10-28-2019 – Day 1 in Kathmandu was amazing. We were served a big breakfast from Pradeep’s wife and parents…who spoke no English… but were very sweet. Then at 0730 we were picked up at our hotel by our city guide Rhajevv and our driver Jitendra…who is a crazy driver…but in Nepal you have to be. I thought the drivers in Italy were crazy…
We spent the day with a sightseeing tour of the holy Hindu Temple of Pashupatinath, Patan Durbar Square and the holy Buddhist Stupa of Swayambhunath. All were so beautiful and so different from what we have seen before in our travels.
Durbar Square is in Patan, one of the three ancient cities from which Kathmandu Valley was made up of. It is located in the southern section of Kathmandu. According to legend, the founding of Patan dates back to Pre‐Christian times. Patan was for many years a major Buddhist city and it is believed that it was founded in the third century B.C. which would make it the oldest continuing Buddist town in the world.
Swayambhunath is said to be 2000 years old and is one of Nepal’s most important Buddhist sanctuaries located on a hill top. It is popularly known as ‘Monkey Temple’ because of the large number of monkey population that live in the area. It was so fun to watch them run around and play. There were many new monkey babies. The whole hill of the Swayambhunath is a mosaic of small Chaityas (memorials) and temples and it is one of the only places that you can see the Stupa, Pagoda and Shikar style of temple. It is a sacred Buddhist place of worship, but it is also holy to Hindus as you can also find Hindu shrines here – a fine illustration of the religious tolerance found in Nepal.
We stopped for a great Nepalese lunch and a Nepalese beer at a nice restaurant. We had dhal bat which is a rice dish that you pour lentil soup over and add curried vegetables and meat (we had water buffalo) and buff momos. which are like potstickers. It was very tasty and I was relieved because I was worried about the food. I have read that many people get some form of stomach upset while visiting Nepal…you just have to be careful what you eat and only drink bottled water.
Rajevv took us to a place of a man who makes hand made healing/singing bowls. We knew that we wanted to purchase one so we were excited to see what he had to offer. Singing bowls are a type of bell, specifically classified as a standing bell. Rather than hanging inverted or attached to a handle, singing bowls sit with the bottom surface resting, and the rim vibrates to produce sound. He played several for us and explained how they work for healing. We bought 2 of them. He was a very nice man.
Next we were off to Pashupatinath, one of the holiest temples in the Hindu religion. It sits along the banks of the Bagmati River. Non‐Hindu visitors are only permitted to view the temple from the east bank of the Bagmati River, as entrance into the temple is strictly forbidden to all non‐Hindus. Also along the riverbank is Aryaghat, which is a famous funeral site for Hindus.
The deceased are brought down to the banks of the river, on a bamboo stretcher, where they will have their feet and faces washed. They will then be taken to a prepared platform where they will be cremated. The deceased is placed on a bed of stacked wood. The caretakers are dressed all in white and they place ghee in the mouths of the deceased and on their chests as well to help accelerate the fire. It takes approximately 3 1/2 hours for the body to fully burn. The cremains are then put into the river. It was a fascinating site and we saw 3 cremations already in progress, 1 at the riverbank for the foot/face washing and 1 being carried in a procession to the river.
After our tour, we met with Chhewang at his office to go over specifics of our trek. We met Rikzin, our trekking guide and they spoke to us about what lies ahead with our trek. Jitendra then drove us back to our B & B and we planned to rest a bit before going to dinner. Instead we totally crashed and rested for our trek.