[2019]

OUR FAMILY HOLIDAYS

9158 Kathmandu in Nepal

From Varanesi we caught yet another plane to Kathmandu in Nepal. This was an almost complete change. The whole town was dedicated to Buddhism, and hence the buildings were quite different. For one thing they were carved out of wood, rather than stone, and were brightly painted.

Our base was a modern hotel on the outskirts of the city.  I didn't realize, until the day we left, that it had a superb view of the Himalayas; since this was always hidden by clouds. But, the day we left, we could see - through our bedroom window, in the distance - a magnificent panorama of the Himalayas; seeming to stretch up into heaven. It was very comfortable hotel, once more, and the restaurant was excellent; though the local delicacy - a form of stew - was served in mammoth portions and we ate far too much.

As I said, the centre of Kathmandu is filled with temples carved out of wood.  It is a very colourful environment.

From there we went to the Buddhist temple in the hills above the city. It was the day of a festival, so it was thronged with thousands of tourists and worshippers.  Built on top of a hill, it included the obligatory bank of prayer wheels, which worshippers rotated by hand, together with a small stupa. 

We went, on another day, to a totally different stupa in the lower part of Kathmandu , which this time was massive; a hundred feet or more across.

Then we also visited the areas where the communities who had come across from Tibet, escaping from the Chinese, lived. There we bought a Tibetan carpet to bring back home.

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