Pashupatinath Hindu Temple
The Pashupatinath Hindu temple complex located near the airport presents a great opportunity for people watching and absorbing the local culture.
The taxi dropped us off at the main entrance where you walk through the stalls of offerings for sale, a colorful display of marigolds and shiny objects.
At the entrance to the main temple they make it plain that non-Hindus are not allowed inside.
You can walk around back but the main action is at the cremation ghats along the Bagmati river.
Here they preform cremations and other ceremonies in the filthy yet sacred water. It’s Varanasi, India on a much smaller scale.
The prettier part of the complex is up the path to the Lingam shrines where numerous small brick shrines sit under large shade trees. Dogs take advantage of the quiet warm morning.
Boudhanath Stupa
From here we walked to the Guhyeshwari Temple, crossed the river and on to the Boudhanath stupa, one of the largest in the world.
The walk passes through a gritty neighborhood and a nicer middle class neighborhood before hitting Boudhanath Sadak, the main drag, where the sidewalk and street are completely torn up and cows block the way. Just getting here is an adventure.
The street encircling the enormous stupa is a cross between an outdoor mall and a Disneyland theme street with tidy (for Nepal that is) shops, restaurants and Tibeten gompas. Happy tourists walk around the first level of the stupa getting their pictures taking with those eyes.
Whitewashers continually paint the structure, mixing the paint on the lower level and then splashing it on where needed.
If you ever wondered how those golden arches are formed.
Lunch at the Boudha Roadhouse offers great views of the stupa activity along with a tasty pizza.
October 25, 2018
For links to all the posts in this series see the Nepal page.