22 Aug 2012 - Day 3
In the morning, we visited Pashupatinath. The Pashupatinath temple is listed under UNESCO World Heritage site, is the oldest Hindu temple in Kathmandu. But non-Hindus were not allowed to enter, so we just visited at the side of the river. This is also the place where cremation takes place, on the bank of Bagmati river.
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| Cremation going on - Pashupatinath |
Directly opposite the Pashupatinath Temple stand a row of 11 stone
chaityas containing lingams. Beyond them is a classic single-faced
lingam (ekmukhi) attributed to the 6th century.
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| Lingam |
We could find lots of Holymen in this area. If you want to take photo of him, you have to give some money as appreciation. Below is one of the holyman that we met.
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| Holyman in yoga post |
After that we continued our trip to Boudhanath, one of the holiest Buddhist temple in Kathmandu, also listed under UNESCO World Heritage site. I love the place very much. It's so beautiful.
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| Boudhanath Stupa |
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| Tibetan temple just the opposite of the Stupa main entrance |
We had our lunch there. We were given time to shop as well. I bought some presents such as t-shirts, magnet souvenirs, prayer wheels, etc for families back home. It was raining for a while during lunch and shopping time, but at least we had umbrella with us, so we didn't get wet.
In the stupa, we walked around it for three times and prayed. It was simply blessed to be able to be there... Thank you Sang Buddha for the good karma given.
From there, we went to Nagarkot, 32 km east of Kathmandu, almost 2200 meters above the sea level, supposed to be a scenic spot. Due to the weather, we couldn't see the clear sky. So we just went there to enjoy the cold weather, relaxing and having a good rest :)
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| Sat there and wrote my travel diary... enjoying the cold weather :) |
Other than that, I just walked around to nearby area to take some photos... hehehe... Below are some photos taken there...
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| Beautiful flower :) |
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| Nice... |
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| Pretty.... |
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| I love this :) |
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| Many birds flying in the sky.... |
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| I like the last two sentences from below... hehehe.... |
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| The view from the top of the hotel |
It's beautiful, isn't it??? The rest, we had dinner there... Raymond and Deepak fried the prawn crackers and emping / belinjau, and prepared the peanut sauce as the condiments. All was brought from Indonesia. Thank you for his effort in doing so... It complimented well our dinner dishes :)
23 Aug 2012 - Day 4
The next day, we had our breakfast also in the hotel, then went down to Bhaktapur city, which was an ex-capital of Nepal during the great Malla Kingdom. It is another UNESCO World Heritage Site. We visited the Bhaktapur Durbar Square.
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| Bhaktapur's Dattatraya Mandir with Garuda statue |
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| Nyatapola Temple (on the left) |
Nyatapola Temple - This five-storeyed pagoda was built by King Bhupatindra Malla in 1702
A.D. It stands on five terraces, on each of which squat a pair of
figures: two famous wrestlers, two elephants, two lions, two griffins,
and Baghini and Singhini — the tiger and the lion goddesses. Each pair
of figures is considered ten times stronger than the ones immediately
below, while the lowest pair, the two strong men Jaya Malla and Phatta
Malla, were reputedly ten times stronger than any other men. This is one
of the tallest pagoda-style temples in Kathmandu Valley and is famous
for its massive structure and subtle workmanship (Source: wikipedia).
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| Pottery square |
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| From left to right: Lu Dhowka (Golden Gate), The Palace of Fifty-five Windows, The Statue of King Bhupatindra Malla |
Lu Dhowka (Golden Gate) is said to be the most beautiful
and richly molded specimen of its kind in the entire world. The door is
surmounted by a figure of the goddess Kali and Garuda (mythical
man-bird) and attended by two heavenly nymphs. It is embellished with
monsters and other mythical creatures of marvelous intricacy.
The Palace of Fifty-five Windows was built during the reign of King Yaksha Malla in 1427 A.D. and was remodeled by King Bhupatindra
Malla in the seventeenth century. Among the brick walls, with their
gracious setting and sculptural design, is a balcony of fifty-five
windows, considered to be a unique masterpiece of woodcarving.
The Statue of King Bhupatindra Malla is considered the most magnificent among other statues in the Square
(Source: Wikipedia).
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| In front of Taleju Temple (Only Hindus can enter) |
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| Naga Pokhari |
The Naga Pokhari (Snake Pond) is a 17C royal water tank encircled by a writhing stone
cobra located in the courtyard of the Royal Palace.
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| Cafe Nyatapola |
After that, we had our lunch at Cafe Nyatapola, a very nice cafe, mostly for tourists to have their meals there. It was raining when we had our lunch. We were given free time to browse around the shops. There were many shops selling Nepal local products. Good place to shop.. hehehe... But due to limited time and raining, I didn't buy many thing there. Just managed to buy the Alibaba pants... hahaha....
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| Various post cards from Nepal |
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| Nepal Calendars |
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| Drawing Mandala |
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| Brass shop |
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| Wood-carving shop |
At night, we went to eat the Nepal traditional food at Utsav and watched their traditional dances. That was our last night with the rest of the tour participants. The day after that, we separated ourselves and extended 2 more days in Nepal by ourselves. To be continued....
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