Nepal revisited: marraskuuta 2014

Saturday 25.10. Farewell to Kathmandu... and the Himalayas

After two last days of intensive visits to our friends in Patan we had to say farewell to Kathmandu and head for new adventures: two children returned directly home to work, whereas the rest of us visited India for a few days. I had the opportunity to visit some World Vision projects in Indore.

In these pictures you can see Kathmandu valley. Boudhanath stupa can be clearly seen in the first picture. You can also see the difference in colour between the morning fog over Kathmandu and the clouds over the Himalayas.

The mountains in the last picture look very familiar as we have watched them almost daily when the weather was clear. The mountain with round top is Baudha (6670 m) and the one to the right is Himalchuli (7893 m). Amp Pipal village hospital, where we lived and worked for 3 years is in front of those mountains.

Wednesday 22.10.2014 Pashupatinath, Boudhanath, Gyaneshwar Church - and Patan Durbar Square

Pashupatinath is one of the memorable places to visit in Kathmandu. It is the most sacred Hindu shrine and here all aspects of life and death intermingle: pilgrims, priests, devotees, temples, images and cremation ghats, all on the banks of the sacred Bagmati River.

Boudhanath stupa in Kathmandu valley

Not far from Pashupatinath, Boudhanath stupa is one of Nepal's most distinctive monuments. It is one of the most important Buddhist sites in Nepal and with a diameter of over 100 meters it is amongst the largest in the world. It is believed to date from the 5th century.

Surrounding the stupa are six major monastries and it is one of the major Tibetan communities in Kathmandu. Throughout the day there is a constant stream of people circling the stupa spinning prayer wheels and reciting mantras.

On our way back we visited the Christian church in Gyaneshwar in which our family often went for services while in Nepal. It has grown immensely and has built a new church space in which several services are held weekly.

Our driver and guide Shyam left us in Patan Gate with warm farewell...

It was time for Tihar festival in Nepal. One of the days is Kukur puja and on that day dogs are offered garlands

Tihar colours in front of our hotel

Patan Durbar Square

Visit to our Kathmandu home in Kumaripati

At the end of the day, as well as the following last full days, 23-24 Oct. in Kathmandu we saw many dear friends whom we have known for over 30 years. We were surrounded by warm atmosphere, as always in Nepal. These visits resulted in many happy memories, but also in new friendships, as a new generation had grown up during the past 20-30 years...

Tuesday 21.10.2014 Visit to Panauti and Dhulikhel

Panauti is an attractive small town 32 kms east of Kathmandu. It was originally a small sate given by King Bhupatindra Malla as a dowry to his sister. It was integrated into the unified kingdom of Nepal at the end of 13th century. Panauti is situated in the confluence of two rivers, Rosi and Punyamati.

In the afternoon I paid a short visit to Kathmandu University. Their headquarters is situated in a very beautiful site in Dhulikhel, but they have campuses also in Kathmandu. Kathmandu University is a fairly new (est 1991) independent, not-for-profit, non-government public institution and third oldest university in Nepal.

In the evening we still had time for a short visit to Indrachowk, offering a true cultural experience of the Kathmandu bazaar.

Monday 20.10.2014 Bhaktapur

Bhaktapur is an old town in Kathmandu valley that you cannot miss if you visit Nepal. Nyatapol is the highest temple in the valley and the Durbar Square in Bhaktapur is the best preserved amongst the tree Durbar Squares in the valley.

The potters' square is an exciting place to visit. You can even test your own skills as a potter

Fighting hawks above Bhaktapur

The tall Nyatapole Temple has 5 roofs

In the evening we witnessed sunset at Nagarkot, situated 35 kms east of Kathmandu at an altitude on 2099 metres. The view and sunset was great in spite of the clouds that did not allow us to admire the majestetic Himalayas this time.

Sunday 19.10.2014 Machan in Chitwan National Park and back to Kathmandu via Lumbini

Our second day in Chitwan started by lovely breakfast, followed by a slow, relaxing ox-cart ride in the surrounding village. It was a perfect way to observe village life. Speaking nepalese was again a great benefit, as you can get really close to ordinary village people. The government had given some land for poor people who were earlier landless. They were now eagerly taking care of the small plot of land.

It was good to see that there was also a drilled well giving clean water.

Fish traps in Tharu museum

Our tour ended in the very interesting Tharu -museum.

Visit to Lumbini, Buddha's birthplace

Matching colours of pure nature...

Traffic in Nepal has it dangers

Returning to Kathmandu after the dark was a really exciting experience...
Fortunately our Driver Shyam was very skilful, with 15 years' experience driving a night bus

To pass or not to pass...

Late evening coffee break somewhere
on the way to Kathmandu

Saturday 18.10.2014 Rafting and Elephant Safari

The night was pretty warm, even if you could feel the moisture from the river...
After breakfast we continued rafting, time to time through strong current and big waves splashing water all over us... In a couple hours we reached our landing point, Gaighat.
Change dry clothes on and continue driving to Chitwan National Park. You can see all kinds of wild animals here in a wild jungle, including rhinos, leopards, bears, crocodiles and deer -and if you are very lucky, the Royal Bengal Tiger. We had seen the Kingfisher 3-4 times during our rafting, what a beautiful bird! In the national park you can find a wide variety of colourful birds.

We were not lucky enough to meet other rare species except the rhinos during the elephant safari, as we stayed only one day in Machan. But meeting a rhino in the jungle is something you remember...
Our evening ended with traditional Tharu dancing.