pashupatinath and boudhanath

This morning was a sight-seeing tour that was part of the package for the trek I'm doing. We went to Pashupatinath, an important Hindu temple of Shiva, and to Boudhanath, a large Tibetan Buddhist stuppa. It was great to see these sights, as they are two of the most interesting things in Kathmandu, but they are out of the centre of town so would not be as easy to get to on my own.

We first went to Pashupatinath. This is a temple to the god Shiva, and many Hindus try to get there at least once in their lives. It seemed to be a large, spread out complex occupying both sides of a river. The first, most striking thing you see as you approach along the river is the public cremations. The funeral pyres are set up along the sides of the river, and several were going when we were there.

Our tour guide explained the process, the timing of the ceremonies and cremation etc. While public cremation is very different to Western eyes, I didn't feel anything negative about it. Rather, I felt rather conscious of invading peoples privacy by being there. But then, even that may be my own cultural background speaking.

We continued on to see various statues and structures of the temple grounds, and places built into a cliff where sadhus, or spiritual hermits, go to meditate. We also saw a shelter where sadhus live, where each gets a small space to occupy while they are there.

We then went to the Boudhanath stuppa, one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist stuppas, and many Tibetans have settled in the area around it. I love the 'all-seeing eyes' or 'wisdom eyes' of Buddha, that are painted on all sides, and which are characteristic of Buddism in Nepal.

We also went into the adjacent monastery, and a school for painting Tibetan thankhas.

After the tour we came back to the hotel, where we were given our duffel bags to pack our stuff for the trek. The baggage weight limit for domestic flights has been reduced to 10 kg, and it took some ruthless paring down of gear to get it down to that.

evening of first day

I walked to the tourist / backpacker section called Thamel, just beside the old market area I was at today. Dense narrow alleys clogged with people and honking cars and scooters. Packed full of internet places, restaurants, and shops selling everything from Tibetan Thankhas to trekking gear.

first day in Kathmandu

I arrived in Kathmandu very late last night, wasn't at the hotel until about 1 am, but woke up early. So today was seen through kind of a jet-lagged haze.

Very hot today, probably almost 30 degrees during the day, even though it got quite cold at night. In the morning I met briefly with the tour leader, to give information and pictures required for the trekking permit. I then walked to the old, central part of town, about 2 km from the hotel. Not really knowing where I was going, I ended up straight into the bustling, chaotic main market street, with a maze of tiny alleys branching off everywhere, and a shrine, temple or stuppa on every block.

The biggest festival in Nepal is starting about now, and stuppas are being freshly painted, and there is a lot of activity around the shrines. It's an interesting blend of Hinduism and Buddhism, and most shrines have images or statues from both religions. Practices that would be used, say, in Tibetan Buddhism, like lighting butter lamps, are also used at Hindu dieties without discrimination.

I was shown around for a while by a local guy who was full of information about all the different shrines. Of course it was about asking for money afterward, but it was worth the interesting tour and being able to navigate the maze of streets.

Back at the hotel, there was a group meeting for the trek. There are nine of us. We didn't state nationalities, but I detected Australian accents. It's also an older group. Everyone seemed friendly and easy-going.

Start of Nepal trip: made it to Hong Kong despite the typhoon

Start of a new trip to Nepal in 2011:

I'm sure glad I planned to overnight in Hong Kong on the way to Kathmandu, with the long delay I never would have made a connecting flight.

There was a typhoon sweeping through the southeast Asian coast, and the plane arrived late in Vancouver and so my departure was delayed by 45 minutes or so.

In the air, there was some turbulence that was so strong I could barely hold a book in my hand, I was swaying from side to side so much. We actually landed in Taipei for a while, to refuel, as the captain said he anticipated a long holding pattern above Hong Kong. Eventually we landed in Hong Kong without difficulty. Although I've set a personal recorded for the longest time sitting in one airplane - 16 hours.

Apparently all the planes started landing at once, and many people with missed connections needed to stay the night, so the lineup to check in at the aiport hotel took over an hour. In the hotel I noticed that all doorways leading outside had a rope across them with a sign saying to stay indoors for safety reasons.

This morning, however, it is sunny, with a wind that is strong but refreshing despite being warm and a bit humid. I got up early despite the late night, had a big breakfast and walked around outside. Hopefully that will help speed up adjusting to the new time zone.

back home

I'm back in Vancouver, now: unpacking, going through mail, getting over jet-lag, etc. It was a great trip. I saw everything I wanted and there were no real problems. I hope the blog gave some feel for it.
It's nice arriving back in Vancouver at this time of year. Suddenly landing in the middle of fall colours and leaves on the ground and the crisp air - my favourite season.
I got back just in time to see the U.S. election result, and Obama's victory speech. I can't help thinking of all those people who got up at 4:30 in the morning and stood in line for hours so they could vote. The best I've seen of democracy in the U.S. in a long time. I thank them.

sketch

here's the sketch I did of the big buddha

tourist in Hong Kong

I'm doing the tourist thing these days. I went to the Hong Kong History museum, the Peak Tram, walked around the little streets in the Central area, took the cable car to the Po Lin Monastery and the big buddha statue, took the bus to the Tai-O fishing village, and went to Ocean Park to see the pandas, etc. All that in 3 days. This is my last day and for the rest of the afternoon I am just going to chill out. Tomorrow morning I head to the airport for the flight to Vancouver.
The history museum was excellent, with great displays on everything to do with the Hong Kong area: geology, ecology, prehistoric peoples, dynasties, ethnic groups, British rule, Japanese occupation, and modern times.
The big buddha statue was just amazing. So big and sitting on a hilltop, you can see it from quite far away. I did a sketch of it, and while I was there many people stopped to watch and talk. There were a lot of Mandarin speaking tourists.
The best part of Ocean Park is the pandas. There's something about their relaxed way of moving and just sitting munching on bamboo. Totally chilled out and adorable.
It's interesting that Hong Kong has a totally different feel as a tourist, a different 'tourist culture' from Vietnam. Probably because of the cost of things here. Gone are the backbackers and young people travelling on a shoestring, replaced by business travellers, families, and seniors tour groups.