks, donated my old t-shirts to Porters Progress, got myself a trekking map (so I know which mountain I'm looking at!) and realised that I'll be crossing a glacier (surrounded many others) that have deep crevasses and make Franz Josef in New Zealand look like a puppy - bring it on!

But that's all to come - it's making me the most excited I've been for a long time - and it could be that reason that's making my exploration of the medieval treasures of the Kathmandu Valley so enjoyable - I think most people blow through here on their way to go trekking - which I can understand - a couple of weeks holiday doesn't give you any time to spare - but yet again I've been reminded how special it is to be a year long traveller - all the money in the world can't buy this opportunity if the chance to lever time out of a busy life doesn't come along (busy doing what?!)

And what can I say about Kathmandu? - well - maybe the best description is that it feels timeless - it has been influenced by the west over the years - but it seems like it's shrugged off or ignored many of those influences - for example - while many of the world's countries have been taking their centuries old stone Buddhas and sticking them in museums behind a piece of glass - Nepal has unashamedly left them in the back streets to be worshipped by local people where their parents, grandparents and great grand parents worshipped them - and not in a 'look at it and admire' style of worship - but in a rub it for luck, place offerings on it and enjoy it style! - and it's great to see - yes - it'll come at an ultimate cost - many statues of the Hindu God, Ganesh, are worn down to nothing and only identifiable by the red paste on their trunks (he's got an elephant head after his dad Vishnu cut his human one off and replaced it with the next living being he came across!) - but who's to say these religions (Hinduism and Buddhism of Nepal) aren't right!

And what incredible artifacts and architecture abound here in the Kathmandu Valley - this is the REAL DEAL - the way Ceej Jackson beautifully described my adventure is the perfect description here - 'penniless as a church mouse but rich in so many ways' - if Thailand was the IKEA of worship (all new, shiny and looking a bit plasticky) then Nepal is the local antiques shop in Dorchester-on-Thames (all old, dusty and solidly built to last) - a living, breathing, creaking, bustling museum with 750,000 curators - for these treasures are everywhere - on every street corner, behind every corner shop and in every alley - worship has never been so accessible - or so real - I mistakenly suggested Vietnam had the densest concentration of UNESCO World Heritage sites - but I was wrong although only half a continent out - it's statistically here in the Kathmandu Valley

The place to head first is the Durbar Square of Kathmandu - in Nepal's history there were 3 ancient cities based close to each other and each with their own Durbar Square (or downtown/city centre/Central Business District) - Kathmandu's is the busiest, Patan's the prettiest and Bhaktapur's the furthest away from here!

There's a cracking quick section on Nepali history here on Wikipedia that'll save me a lot of typing that I might lose (for Kathmandu has continual controlled power cuts at peak times of the day and evening - going off on the hour and back on the hour! - for political reasons of control if I understand correctly)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepal

These Durbar Squares are from the 15 th Century and covered in a combination of Royal Palaces, Hindu and Buddhist Temples, statues of Kings and images of Gods in various forms - this one from Kathmandu is of Seito (White) Bhairab - a fierce manifestation of Shiva who put paid to the goat I saw before I went to lunch and came back to this scene - look closely on the ledge!

For I'm solidly in the land of Hinduism here - more Nepalis are Hindu than Buddhist and it feels more Indian here than I expected - although the influence from across the Himalaya's is big here as well and Tibetan Buddhism has fused with Hinduism in a wonderful way that's very accepting and understanding - Tibetans in exile live here in large numbers although there's a current move from the Government to shift them back over the mountains if they don't have the right paperwork - the influences here are mystical, outrageous and very Indy 2 (a movie that maybe wasn't as well received in the UK and USA 'cos of ignorance about Hinduism - I'm appreciating it a whole lot more already) - the temples here are like nothing I've seen before - so sacred they're all padlocked up and the deities inside hidden from prying eyes - yet stepped brilliantly to make great viewing platforms of the surrounding area and their next door neighbours - here's a view of the Shiva/Parvati Temple from the top of Jagannath Temple (whose roof struts are resplendent in erotic figures as a sign of the Gods' fertility and linked, of course, to the Kama Sutra - available in all good book shops here - and some rubbish ones)

And here's a shot of Shiva/Parvati looking out on Kathmandu's Durbar Square from the dancing platform a few minutes after the last one was taken - while the Khmers were experts in stone carving - the Newaris (the name for the peoples of the Kathmandu Valley) were bloody good at wood carving - it's a combination of original stuff and restoration funded from around the world following, often, the destructive earthquake of 1934

Wandering through Kathmandu's Durbar Square is just like jumping in a Doc Brown time machine - it's partly due to the incredible architecture so close to each other you can almost lean each way and touch a UNESCO listed building - but mainly because of the sights and sounds from the people - 2 people on bicycles, elegant women in saris, sadhus (Hindu holy men - mostly fakes!) asking for baksheesh, street kids begging for your spare rupees, students wanting to give you an unofficial guided tour and a rusty old ticket booth ...

Kathmandu's sights are incredibly accessible because this is a compact capital - it's all very walkable - providing you don't mind the craziness, have a good sense of direction, a map, a compass and have hung out enough with 'Tracker Swift' (who needs GPS!) - I spent a day walking the few km's out to Swayambhunath (UNESCO of course!) which sits proudly on top of the only hill around Kathmandu and possesses some of the best views in the world

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swayambhunath

The journey out took me though the backstreets of Kathmandu where there's not a tourist in sight (in fact the place is very, very quiet - a combination of a decade of Maoists and the global economy) - this main road was a great example of how lucky we are in the UK - something to ponder next time you're stuck in traffic ...

Swayambhunath is a Buddhist temple originally from around 460AD - it's central stupa (work it out!) dominates the local area and on this very hill the Lord Buddha (Shakyamuni) conducted teachings - neat!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakyamuni

It's one of a few places of pilgrimage for Tibetans (and Nepalis) in the Kathmandu Valley and is surrounded by prayer wheels that take over an hour to walk round and spin (while chanting the Avalokitesvara mantra 'Om Mani Padme Hum') - I made it halfway round before I got lost and ended up back on top of the hill -maybe 'cos I didn't do the chanting and, consequently, wasn't shown the right way! - but that's all good for on top of the hill was a lovely Russian bloke who took the shot of me at the start of this blog (that's Kathmandu right behind me) and troops of macaque (anyone know?!) monkeys who charge around like they own the place (I wonder if they hassled Shakyamuni) and eat the rice offerings straight out of solid gold shrines (have they no religious conscience!)

On the way back I found a very cool piece of graff on a crumbling wall in another back street that my brother Rich will appreciate? - I'm loving the monocle and the flowers emanating from the bomb whose symbolism I'll take as 'peace' - sadly it was tagged with a western looking name - I guess and hope that local artists are too busy doing religious stuff that will see them re-born in one of the higher realms

For the principle of birth and re-birth (endless suffering called 'samsara' until you achieve 'enlightenment') is the dominant belief in Buddhism/Hinduism and the peoples I've been meeting since 10 June when I landed in Asia - everyone does good deeds (for all worldly beings and by praying to the Gods) to create good 'karma' and better themselves in the next life - this is a major reason why this continent is so accessible to travellers) - and I don't think I was a bad student - so why didn't my education tell me about all this important stuff?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_spiritual_realms

By the way my accommodation here at the Kathmandu Guest House is luxury, budget (9 quid a night) travel - the first hotel in Kathmandu the KGH is an old Rana palace (a past ruling dynasty of Nepal) and is very Prince of Persia - see!

Not happy to let another UNESCO site sit on the other side of the city I took a tiny Suzuki Swift (too many mentions now!) taxi ride and and went to Patan's Durbar Square - more densely packed and in better condition than Kathmandu's (European restoration money I'm pleased to say and I think German) it looked beautiful first thing in the morning with the sun out (it's a temperate 25 degrees and sunny most of the time now the monsoon season is pretty much done - there we are - a weather check for the British readers!)

The octagonal Krishna Temple (front left above) was cool and the Royal Palace (all the way down the right) was stunningly restored into the Patan Museum and a lesson for the world in how to blend old and new (described regularly as the best museum on the sub-continent) - this link has ace pictures - 'cos it's a rarity - a museum where you can snap away - another example of Nepal enjoying it's treasures!

http://www.asianart.com/patan-museum/

It was interesting to meet a couple of young, upwardly mobile Nepali guys who were visiting their capital from home close to the Indian border - their English was excellent, they were checking out the joys of Patan, they must have been from Nepal's higher castes and they both had a better version of the Sony Cybershot than me - for all of Nepal's obvious poverty it is developing - this guy's name has slipped my mind (I've never shaken so many hands and exchanged names with so many people in all my life - Nepali's make even the amazingly open people of the Mekong look shy!)

And the best part of these Durbar Squares is arguably the side streets - away from the crowds and the hustle there are more and more ancient temples waiting to be discovered and explored - this shot is from the Kwa Bahal Temple in Patan and all that stuff is SOLID gold - well I say solid gold - I've worked out now that it's not gold paint or gold leaf - the structure and statues have been cast in a metal such as bronze and then gilded in gold - gold and mercury were mixed together before being applied to the object - the mercury was then driven off by heat leaving a gold treasure for us to enjoy and probably a dead craftsman - check out the Nepali guy on the right wearing a traditional topi (on his head)and the accompanying waistcoat - he looks great!

And then as if all this wasn't enough yesterday was one of the most amazing afternoon's of this entire journey - I'm talking top 5 stuff! - you may well have been browsing the travel section of your local book store and seen one of those 'When to travel where' books from Lonely Planet or The Rough Guide - I checked them out and used them a tiny bit - but it's impossible to line up a jounrey round the whole globe using them and, actually, they're not the best times to visit for general appreciation of sights (try visiting Buckingham Palace during the coronation of a King or Queen) - but, as if by magic, I fell lucky - back in Kathmandu's Durbar Square it was Indra Jatra - Indra Jatra is one of Nepal's biggest festivals (arguably the biggest but they have so many!) and celebrates the leader of the Hindu's Vedic Gods, Indra - it marks the end of the monsoon season and it's fair to say that Durbar Square gets busy - just compare the shot below with the 4th shot of this blog - the same place - the same ancient lion statues - but Nepali's aren't going to miss the opportunity for a better view!

And that view is of a living Goddess called the Kumari who lives in the Kumari Ghar in Durbar Square until the day she reaches puberty when she becomes mortal - she only appears 13 times a year and only once (at Indra Jatra) is she paraded around for all the people to see - I feel pretty honoured to have seen her - I love all this myhtology and now I understand why those specialist travel books are written - it's very, very powerful to be amongst all the local people taking part in their celebrations - I respect their religion and I'd like to join in the believing - but do YOU think this little girl is a re-incarnation of the Hindu deity Shiva (the Destroyer) one of the Trivurti ...

And boy what a carnival followed the procession of the Kumari - the Nepali's really know how to socialise and have a sense of community - there was no rushing off before the last downs/plays (like they would have done in the USA) - they stuck around for hours and hours after the event just enjoying each others company - this is is how the world should work! - by the way - after she'd passed I survived a mini police baton charge to shift some teenagers off some creaky scaffolding - I just looked straight at them, tried to stay calm/assess the situation and thankfully they stopped before everyone laughed at the adrenaline rush - no real danger!

Some of the highlights of the following fun (for there was so much going on in the fantastic late afternoon sun) were an elephant charging through the crowds accompanied by a big flaming torch!

A Nepali dance off accompanied only by hand clapping, nearby people singing, a central distant drum (that I never did see) and the odd cymbal (similarly hiding!)

BBC World News creating a report using a Nepali cameraman, a tripod, a camcorder and about a hundred inquisitive helpers - it was actually a really important Indra Jatra because the Kumari traditionally blessed the King for the year ahead - however - because of fluctuating politics here in Nepal yesterday she blessed the French republic style President

And just generally being amongst it all was a pleasure and I hope it's not derogatory to say it was like being in a medieval festival (that word's used a lot to describe Nepal and it's period of incredible architecture) - it felt like I was living the scenes from Robin Hood when Robin turned up at the local festival in disguise to win the bow and arrow contest - magical!

And that's that for the Kathmandu Valley - well - I've actually got a couple more UNESCO's to see but maybe I'll save them just for me - there's enough here to mark my memorable arrival in Nepal - so no IIJCDI for about 3 weeks - how will we all cope - this bumper edition will just have to keep us all satisfied - and maybe the break will do me good - these last couple of posts have felt too much like a job despite how much I enjoy it! - for I have one of life's ultimate challenges ahead of me - to visit the top of the world - at my current standard of trekking anyway - hopefully I'll be blogging triumphantly in a few weeks not about how I changed the Himalayas but how the Himalayas changed me - see you on the other side you lovely blog fans!