Day of Sightseeing (morning)

Yesterday I took the day to go sightseeing. I woke up early in the morning and walked the few kilometers from my guest house in Thamel to Swayambhunath, a large Buddhist stupa known as the "Monkey Temple". Once I got to the site I walked up the long and steep eastern stairs.


I was greeted by many young men trying to sell me their wares. Tibetan singing bowls, prayer flags, and other Buddhist themed objects could be mine for "very cheap". I got up to the temple itself and paid the NR200 entry fee. The stupa was very impressive to say the least. I started off wandering around the stupa in a clockwise direction seeing the sights.


The entire stupa was surrounded by prayer wheels and in each cardinal direction a small shrine guarded by lions.


As I walked around for the second time I stepped back and realized there really weren't the monkey presence I was expecting. From stories from my father and reading guidebooks I figured the place would be crawling with them, but no sign of them. The stupa attracts all sorts of people. There were a few tourists like me (it was still early in the morning ~7am, so I think most tourists were still sleeping), men wearing motorbike helmets, Buddhist monks, and everything in between. I saw this woman offering prayers and flowers at a shrine.


It wasn't all grown-ups making their rounds around the stupa. There were plenty of children running around the complex. This girl was really enjoying the extra lift so she could reach the prayer wheels.


As I spent more time at the stupa, the monkeys started to come out in force. I think I just got there before they woke up. Locals would feed them with crackers and seeds. The seeds also were for the huge flock of pigeons. There were a few fights between birds and mammals over who owned the piles of seeds on the ground. Once a monkey got a hold of a cracker there was no getting it away from them.


I also had to get a stereotypical photo of a monkey with a banana looking out over Kathmandu. I just had to, sorry.


If I even walked near a mom with a baby, she would get quite standoffish, but not so much I couldn't get a few snaps in before they ran off.


I then finished up with my circumnavigations of the stupa, spinning the prayer wheels as I went.



Then I walked back down the stairs, with Buddha's eyes watching me as I walked back towards my guest house.


As I walked down, I met up with two Nepalese kids. One's name was Syunil. They were from Dharan, a 12-14 hour bus ride from Kathmandu. We parted ways at the bottom of the stairs as I went to go look at the giant prayer wheels.


Each was housed in its own little room with many drawings on the walls. As I walked out of the room I saw this little guy dressed in saffron robes coming in.


Between each huge prayer wheel there were many more small ones which wrapped most of the way around the stupa complex. Each one turned many times a day by those offering their prayers along the way.


I then walked the few kilometers back to my guest house - declining several rickshaw rides, two or three offers of hash, and about a dozen taxi drivers. I spent lunch planning my afternoon. I decided to go over to the Hindu temple of Pashupatinath and its neighbor the huge Buddhist stupa of Boudhanath.