Nepal

The streets of Kathmandu seem almost deserted when we drive out of the airport at 11.30pm. It is raining and about 25 degrees cooler than it was in Varanasi.

We have booked to stay at the Life Story Guest-house in Patan, once an independent city state but now more like a suburb of Kathmandu.

We arrive at an old ornate gate and ring the guest-house to be let in. Inside is a whole square of houses and temples with a large communal space in the middle. The area has obviously sustained some earthquake damage but our guest-house is intact (which of course I knew before we arrived).

It is an ancient old building with very low beamed ceilings which is fine for Roger and a little harder for me. It is cosy and clean and we love the quiet seclusion as we creep into our beds at 1am.

At 4am the quiet seclusion is shattered by the ringing of multiple bells and chanting. With both a Hindu and a Buddhist temple, I think we’ve got the pre dawn ceremonies covered.

There are also about ten resident dogs who join in. The first night in a new place is always a little unsettled. I read that like whales, humans sleep with the left side of their brain still alert for danger when in new surroundings. Even so, the off-duty right hand side of my brain can’t sleep through this cacophony!

We do very little on our first day and try to catch up on some sleep. We are invited out with Nepalese friends of my dear friend Beccah who lived in the Kumbu region of Nepal as a child. It was she and her parents, Di and John who were very influential in our decision to come to Nepal.

Tashi and his wife Shanti, take us to their favourite local restaurant for some Newari food.

I’m not sure what’s transpired for us as a family since leaving home. It is possible that we had no table manners in the first place, but on arrival at the restaurant, the kids resume their ‘at home’ stance of rolling around (admittedly we are sitting on cusions on the floor so the ground is tempting) and pinching and biting each other.

It is a lovely evening with such nice people but we are a little mortified by the children’s behaviour. One of the aims of travelling was to develop savvy and social kids who made conversation at dinnertimes in restaurants, not little rabid biters.

The next day is our last full day in Kathmandu until our return in two weeks to fly out, so it’s the the day to explore.

Unfortunately, it is also the day that Jasper has vomiting and diarrhoea. Despite Jasper vomiting in a gutter on our way down the road, we make him travel around in a tiny taxi all day, in which four of us are squashed across the back seat.

He vomits continuously and the day ends with a toilet catastrophe in a restaurant in Tamel where he is stranded on the toilet, his pooh having exploded out the sides of the seat and on to the floor. I am at a loss, especially as his shorts need a wash and he has pooh all over his shoes. Half an hour later I have sorted the problem as best as I can but all in all it is a shitty Mother’s day.

We do however, see some amazing things today.

Kathmandu city is unbelievably congested and much of the rubble that is lying around was possibly there before last year’s Earthquake. It’s a wonder that not more buildings came down. It is perhaps because of the haphazard nature of building, with so many structures seemingly clinging to each other, that reduced the number of buildings that did fall down. Perhaps if they were buildings in New Zealand, they would have been demolished afterwards for safety. Certainly the free standing very old structures around the city, like those in the Kathmandu Durbar Square, seem to have suffered the worst.

Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple)

While we are at the Monkey temple, a bus load of “tourist Monks” turn up. Monk for a month was a Facebook page I joined at one stage, thinking that perhaps we might give that a go. Seeing about 60 of them pile off a bus in their robes with special souvenir monk bags, their sun hats and their American accents made me feel relieved that we hadn’t followed that tourist path.

I wonder if perhaps we might be better suited to “punk for a month”, as much as I would like to think I am following the path to enlightenment. Perhaps Roger could look into that as a little money-making scheme on our return home.

Pashupatinath Hindu Temple, costs too much and having spent quite some time near the funeral pyres recently, we decide that we will just wander around the outside, especially with a vomiting boy waiting in the taxi.

A Nepalese elderly home. Slightly more interesting than Selwyn Village.

The Boudunarth Stupa, the largest in the world, has lost its top in the earthquake and there is a lot of work going on to rebuild it.

The Kathmandu Durbar Square is very beautiful but has sustained a lot of earthquake damage and the old palace looks like it is only just hanging on. The carvings, many of which are stacked in piles along the walls, are so intricate and beautiful and have been taken down until repairs are made.

At least three of the large temples have come down completely.

 

The most intriguing part of the day is visiting the living goddess.
She is a pre-pubescent girl who lives in a building within the square. Apparently her feet never touch the ground outside as she is always carried.

We feel sorry for a girl who is kept inside and never allowed to mix with others and hatch a plan to smuggle her away but when she comes to the window and looks at us with slight contempt (not to mention that she is also chewing gum and wearing far too much ceremonial make up) we change our minds. She stands at the window for a few seconds and then disappears from view (back to Facebook, Jasper reckons).

The home of the living goddess.

This is the only living goddess we could photograph.

Back at the Life Story Guest-house there are prayers at the temple…

…and people are going about their business.