So today I decided to climb some more stairs, not nearly as many as the Tiger Cave Temple in Thailand, but stairs nonetheless.
After waking up, watching Biden’s speech live (the vote was already over), and getting a visit from the local pharmacist who’s checking up on my cold, I headed out. I walked east, through Kathmandu neighborhoods hoping for the best. I found my way across the river and up toward the temple. At the bottom, there’s a large gateway flanked by prayer wheels and gold buddhas. There’s only 365 stairs and little gold shrines line the way. One the way up, you get your usual vendors hocking local goods, very few monkeys (I think I only saw 5) and a small calf.
At the top, I was a little surprised. There were very few tourists and many many people with offerings for the temples. Despite a slight wind, my eyes were burning from all of the incense and candles that had been lit. There were groups of people singing what sounded like hymns and many leaving trays of food. I was very surprised – I went up expecting a tourist trap and I saw almost nothing but very faithful people.
There are several temples at the top and a Buddhist “museum”. I went into several buildings, but didn’t take pictures because too many people were praying and I didn’t want the flash going off. The museum was nothing but an array of Buddhas and I was surprised that people were in there praying as well. It was really nice to see. There were spectacular views of Kathmandu and many prayer flags flying. I need to buy some of those before I leave.
I spent about an hour up there just watching everything that was going on. When I finally went down, I met a young Nepali boy who spoke English exceptionally well. We talked for a while and he asked if I’d give him money to buy a box of bisquits. I asked him why and he said that he wanted to hand it out to the poor people who were lining the stairs. Having come from India, I thought it was probably a scam of some sort, but he was so charming, I thought what the hell. I asked him if I could buy the box for him and he went for it. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, a man came up very quickly, put a bindi on my forehead and wanted money. I didn’t have small enough change so the boy told him that I’d be back. We crossed the street to a small café. I bought a little something for me, a juice for him, and the box of bisquits (basically crackers loaded with calcium). We talked for a while, he gave me his phone number at home and took my email address. I gave him 10 rupee to give the bindi man and he took off. I watched and sure enough, he paid the man the money and the man waved at me. Then I watched him go back up the stairs and hand out small stacks of the bisquits to the poor people until it was gone. What a good kid! And a good $1 spent. I’m sorry I kinda doubted him.
Afterwards, I wandered around town and got a little lost. I wandered for many Nepali neighborhoods and saw absolutely no westerners for about 45 minutes. No one even batted an eye – they would just smile at me and say “Namaste”. I love this place. Anyway, I ended up at a small man made lake with a temple in the middle. Saw a bazaar and kept walking in what I thought was the right general direction. I eventually found a street of stores for goods like Nikon, Citizen watches, etc. It was far more modern than what I had seen. Eventually, I made a right turn on a cobbled road hoping for the best. Then a man in a booth asked me for money. I asked for what and he said Durbar Square! I knew where I was. Luckily, I had paid yesterday and taken my ticket into a tourist office to get it extended for my entire stay. I got in for free and found my way back to the Happy Home Guest House (yes, that’s the name in case I hadn’t mentioned it before). It was all good fun.
The rest of the day has been lunch, exchanging money, and showing one of the boys who works here my photos from Thailand. He’s a Buddhist and was interested in seeing the temples there. Tomorrow, I’m going to explore some more areas of the city and start planning my trips out of Kathmandu after watching the convention. I’m 12 hours and 45 minutes ahead of you, so the convention is a very convenient thing to watch as I’m getting ready in the morning.
And to all of you cyclists out there, check out www.bikehimalayas.com. If I had only known, I would have brought some of my cycling gear. Perhaps we should do a Bella camp through this company …
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