A Pilgrimage in Kathmandu

This is one of the main roads near the house. It connects to the Ring Road that circumnavigates the city.

The same road but facing the opposite direction.

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Last Thursday we went on an all-day pilgrimage to holy sites around the city. It is auspicious if you can make it to all the sites in the same day. To do so means getting up very early and being prepared to be out and about until the evening. I stirred around 3:30 am to the smells of the days picnic lunch being prepared and later heard the sounds of prayers coming from the altar room. We were supposed to be on the road at 5:30 am but we were a little late in getting started. A 15 passenger van was hired for the day to transport all of us and I think I heard a joke as to when it may break down. Not the most instilling of confidence prior to a long day of driving! The van was driven by an extremely nice Nepali man and his son was along to assist. We loaded up the van with the picnic lunch and prayer flags and incense and everything we would need for the day. Our first stop was the Namo Buddha complex high in the mountains pretty much due East of Kathmandu. General driving here is not comparable to anything in the US so I find it hard to find an allegory or standard to describe the 2 hour drive to the top of the mountian. I'll try a few adjectives: dusty, deisel, bumpy, honking, braking, ambling. Not even close, though. We had to turn off the main highway (which would take us to Tibet if we continued on) onto a dirt road. A Humvee would find this route trecherous; we were doing it in a 2.0L deisel Toyota van... I'm not sure which became sore first, my arse or my head... We arrived on the top of the mountain to an area where Buddha gave a portion of his body to a starving lioness and her cubs. It is an extremely important Buddhist site.

Mila (Namgyal's nephew) at one of the stupas of Namo Buddha.
Smoldering incense as an offering.
Uma (Namgyal's neice).

Prayer and offereings at Namo Buddha.

Prayer flags blowing in the wind. Several more strands of flags were hung while we were there and some of us wrote our names on them.

A view back down the mountain. We are roughly at 1800 meters above sea level.

An important stupa just a bit down the road from where we just were.

It was like the stupa just appeared out of nowhere.

There are always prayer wheels surrounding the stupa. You walk with your right shoulder towards the stupa and walk in a clockwise fashion. You may spin the wheels with your right hand to send the mantras (prayers) out into the universe for the benefit of all sentient beings.

A flag lined path into the forest.

Namgyal, her dad, Tsultrim, Mila and Uma having a snack.

Family tree time. Namgyal's dad (Tsultrim), her mom (Dhongtso), her moms sister (Druki), her husband (Thom), his brother (Lopsang) and his brother praying at the stupa.

View out the window as we drove back down the mountian. It doesn't look like it, but it is HOT!

On the way back down towards the valley and our next stop.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful...

Monsoon season means the beginning of the rice season. The paddies are being prepared.

Our second stop, Bhaktapur, the old capital of Nepal before it moved to Kathmandu. There is another auspicious temple in the heart of the city we went to.

Everything is constructed from bricks - floors, walls, ceilings. The details are amazing.

The exterior of the temple.

A garden in the back of the temple.

Incredible.

The homes and the rice paddies inbetween Bhaktapur and Kathmandu.

More paddies and more rice - all done by hand. You think you had a hard day at work?

The picnic lunch at Pharping, our third stop.

I don't know how they did it but the food and tea was still piping hot at 2 in the afternoon!

A prayer flag lined trail to the top of the mountain. Seconds later I would be stung by some insect. Its scared the pants off me and it felt like I had just grabbed a handful of bare electrical wires. Ouch.

A view from the top of the mountain at Pharping. Kathmandu is off to the left of the photo. Did I mention that it was HOT?

Another stop was Swayambhunath. I have wanted to come to this stupa for years and it gave me goosebumps to see it in real life. It is also called the "Monkey Temple" because so many monkeys hang out at the stupa. It was about to start raining or the monkeys were tired because I only say 2. I was still impressed by the stupa, however. It was pretty late in the day and we had one more stop so we didn't get to stay very long. I WILL be back to spend more time here.

Swayambhu.

Swayambhu is on a hill on the Western part of Kathmandu. This is one of the views from the stupa looking East.

Swayambhu is very close to my heart and it was moving to be here.

Buddha is always watching...

We hopped back in the car for the last stop, Boudha. We did one last Kora there and came back to the house. Dinner that night was far from lively! If we could have brought our pillows to the dinner table, we would have. We must have driven nearly 200 km in the heat, the rain, and on rough roads. We saw 5 incredibly important sites and the family was able to make several offerings and do several prayers. It was an eye-opening day; a day to be humble and reverent. I would do it again, anytime...