Another lazy morning getting up at 8:30 am, and breakfasting in the hotel. Our first task was to sort out our laundry. Yesterday morning we took our dirty clothes to a little laundry we discovered in one of the alleyways. The shop front was about 5’ by 6’ and there was no electric light other than a dim desk lamp. The chap weighed the laundry and told us it was 10.5 kg. The price was 200 rupees per kg and we paid him 2100 rupees. We were a little careless in doing this and after realized we had paid him about $32 which of course was ridiculous. We got back to pick it up yesterday when he told us to….and it was not ready! We got back to the hotel and found a telephone message saying it was ready. So…. we went back. He still said it wasn’t ready and when we queried him on the money he said he didn’t have any money to repay us with until tomorrow. We really began to wonder if we would ever see our laundry again let alone any money. However, when we went over this morning, he had the price all worked out, and the laundry was there and he gave us 1000 rupees back. Phew!!
Late morning we set off with Sarah, an Aussie girl from our trip, to investigate the city. We walked to Hanuman dhoka Durbar Square, a world heritage site. There are apparently 7 UNESCO sites in Nepal and I think we will see them all except one. The square is a complex of temples and shrines, both Hindu and Buddhist. The population is apparently about 80% Hindu, 10% Buddhist, 5% Muslim, 2% Christian, and the rest is mixed. I heard someone say that there are over 58 temples in the Square, but I am not sure of this figure. The building are mainly built in the pagoda style with ornately carved exteriors and built in the 12th – 18th Century. The kings of Nepal are crowned here. It was certainly a very interesting area. One of the temples was especially interesting. It is the Kumari-ghar and the home of the “kumari” or living goddess who is said to be the incarnation of the Goddess Taleju. If you go to the temple around 4 pm (which we did), you see her appear at a third story window to be seen by her admirers. Apparently there is quite a process to choosing a pretty little girl for this task.
We spent the afternoon wandering through the less traveled areas of Kathmandu and saw a plethora of temples, shrines, hitis (water tanks where people wash their clothes, and bahals (courtyards) as well as fabulous street scenes of people living their lives and going about their daily business. It was really fascinating, not always pretty though as there appear to be still the remains of buildings devastated in the 1934 earthquake. We also experienced a ferocious thunder and lightening storm complete with hailstones. We managed to shelter in the stairway of one of the temples (which non-Hindus weren’t allowed in) and really felt as if we were just one of the people living in Kathmandu. It was a fabulous afternoon and we got back to the hotel around 5 p.m. We went for dinner to the Road House Café and had a delicious pizza, then back to the hotel to prepare for tomorrow and our 3 day hiking trip.
Late morning we set off with Sarah, an Aussie girl from our trip, to investigate the city. We walked to Hanuman dhoka Durbar Square, a world heritage site. There are apparently 7 UNESCO sites in Nepal and I think we will see them all except one. The square is a complex of temples and shrines, both Hindu and Buddhist. The population is apparently about 80% Hindu, 10% Buddhist, 5% Muslim, 2% Christian, and the rest is mixed. I heard someone say that there are over 58 temples in the Square, but I am not sure of this figure. The building are mainly built in the pagoda style with ornately carved exteriors and built in the 12th – 18th Century. The kings of Nepal are crowned here. It was certainly a very interesting area. One of the temples was especially interesting. It is the Kumari-ghar and the home of the “kumari” or living goddess who is said to be the incarnation of the Goddess Taleju. If you go to the temple around 4 pm (which we did), you see her appear at a third story window to be seen by her admirers. Apparently there is quite a process to choosing a pretty little girl for this task.
We spent the afternoon wandering through the less traveled areas of Kathmandu and saw a plethora of temples, shrines, hitis (water tanks where people wash their clothes, and bahals (courtyards) as well as fabulous street scenes of people living their lives and going about their daily business. It was really fascinating, not always pretty though as there appear to be still the remains of buildings devastated in the 1934 earthquake. We also experienced a ferocious thunder and lightening storm complete with hailstones. We managed to shelter in the stairway of one of the temples (which non-Hindus weren’t allowed in) and really felt as if we were just one of the people living in Kathmandu. It was a fabulous afternoon and we got back to the hotel around 5 p.m. We went for dinner to the Road House Café and had a delicious pizza, then back to the hotel to prepare for tomorrow and our 3 day hiking trip.
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