KKKKK Katmandu!
Woke fairly early, around 5:30am, so still a little off on the time zone. Showered up and went down for breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Good selection of eats; yogurt, fruit, cereal, and a hot station with potatoes, veggie wrap (spicy!), hot dogs (yep, not sausage), and pasta. I went for the omelet station and ordered up a veggie omelet. Couldn’t carry my meal back to the table, the hotel staff insisted on doing that for me. Refreshing to have someone “wanting” to wait on you.
Today we’re touring with Paras and his driver to see the 3 main UNESCO sites that make up Kathmandu Valley. The three areas are Kharipati (Kathmandu), Patan, and Bhaktapur. In ancient times (1300-1800AD), the three districts were ruled by three brothers, the Malla Dynasty. Each district was known for a special focus, for example, during ancient times, Patan was known as the financial district while Bhaktapur was known for artisans.
At Patan Durbar
Each of the three districts were similar in construction. All had a central square or “Durbar” that consisted of several temples built to honor Buddha, statues to honor their ruler, and a courtyard where the locals could gather for celebrations. But let me say right up front, there is no way I can remember everything Paras told us about the history of this area so the Reader’s Digest version is the best you’re going to get.
Let’s back up a bit and start from the beginning. Kathmandu Valley was once thought to be an ancient sea. Legend has it that the Demi-God Manjushree Bodhisattva cut a swath out of the Himalayas with his sword and drained the valley. Because it was a sea bed, the land was very fertile and farming prospered. Legend or no there is archeological evidence that there was a sea located in this valley millions of years ago. Fossil evidence found indicates there were large sea creatures, mollusks, fish, etc. that existed in this “valley”. Legend???
Fast forward to ancient times, around 85AD. There have been statues and artifacts found during excavations that were dated to this time period making Kathmandu one of the world’s oldest continually inhabited cities.
Back to our story…The Malla Dynasty became the target of another ruler located in the mountains near Kathmandu. In 1762, Prithvi Narayan Shah decided he could not directly attack Kathmandu and win so a blockade was set to force the town to surrender. At this time, Kathmandu was a key hub in trade with China and Tibet. The strategy worked. As more trade was restricted, the locals began to side with the new “king” and soon were fighting along side the invaders for independence. This dynasty didn’t last too long, 1768 to 2008 when the Provisional Parliament decided to end the monarchy.
The people living here have two main religions, Buddhism (20%) and Hinduism (72%), but to them it is more than a religion. Here your belief is considered a lifestyle, not something you practice on a special day of the week and forget about the rest of the time. Here, living by the teachings of “religion” is considered normal, how things are suppose to be, how we should treat others and be treated ourselves. That is the secret of their happiness and why they are so pleasant and helpful.
So, what about the UNESCO sites??? Let’s move on! First stop, Patan or Lalitpur (pur meaning city). Paras collected our 1,000 rupees for the entrance fee (about $7US) and began describing the multiple temples, carvings, and statues that make up the Durbar. The most important monument of the city is Patan Durbar Square, which has been listed by UNESCO as one of seven Monument Zones that make up the Kathmandu Valley World Heritage Site. The key attraction here is the medieval royal palace where the Malla Kings of Lalitpur resided.
The King’s bath
Krishna Mandir temple
The Monkey God
Palace courtyard and location of annual animal sacrifices (still)
Shiva temple with spirit ladder
King Yog Narendra Malla. He will reign as long as the bird is above his head.
The next stop was Changunarayn Temple, built in 4th century AD and dedicated to Lord Vishnu, one of the three key deities of Hinduism. The courtyard surrounding the temple has numerous buildings, in traditional pagoda style, honoring several other Hindu Gods, such as Lord Shiva, Ashta Matrika, Chhinnamasta, Kileshwor and Krishna. The main temple itself has the ten iterations of Lord Vishnu as roof support statues around the outside of the building. A quick segway…one of the difficulties in understanding Hinduism or Buddhism is with the multiple iterations of each “God”. It is unclear if there are 3,000 iterations of gods, or 330 million iterations.
Temple dedicated to Shiva from 11th century
Prayer fires
Sharabha or angry Shiva 7th century carving
Shiva iteration
Time for a lunch break at one of the local restaurants at our last stop for the day, Bhaktapur, the third of our three UNESCO sites. We both elected to have the traditional meal, dal dhat, or Thali Set, consisting of chicken curry, rice, lentil soup, bamboo soup, veggies, pickles, and their famous sweet yogurt. And just so you don’t think Nepal is totally backwards, we also had a nice glass (ok, two) of chardonnay by Jacobs Creek. Less than $8 per glass!!!
Traditional Nepalese meal
After a bit of a rest, time to see our last site for the tour. Bhaktapur, a living heritage museum with craftsmen still producing pottery, metal works, and paintings in traditional settings and methods. Manual spinning wheels are still used to turn clay into pots, vases, and other daily use items. Hand carvings and hammerings are still the method of producing amazing wooden figurines and metal works. Master painters create intricate designs of Hinduism, some using brushes that contain a single hair for extreme detail. And one of the most amazing art forms, sand mandala, or sand painting where several Buddhist monks will gather to create a scene from their teachings. Sometimes taking as long as months to finish. After the “painting” has been enjoyed by others, the monks will destroy their work by placing it in a river or lake.
YASP (Yet another Shiva pagoda)
Pottery market in Bhaktapur
Ancient rest areas for trade travelers
sand mandala
Swastika has been used in Hinduism for centuries
South East Asia influence to pagoda
Wedding couple in Bhaktapur
That’s it for today. Time to fight our way back to Kathmandu and our hotel for the evening. Tonight we’re going to a local restaurant by our hotel for Mo-Mo’s, another Nepalese traditional meal. Tomorrow we head to Pokhara in northern Nepal for a few days before continuing on into the mountain region of Annapurna mastiff. Til then…alavida ( pronounced “ala vee day” goodbye in Nepalese)