Pashupatinath & Boudhanath

Today was the first official day of our tour with Geckos and Tek came to the hotel to collect Andrew, Belinda and I to spend half a day visiting two of the most significant sights in Kathmandu.

Our first stop was Pashupatinath which is one of the biggest hindu temples of Shiva, in the world. The temple is listed in the UNESCO World Heritage sites list.  As we were not Hindu we were not allowed to enter the main part of the temple, however from the opposite side of the Bagmati River (which is not very wide) we were able to witness one of the traditional ceremonies taking part.  This is where Hindus and some Buddhists are cremated.  We witnessed 2 cremations taking place and saw a body being prepared by the family for cremation.  We were invited to take photographs but I didn't feel it was morally the right thing to do, out of respect for what we were witnessing.  I haven't seen a body before, and whilst it was from no more than 100m away, it was still a little confronting.  However, this is part of the reason I travel, and that is to experience the way things are done in other cultures and to put myself out of my comfort zone. 

Because the religious ceremonies we were witnessing believe in reincarnation there was less sadness that we would witness at such an event.  Of course people were mourning and the sad cries from the wife of the man who was being prepared for cremation made my heart hurt a little, however people who believe in reincarnation feel that this is just another step in life and that there is still more to come.  Andrew made a comment that resonated with me, in that in western culture we hide away from death and try to cover it up and there is less finality by comparison to what we were seeing.  There was definite solace. 

We walked around and saw a few of the Hindu temples, adorned with really big monkeys (I am truly fascinated by these rabies infected beasts and their human-like mannerisms - or are do we have their mannerisms?) and our tour guide showed us some amazing relics dating back to the 14th century.

I was a little overwhelmed by this stage, but glad I got to witness something that I will see again in India (in Varanasi) by way of the cremations before it was time to move on to our next stop.

Boudhanath is one of the holiest buddhist sites in Kathmandu and the stupa dominates the skyline.  I won't have access to put photos on the blog for quite some time, but if you want to Google for some images, you will get an idea of how impressive this place was! Our guide said that this place is often referred to as 'Little Tibet' as many Tibetan people who live in Kathmandu come here to meditate and spin the prayer wheels. Much to my pleasure we got to visit two Buddhist monasteries and go inside whilst they were praying. Andrew and I wandered about, checking out all the sites before we met back up as a group and went to a workshop where some of the most amazing art was being produced, some of which utilised 24 carat gold in intricate paintings depecting Buddhist scenes.  I couldn't resist - and bought the most amazing mandula (I think I have spelt it correctly) that also incorporates gold, which I will have photos of once I have the artwork framed and put up on the wall at home.

We finished our half day of touring before our guide Tek had us brought back to our hotel to have free time.  Tomorrow we leave bright and early for the 160km or 6 hours (that should give you an indication of the quality of the roads!) trip to Chitwan National Park, towards the border between Nepal and India.

I hope to have internet access to update the blog whilst we are there - so everyone should have their fingers crossed for us that from our view upon the top of an elephant we get to see a Rhino or perhaps the extremely elusive Bengal Tiger!

EDIT: I should have also mentioned - that the antibiotics Andrew got me, have worked fantastically so far ($1AUD bought abou 70 of them), and I think I'm almost 100% again apart from a little lethargy! Hooray!