10th December: First day in Kathmandu

We made the most of the surprisingly good buffet breakfast at the hotel before heading into town. We first walked around Thamel, the touristy area of Kathmandu, in search of a Lonely Planet guidebook.  This took no time at all. The bookshops were very well furnished and also sold guidebooks for other countries, including France and England. Walking on the streets of Kathmandu left us struggling to get used to the noise and traffic. John thought it was much more hectic than when he was here ten years ago. The rule as we understood it is that cars may stop for pedestrians but motorcycles will not. I could certainly not get used to the strident honk that they use when passing by. Apparently they are not authorised to use it, but it does not seem to be strictly applied or enforced.

Parade on the streets of Thamel, women wearing the traditional Newari sari

We retreated for tea in the Garden of Dreams, beautiful gardens built in the 1920s by a Nepalese general who had been inspired by English-type gardens. The waiters presented us with the bill quite quickly, explaining us that they would close soon as they were on strike. From what we understood, their wages had not been raised as promised, and they were thus quietly pausing work for 4 hours during the day, a very civilised way of being on strike I thought. We strolled around the gardens before bracing ourselves and heading back onto the chaotic streets of Kathmandu.

View of the Garden of Dreams from our table as we enjoyed our tea

The terrace where we were seated, guarded by elephants

Banner explaining the motives for the strike

From there we followed the walking tour suggested by the Lonely Planet, taking us from Thamel all the way south to the Durbar Square (palace square), which boasted an impressive collection of 17th and 18th century Buddhist and Hindu temples. The tour first took us to various Buddhist stupas and Hindu temples, and we started familiarising ourselves with elements from those religions/philosophies. One interesting aspect of Nepali life is the peaceful cohabitation between Hinduism and Buddhism, as there may be a Buddhist stupa next to a Hindu temple and we noticed that Hindu deities are sometimes represented on Buddhist temples. The streets were getting less touristy as we ventured further from Thamel, with no more travel agencies or restaurants advertising continental food, but were no less busy.

Kathesimbhu Stupa, a very popular Tibetan pilgrimage site in Kathmandu

Statue of Buddha (6th c.)

Stone relief of Shiva and Parvati in Uma Maheshwar (9th c.)

Football in Yatkha Bahal, an open courtyard with a central stupa 

Cows blocking the exit from Yatkha Bahal

Seto Machhendranath Temple, which attracts both Buddhists and Hindus

One interesting object of worship was a piece of wood on which people had nailed coins. The coins are offerings to the toothache god, who is represented by a small image on the piece of wood. Not coincidentally a lot of dentists offer their services nearby, below signs of gleaming smiles (I was not particularly reassured by the look of their practices though).

Piece of wood with coins surrounding the Toothache god

Dental practices near the representation of the Toothache god

Most of the houses on the streets were pretty decayed but some exhibited beautiful carved wooded windows and balconies. After about 1h30 wandering around the streets, we reached Durbar square. We had a quick look around before having a break for lunch at a rooftop restaurant, from which we had a good view over one part of the square.

Kathmandu's busy Durbar square

Lunch at the terrace of a rooftop restaurant

After lunch we resumed our visit, relying on the explanations of the handout and on the Lonely Planet. Plenty of guides, all similarly insistent, offered their services but we had decided to wander on our own for the first day (one of them spoke impressively good French though). The place undoubtedly had a very rich historical heritage, a lot of the temples and buildings around the square dated from the 17th and 18th centuries. One of the temples is even said to have been built in the 12th century, from the wood of a single tree. In addition, it is a very popular area for locals, who come here to worship or watch time pass by from the steps of the temples.

Kala Bhairab, the most fearsome aspect of Shiva

Taleju temple, not open to the public (16th c.)

Inside one of the temples called Kumari Bahal resides the living goddess Kumari, a young girl selected to be the town's goddess (there are similar living goddesses in towns around Kathmandu). Unfortunately, she did not appear at her balcony while we were there. The selection process to be elected as the new Kumari is very strict; the young girl must in particular meet 32 strict physical requirements.

Kumari Bahal, home of the living goddess

Another element that caught our attention was the erotic wood-carving on the roof struts of the Jagannath temple. One explanation for the presence of erotic carvings on an Hindu temple is that the Goddess of Lighting,  being a Virgin, would not dare striking a temple with such carvings. This is the religious explanation; it may also have been to encourage procreation at a time when they needed boys for the army, but the religious one is apparently the most likely.  

Erotic carvings on Jagannath Temple

The royal palace (Hanuman Doka) was closed so we could not visit it; the guard at the entrance did not even allow us to have a quick peek.

We then walked back to the touristy Thamel and returned to the hotel. We had planned to work on the blog, but we experienced our first power cut, so instead we had a long nap (sleeping through the alarm, as usual). We woke up at around 9pm and went out for dinner. Most of the places were starting to close, which reduced our choice but we still managed to have a decent vegetable curry with a garlic naan.

A positive aspect of the impact of tourism in Kathmandu is that most people we dealt with spoke English. While we were able to make ourselves understood in Spanish in South America (where even John could get by without English), it would probably take us a bit more time (if not forever) to be able to do the same in Nepal.  "Namaste" is the limit of our vocabulary so far!

Sunset over Kathmandu from our room