Marilyn's Odyssey: Kathmandu Wakes Up, Patan and Swayambhunath

On Friday October 26th we started our day early at 0530 so we could observe the city waking up. We went to the heart of Kathmandu’s old town and spent a few hours walking around the streets, through Durbar Square and the Hanuman Dhaka Temple complex. It was absolutely fascinating. The streets were alive with vendors of every kind. As the stores themselves do not open until 10 or 11 people from the country or out lying areas bring their produce or meat and spices into the city and spread it out on the pavement for sale. Others are selling clothes, purses household goods,etc. People are sitting around in groups drinking coffee and eating. Bikes and tuk tuks weave through the crowds. It is sort of an organized mayhem. A policeman who was stationed to watch over stood on the corner reading a book. On our walk about we visited the home of the living Goddess. In Kathmandu each of the three city area has a Living Goddess and has had for centuries. I had read about this before we went on this journey so I was particularly interested to visit this home though of course one does not get to see the Goddess herself. The other thing I found interesting was how many people were out cleaning up the mounds of garbage that had accumulated on the streets. Even though many of the streets are dirt and things are very dusty they are doing their best to keep things as clean as possible.

We then visited Patan which is known as the city of fine arts and along with Kathmandu and Bhaktapur make up the three cities of the Kathmandu valley though they all run together now and are only separated by a bridge. Patan is a center for artists and craftsmen and is known for its fine metalwork. We visited the palace square where part of the palace has been turned into a wonderful museum which offered an excellent introduction to the Buddhist and Hindu art and religion of Nepal. While there we saw a wonderful Buddha of compassion which we both loved and luckily our guide Yam helped us find one that was made in Patan that will forever remind us of our wonderful journey to this unique part of the world.

Our last stop was at Swayambhunath which is a 2500 year old shrine located on the top of a hill in Kathmandu. First of all the panoramic views of the city were spectacular and made one realize just how large the city is. This shrine is unique as it a mix of both Buddhist and Hindu worship and is a place they both worship in harmony further demonstrating the acceptance of religious freedom in Nepal. This shrine is also known as the monkey temple as hundreds of monkeys live on the hill and can be seen playing amongst the shrines. A Buddhist stupa is in the center of the shrine but there are also prominent Hindu shrines as well.

Our last evening in Kathmandu we had a lovely cocktail party followed by a farewell dinner. Two weeks have flown by as we say goodbye to new found friends and countries. It has been an amazing adventure and I still am in awe that we have actually stood at Everest base camp. We have experienced cultures like we have never seen and are richer for it. How blessed we are to learn through travel. Looking forward to the next adventure!