Friday, September 26, 2014

Kathmandu, Nepal

Kathmandu is sensory overload- so many sights, sounds, smells, colors.  It's crazy!

It was founded in the 12th century AD, during the Malla Dynasty at the conflux of the Rivers Bagmati and Vishnumati as part of the trade route to Tibet.  

Our day started bright and early with our flight to see Everest.  Here is an interesting suggestion box in the airport-


This is taken out of the cockpit windshield.  Sagarmatha, or Everest (8848 meters, 29028 feet) is the left bump of the two, slightly to the right of center.  This is the south face of Everest.  We went to the north face base camp in Tibet.


More of the Himalayan mountain range.  One third of the mountain range is in Nepal and 10 of the world's 14 highest mountains are also here.  The latitude is similar to Florida so there is vegetation to 3500 to 4000 meters.


The airplane we went up in -

From here, we went to Monkey Temple, formally known as Swayambhunath, a jumble of Buddhist and HIndu iconography.  This is the stupa at the eastern entrance-


Arriving at the top, this stupa is the center piece of the area. Notice  Buddha's eyes at the top.  The nose like squiggle below the eyes is the Nepali number 'one' or 'ek' which signifies unity.  The third eye signifies the insight of Buddha.  The white dome represents the earth and the thirteen tiered beehive structure on top symbolizes the thirteen stages one must pass through to reach nirvana.  


The rest of the area is a sculpture garden of religious monuments-





Of course, I can't forget the star attractions - a mother macaque and her baby-


Corinne enjoyed a healing bowl treatment -


Here are Corinne and Marianne with prayer flags and Kathmandu in the background-


For supper, it was back to the Everest Steak House and then to a few other bars, always searching for live music and finally to Sam's.  Today was a good day!












1 comment:

  1. Very lucky you got here, we couldnt get intoTibet and our wagon had to stay in Kathmandu, after that it was a flight into Beijing and then public transport
    Buses, trains, and even more trains
    Still it wasnt the companies fault, the Chinese shut the Tibet border
    At least you have the owners on your trip, so it will all go well

    ReplyDelete

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