Day off in Bhaktapur and nearing the end of the monsoon (yeah right)

Well I have settled in to life in Dhulikhel and at Kathmandu University (KU). I have a dorm room in the International Hostel on campus that has internet, a stove for cooking, and even a TV that has a few English channels. I get to watch the international version of CNN, BBC, international EN, and a few English language movie channels. With a Sunday-Friday work week, I don't get a lot of time off to go travel and see the sights. This past Saturday I caught a local bus to Bhaktapur. Since I had to flag down the bus on the side of the road after it left Dhulikhel proper, it was packed. I don't think I ever got a seat.

Unlike tourists coming from Kathmandu taking “tourist” buses (they have the word tourist plastered on the windshield) or taxis, I get dropped off on the side of the highway a cool 20 minute walk from the main entrance. I was able to stop and buy some snacks from a store and see the real life of Bhaktapur. After paying a high entry fee, I entered into the old city. All along my way, especially as I approached the more famous parts, I was inundated with people hawking everything from flutes:


All sorts of wood carvings and other knick-knacks:


And many brightly colored decorative rugs:


My first stop was Taumadhi Tole. In the middle of the square was Nyatapola Temple. It is 5 stories high (once you get past the steps) and is the tallest temple and one of the tallest buildings in Nepal. It is so sturdy that it survived the magnatude 8.4 earthquake in 1934 centered just south of the Khumbu region that flattened buildings all across Nepal and India. The temple steps are guarded by a level of Rajput wrestlers named Jayamel and Phattu. Both of them carried heavy maces into battle.


The next step was guarded by elephants:


Lions stood by the next level, with griffons standing above them. Apparently the local kids didn't think they were too ferocious looking.



So here's the first picture of me, taken by some German tourists after I took their picture:


On the way out of the square I stopped by a offering place with several old women giving blessings.


I then took a walk towards away from the hustle and tourist bustle of the main palace (Durbar) square and Taumadhi Tole. In the back streets of Bhaktapur I saw much more of what life was like in the city that was slowly becoming a major tourist attraction. As soon as you got off the main routes it was life as normal. Every once and a while you'd pass by an old abandoned temple like this one. I wondered who decided which temples got to be restored and which ones are destined to be overgrown.


After walking through the backstreets, I wandered toward Durbar square, the center for tourist going to Bhaktapur. The square was remarkably empty when I first got there.


Durbar Square is the home of the Malla King's palace. The palace was protected first by a stone lion.



And then by a much more dangerous fellow. Him and his partner were guarding the "Golden Gate" into the appropriately named "55 Window Palace" with very large semi-automatic rifles.


Beyond the gate (where I did go) there was a royal Pokhari (swimming pool) and a Hindi temple restricted to only Hindus. Outside the palace, I stopped by the Siddhi Lakshmi Temple made completely of stone. Fittingly the other name for it, Lohan Dega, translates into "Stone Temple".


By this time I was beginning to get the hunger pangs for lunch. After living in a relatively rural area, I've gotten used to a large lunch costing 50 or 70 rupees, not the 150-200 they were charging in places geared for tourists. Plus the tourist restaurant vibe didn't really have my number today anyway. I walked a bit through town toward and stopped at a random Nepali food place. At the table next to me there were three guys who had gone through 6 beers by the time I left. Note beers in Nepal are 750ml not 350ml (12oz). After leaving I stopped across the street at the huge Siddha Pokhari.



I made my way back towards Durbar Square through the back streets where I saw even more of the city Nepali life. On the back streets I got a few looks. There was a small inconspicuous temple on the street.


During the monsoon season, this guy has a lot of work as a repairman.


I finally made my way back to Durbar Square and the clouds started to roll in. As with every afternoon, the monsoons made their way towards me. Time to make the walk back to the road and grab a ride back towards KU.


I saw a few chickens and ducks sitting in a cage next to a butcher's shop. I had to fight back to to yell out "You're dead meat guys".

When I got to Dhulikhel and KU, the skies would be dumping rain all day. Now it only rains at night. As I leave work around 4, I can feel the rain coming and by 6 or 7 I'll be glad to have a roof over my head. Does this mean that the monsoon is coming towards the end? I sure hope so. I have a trek in the works planned for around mid-September and it'd be great to show you some pictures of mountains rather than pictures of clouds.