Day 5 - Kathmandu

Today was a wonderful, enlightening day in Nepal. I feel like whenever we come to developing nations, my appreciation for the United States grows so much - we really have so much. Our day started at 5:45 AM with a Mountain Flight to hopefully see Mt. Everest. We booked our trip right at the end of Monsoon season, so we intentionally planned for 2 mornings in Kathmandu so we had 2 chances to take this flight. When our flight took off at 7:00 we were optimistic that we would see the mountains! Unfortunately, there was no visibility and all we saw were clouds. After about 30 minutes they informed us that they had to turn around and go back to Kathmandu. We were devastated, but since we didn't see any mountains, they "canceled" the flight so we could try again tomorrow. We are keeping our fingers crossed!

Boarding our mountain flight with Buddha air

The monsoons were in full force today. It rained all day while we were out. We knew this was likely, so we purchased rain jackets before our trip. It was a great decision (and we also wish we would have had them on our rainy day in Tokyo earlier this year!). Vijay picked us up from our hotel at 9:30 after we had returned from the flight and eaten breakfast. Our first stop was the Boudhanath Stupa. This is the largest Stupa in Nepal and one of the largest in the world. A Stupa represents the 5 elements. The base represents earth, the dome represents water, the tower represents fire, the spire represents air, and the pinnacle represents the sky. Buddha's eyes are also represented on each side. As we walked around the stupa, Vijay informed us that the temple should always be on our right, so we had to walk around clockwise. After the stupa, we visited a giant prayer wheel. At all the stupas we have visited, there are prayer wheels with prayers from religious texts. Buddhists believe that each turn of the prayer wheel, it is the same as reciting each of the prayers one time. The prayer wheels are beautiful. We also visited a monastery with a gorgeous Buddha.

One of the things that we've found so interesting as we've traveled Asia is how different Buddhism looks in different countries. We have never seen Stupas until Nepal. China seems to practice more traditional Buddhism, Japan is more of a Zen Buddhism, and Nepal's Buddhism comes from Tibet. Approximately 80% of Nepal is Hindu and 10% are Buddhist, however, Vijay informed us that Hindus worship in Buddhist Temples and Buddhists worship in Hindu Temples. World Religions are one of my passions - I love learning about how different people in the world worship the deity in their own unique ways. When he said that Buddhists and Hindus often worshiped in each other's temples, I found it unfortunate that Americans don't worship in other Christian churches as well. It seems like we are much more focused on our differences than our similarities, and that makes me very sad.

Our next stop was Pashupatinath Temple. This is a Hindu Temple and is considered to be one of the most sacred Hindu shrines in the world. We could only go to the entrance, but it was awesome to see Hindu Pilgrims (mostly from India) walk barefoot in the rain and mud towards the entrance of the church and emerge with their dots on their foreheads. They were so happy. Religion is so beautiful.  Vijay then took us around the back of the temple where Hindus were performing cremations. We could see the fires and he informed us that they were cremating people, but it didn't really sink in for a few minutes. We continued walking across a bridge to the other side of the river where the cremations were happening, and there were two bodies awaiting cremation. Suddenly, things felt very real. Vijay informed us that in Hindu tradition, the family typically only waits a few hours after death before cremating the body. Cremating a body at this particular temple is very important because they sweep the ashes into the river and that gives the person direct access to heaven. Vijay told us that Hindus live 8.4 million lives before becoming human and during their human life they have the opportunity to attain "liberation" and ascend to heaven after death through their good works and kindness. I felt so sad for the families standing around the bodies - they had just lost a loved one hours before and brought the body directly to the temple to say their final goodbyes. That must be heartwrenching.

The view inside the temple gate. Only Hindus may enter the temple. Inside you can see there is a giant golden bull. 

Two bodies prepared await cremation 

A family preparing for a cremation

After the temple, we headed to Patan Durbar Square. We had a 30-minute drive and we had some interesting conversations with Vijay. He asked us how Americans felt about Donald Trump - we told him that most were unfavorable. He said that before Donald Trump America was very well respected in Nepal. They listened to the direction America was going. However, he said that the Nepali people no longer respected the American government because they didn't trust Donald Trump. After all, he was constantly changing his mind. He said that the Nepali view of America has changed drastically in the last few years. I find this very sad that one terrible president can change world opinion so much. Hopefully, our next president can turn it around, and hopefully, that will happen next November. My vote will definitely not be with Donald Trump (nor was it in 2016 - I can't stand him).

Vijay also apologized for the conditions of the roads - in many places, there were large potholes. He said that Nepal is a very poor country, which is why the road conditions are so poor. This broke my heart - he didn't need to apologize for their roads. I've learned as we've traveled that I'm a guest in other countries and I shouldn't expect them to be the same as my country. We can deal with bad roads. It also instantly humbled me and I realized how blessed I truly was and how petty my complaints about traffic and road conditions in South Jordan really are.

Patan Durbar Square was awesome. Patan was an independent Kingdom before the 18th century when Nepal was unified via conquest. We visited the former palace - the woodwork was incredible! Nepal is known for its woodwork and it's no surprise. Nearly every monument we've visited has an elaborate door and window coverings made of wood. We also visited the Royal Bath within the palace. Hindu Gods and Goddesses were surrounding the bath and the royal family would make offerings to the Gods after washing. Many of the sites we've seen in Kathmandu are still being rebuilt and restored following the 2015 earthquake. The earthquake was devastating for Nepal. Both the United States and China have given aid to help Kathmandu rebuild.

Patan is known as an artisan district, so Vijay told us this would be a good time to buy souvenirs. We went into a metal shop where they had many wares including singing bowls. We've seen these around and I asked what they were for. The bowls produce vibrations and a low hum when rubbed with a mallet. They demonstrated it to both Eric and me and it was so interesting. They placed the bowl over our heads, which was meant to help with headaches. They also rubbed it on our backs which helps with body aches. Although we were fascinated by the bowls, we didn't purchase them because we didn't know what we would do with one. Vijay told us that almost every Nepali home has a bowl and they use them regularly - so fascinating. We instead bought a small prayer wheel to put in our curios cabinet. Our final stop was the Golden Temple. This is a golden Buddhist Temple that was really pretty!

We then ate lunch at a really great restaurant in the square. I had a Nepali lunch with rice and different types of curry. Eric had chicken tikka masala. We both shared and they were fantastic. For dessert they brought me a yogurt that was flavored with lemon and cinnamon - it was so delicious. Eric and I immensely enjoyed it. Then they brought out small pieces of chocolate cake on the house. We were so impressed. Our waitress was adorable - her name tag said she was a trainee, but she did a great job. Lunch was a downpour and it seemed like all Nepali restaurants are open air, so she had to walk through the rain to bring us our food. She had an umbrella and when she was carrying food, someone else helped her with the umbrella, but she was so fantastic. Tipping isn't customary in Nepal, but we still left a large tip for her.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel. We would have loved to explore more of the shops in Patan, but with the downpour, the streets had running water, so we figured it was a good time to call it a day. We made it back to the hotel a little after 3:30 and took a small break to recharge and I took a little nap. At around 4:45 we decided to head back out. There was a market that we had quickly walked through on our way back from Kathmandu Durbar Square so we decided to head back that direction. We ended up walking all the way back towards the square where there was a festival happening. The square had so many people! Many groups came through in processions with drums and cymbals. At one point the Living Goddess (a Hindu Goddess) came through on a chariot. 3 other large chariots were being prepared to come through the square in a procession. It was really fun and interesting to be part of the celebration. There were so many people though, and the crowds made me very nervous. Eric told me that my fears were irrational, but my anxiety felt sky-high at that moment. We stayed at the festival for around 30 minutes and then headed back around 6:00 when the sun was setting. The procession wasn't going to start until 8:00 and we didn't want to wait that long.

The walk back through the market was very pleasant. It had stopped raining during our evening adventure, so the weather was lovely. We stopped and got Momo and Naan for dinner - they were both delicious before calling it a night. I found myself falling in love with Nepal today - hopefully, we see some mountains tomorrow!