Since we were short on time in Kathmandu (yes, even with eight months to travel) we decided to visit Patan and Bhaktapur in a single day, our last in the Kathmandu Valley. Patan and Bhaktapur were the other two Malla kingdoms that were united with Kathmandu by Prithvi Shah in the 18th century. The three Malla kings had competed with each other not only in war but also in constructing the grandest temples and palaces.
First stop was Patan, considered to have the most beautiful of the three "Durbar squares" (palace squares). We were picked up by our guide and driver from our hotel at 8am and we arrived in Patan 15 minutes later. We had decided to spend a little more on a good guide, called Ramesh, and it paid off handsomely with a wealth of information.
Patan's Durbar square was as beautiful as promised. It was the only square to have survived the 1934 earthquake that devastated most of Kathmandu Valley, whereas many of the temples in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur were rebuilt after the earthquake (in some cases only in the 1990s). The temples are mostly Hindu in design, but are used by Hindus and Buddhists alike (and by those who embrace both faiths). Ramesh gave us a great overview of both Hinduism and Buddhism as we walked through the square, admiring the intricate wooden carvings in the pagodas and the ornate statues standing guard outside. He then managed to negotiate with the guard to allow us to enter one of the courtyards of the palace that was closed to visitors.
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| Patan Durbar Square |
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| Entrance to the palace |
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| Wood carvings inside the palace |
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| Door to the temple inside the palace |
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| Temple guardians |
Once we had finished our sweep through the marvellous temples of the Durbar square, Ram led us off towards the Golden Temple, the most important Buddhist temple in Patan. On the way he paused outside a thangka shop, and started to explain what the different paintings mean (the Mandala, the Wheel of Life, and the Life of Buddha are the three most important designs). Inside the shop an old man, dressed in Tibetan robes, was working on a new painting. Ramesh told us that this man was a Tibetan refugee, a Lama (one of the most learned Buddhist monks), an expert thankga painter and, he freely admitted, a friend. Yes, it sounds like the usual nonsense, and we were cautious after our naivety in Hong Kong, but even our untrained eye could tell the difference between the hacks and the work produced by this solemn, focused, and reassuringly round old man.
The Lama's assistant invited us inside, sat us down, and brought out several thangkas, repeating what Ramesh had told us about their meaning. These were clearly a cut above the other thangkas we had seen. Those that had been painted by the Lama himself were more expensive but manifestly finer. I'd bought a thangka for my parents the last time I was in Nepal and we couldn't easily fit anything else in our bags; nevertheless we were bewitched by our preferred painting (a Mandala). We said we'd think about it while we looked at the Golden Temple, but in truth it was just a question of deciding between the small and the large sizes.
We entered the Golden Temple, built in 1409, through a narrow stone doorway, past its stone lion guardians. Inside the courtyard is the main temple and a large shrine sheltering a gleaming golden statue of Sakyamuni (hence the name), also protected by a pair of stone elephants. While we talked quietly with Ramesh, an arch-backed old man slowly circled the central temple, brushing the prayer wheels as he passed.
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| Entrance to the Golden Temple |
On the way back to Durbar square we stopped off at the Lama's shop, after deciding to go with the large thangka. The price amounted to our day's budget, but nothing compared to what we'd have to pay for even a print of decent art in Europe. The Lama couldn't speak much English (or Nepali, according to Ramesh), but did give us a large smile and, pointing, "my thankga". The thangka was passed to the Lama for rolling and placing into the cardboard tube to protect it from the buffeting of our rucksack. After another quick stroll through the Durbar square, it was time to return to the car for the drive to Bhaktapur.
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| Last view of Patan Durbar Square |
Bhaktapur is the oldest of the three Durbar Squares, but has also suffered most from invasions and natural disasters. The huge 1934 earthquake, in particular, left few if any of its architectural jewels unharmed. The well-restored square was nevertheless extremely impressive, with wide-open spaces that were a pleasant contrast to Kathmandu and Patan, where it seemed that temples had been squeezed into every last square inch.
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| Bhaktapur Durbar Square |
Ramesh led us past the Golden Date, built in 1754 by King Ranjit Malla, into the Palace of 55 Windows, and then through to a large temple that was sadly closed to non-Hindus. We were only able to peer through the entrance, past the armed guards stationed to prevent theft (which has apparently been a serious problem).
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| The magnificent Golden Gate |
By then it was time for lunch, so we followed Ramesh through to Taumadhi Square. The restaurant was in an attractive old building in the centre of the square, looking across to the imposing five-tiered pagoda of Nyatapola temple. We invited Ramesh to join us but he declined, presumably eager for a rest; or perhaps he knew that the food would be disappointingly bland. Nevermind; the view made up for the weak food, as we gazed out at the Nyatapola temple, the tallest in Nepal, with its five pairs of stone guardians: mighty wrestlers, elephants, lions, griffins, and the lion and tiger goddesses.
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| Nyatapola temple |
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| The restaurant where we enjoyed the view if not the food |
First stop after lunch was pottery square, where we saw an old man hunched over a hand-operated spinning table. Hundreds of pots were laid out in the sun to dry, ready for the outdoor kiln. Without Ramesh as our guardian we would doubtless have been swarmed by those selling trinkets, but thankfully he seemed to act as a scarecrow.
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| Spinning table |
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| Pottery square |
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| Kiln with pottery fragments |
We then made our way over to Dattatraya Square, stopping briefly as we passed by the Peacock window, an outstanding wood carving from the 16th century. We then had 45 minutes to wander around by ourselves - at which point we were quickly forced to fight off others offering their services as guides - before meeting up with Ramesh for the drive back to Kathmandu.
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| The Peacock window |
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| Dattatraya Temple, reputed to have been built from the trunk of a single tree |
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| The traditional black-and-white Bhaktapur saree |
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| Filming in the Durbar Square |
We were staying in a different hotel for our last night in Kathmandu: cheaper and much closer to the bus stop, ready for our early bus to Pokhara the following morning. We collected our bags from Moonlight and trudged through Thamel to our new digs. We then spent the evening trying to resolve a card issue created by Santander (abysmal customer service, steer clear).
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