After a day of recovery, we figured we could handle a stop at Boudha before heading up into the mountains for a night at Nagarkot. I'm so glad we braved the rain, because it was a fascinating place.
Stuck in traffic on the way to Boudha, John took a photo of this bus. Many cars and buses in both Nepal and India are decorated with images of dieties or colorful designs or inspirational or funny quotations. This one is more pessimistic than most, but pretty funny. You can read it more clearly if you click on the photo.
Boudha is a center of Tibetan Buddhism and is surrounded by gompas, or monasteries, and by what amounts to a Tibetan village in the middle of Kathmandu. It's been around for centuries and has several stories regarding its foundation (in the 5th or 6th century), but it's well documented that it has been an important stop for traders traveling between Nepal and Tibet since the 15th century or earlier.
Since the late 1950s, a large Tibetan refugee population has settled in the area, so it's considered to be one of the only truly accessible centers of Tibetan culture. We spoke (briefly) with several Tibetans at Boudha (they were drawn to Evie and Samuel). I also got to chat with a group at Swayambhunath that was on its way to India to see the Dalai Lama. The women wear a distinctive costume that I never captured in a good photo (the weather had people pretty covered up), but you can see a bit of it on the woman in the bottom right of this photo. She's wearing a striped apron over her dress.
There's a good photo of Tibetan women (it looks like they might even be at Boudha) on this blog written by former foreign service officers who now own a handicrafts store.
You might think from the photo that Boudha and Swayambhunath were similar, but aside from the obvious similarity of the huge Buddhist stupa, they were really very different. The Hindu influence at Swayambhunath was striking, but Boudha seemed purely Buddhist. It's hard to explain, but I thought the feeling was just very different there.
Here's a photo of John and kids on our clockwise tour around the stupa. Walking around a Buddhist shrine in a counterclockwise direction is considered disrespectful. This Buddhist blog has a pretty good explanation as to why moving clockwise, or following the path of the sun, is important. At least I think it's a good explanation ... I'm not even close to being an expert!
You can see from the photo that Samuel was still insisting on being carried around. We know he was feeling better, though, because he kept shrieking "Namaste!" at everyone who so much as glanced his way. The locals were highly amused. Evie (that's nothing worse than a lollipop hanging from her lips), though, was developing a fever. Being the fabulous mom that I am, I didn't notice this until MUCH later in the day. At Boudha she just seemed a bit mellow.
The main stupa at Boudha is surrounded by shops, restaurants, hostels, and the monasteries called gompas. We did a little exploring at Tsamchen Gompa, which faces the western entrance to the stupa.
This enormous prayer wheel was just inside the entrance, and the entire building (at least the part open for exploration) was covered in gorgeous murals.
The Boudha stupa is ringed with prayer wheels, just as at Swayambhunath. Here's Samuel turning one of the wheels.
At Boudha you can climb up to the plinth and view the plaza from the stupa, walking around it clockwise, of course. We found statues of a man and a woman on elephantback (is that how you say that?) on the plinth (unfortunately, I can't remember who they are), and we were able to see devotees making offerings and prostrating before the image of the Buddha.
Prayer flags were, of course, abundant.
Here's one last look at Boudha before we move on. If you ever get to Kathmandu, don't leave without a stop here.
Before making the two-hour drive to Nagarkot, we stopped for lunch at one of the many restaurants surrounding the stupa at Boudha. Flavor's Cafe was the Lonely Planet guide's pick for the area, and we have yet to go wrong with Lonely Planet (love it!). It was a fun place that (oddly) had more than a hint of New Orleans flair.
Sadly, Samuel chose this time to have a major meltdown, so we drove several backpacker types from the terrace. Oh, well. I was able to keep him pretty quiet when we checked out this view of motorcycles (always fascinating).
And here's Johnny, who did really well until Samuel started crying. Johnny just has no patience for it at all and starts yelping "Stop it, Samuel!" as if it will do us any good. So. Flavor's Cafe had a nice ambience and good food, but we sure spoiled it for a few people! Ahh, Third World travel with kids. You know you want this experience ... you know you do.
I'll end this post with a couple of shots of a procession we passed on the way out of Kathmandu. The Patches' driver, Manik, wasn't quite sure what this was all about but guessed it might have been something political. That might be true, but I've seen similar processions here in India of people headed to a temple for a special puja. Once (in Chennai) we saw one with an ascetic who was wearing a metal dome that had sharp points pricking his skin all over. He was followed by drummers and a group carrying an idol on a litter. These photos were taken out the car windows and through a crowd, so they aren't great.
Still to come: Driving the switchbacks up to Nagarkot! Everest flight! Durbar Square! Stay tuned.
Stuck in traffic on the way to Boudha, John took a photo of this bus. Many cars and buses in both Nepal and India are decorated with images of dieties or colorful designs or inspirational or funny quotations. This one is more pessimistic than most, but pretty funny. You can read it more clearly if you click on the photo.
Boudha is a center of Tibetan Buddhism and is surrounded by gompas, or monasteries, and by what amounts to a Tibetan village in the middle of Kathmandu. It's been around for centuries and has several stories regarding its foundation (in the 5th or 6th century), but it's well documented that it has been an important stop for traders traveling between Nepal and Tibet since the 15th century or earlier.
Since the late 1950s, a large Tibetan refugee population has settled in the area, so it's considered to be one of the only truly accessible centers of Tibetan culture. We spoke (briefly) with several Tibetans at Boudha (they were drawn to Evie and Samuel). I also got to chat with a group at Swayambhunath that was on its way to India to see the Dalai Lama. The women wear a distinctive costume that I never captured in a good photo (the weather had people pretty covered up), but you can see a bit of it on the woman in the bottom right of this photo. She's wearing a striped apron over her dress.
There's a good photo of Tibetan women (it looks like they might even be at Boudha) on this blog written by former foreign service officers who now own a handicrafts store.
You might think from the photo that Boudha and Swayambhunath were similar, but aside from the obvious similarity of the huge Buddhist stupa, they were really very different. The Hindu influence at Swayambhunath was striking, but Boudha seemed purely Buddhist. It's hard to explain, but I thought the feeling was just very different there.
Here's a photo of John and kids on our clockwise tour around the stupa. Walking around a Buddhist shrine in a counterclockwise direction is considered disrespectful. This Buddhist blog has a pretty good explanation as to why moving clockwise, or following the path of the sun, is important. At least I think it's a good explanation ... I'm not even close to being an expert!
You can see from the photo that Samuel was still insisting on being carried around. We know he was feeling better, though, because he kept shrieking "Namaste!" at everyone who so much as glanced his way. The locals were highly amused. Evie (that's nothing worse than a lollipop hanging from her lips), though, was developing a fever. Being the fabulous mom that I am, I didn't notice this until MUCH later in the day. At Boudha she just seemed a bit mellow.
The main stupa at Boudha is surrounded by shops, restaurants, hostels, and the monasteries called gompas. We did a little exploring at Tsamchen Gompa, which faces the western entrance to the stupa.
This enormous prayer wheel was just inside the entrance, and the entire building (at least the part open for exploration) was covered in gorgeous murals.
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| View of the stupa from the monastery's second floor. |
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| Johnny and Evie among flower offerings on the monastery's balcony |
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| Murals in the gompa |
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| Doors leading to a meditation hall |
At Boudha you can climb up to the plinth and view the plaza from the stupa, walking around it clockwise, of course. We found statues of a man and a woman on elephantback (is that how you say that?) on the plinth (unfortunately, I can't remember who they are), and we were able to see devotees making offerings and prostrating before the image of the Buddha.
 |
| Probably someone important |
Prayer flags were, of course, abundant.
Here's one last look at Boudha before we move on. If you ever get to Kathmandu, don't leave without a stop here.
Before making the two-hour drive to Nagarkot, we stopped for lunch at one of the many restaurants surrounding the stupa at Boudha. Flavor's Cafe was the Lonely Planet guide's pick for the area, and we have yet to go wrong with Lonely Planet (love it!). It was a fun place that (oddly) had more than a hint of New Orleans flair.
Sadly, Samuel chose this time to have a major meltdown, so we drove several backpacker types from the terrace. Oh, well. I was able to keep him pretty quiet when we checked out this view of motorcycles (always fascinating).
And here's Johnny, who did really well until Samuel started crying. Johnny just has no patience for it at all and starts yelping "Stop it, Samuel!" as if it will do us any good. So. Flavor's Cafe had a nice ambience and good food, but we sure spoiled it for a few people! Ahh, Third World travel with kids. You know you want this experience ... you know you do.
I'll end this post with a couple of shots of a procession we passed on the way out of Kathmandu. The Patches' driver, Manik, wasn't quite sure what this was all about but guessed it might have been something political. That might be true, but I've seen similar processions here in India of people headed to a temple for a special puja. Once (in Chennai) we saw one with an ascetic who was wearing a metal dome that had sharp points pricking his skin all over. He was followed by drummers and a group carrying an idol on a litter. These photos were taken out the car windows and through a crowd, so they aren't great.
Still to come: Driving the switchbacks up to Nagarkot! Everest flight! Durbar Square! Stay tuned.
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