So I’m not going to Sagarmatha. After nearly 24 hours waiting at the airport (spread over 4 days), getting up at 4:45 every morning to get to the airport by 5:45, and sitting there until 11:30 or so to hear that the flight has been canceled due to weather, our window of travel has [...]
Hello all. I returned from Pokhara yesterday. Beautiful part of the country. Absolutely beautiful. I have plenty of stories and plenty of pictures, but they will have to wait a few weeks. I’m heading out again tomorrow for Sagarmatha. It will take a couple weeks to get there and [...]
Pashupati Temple (temple for Shiva) is one of the most sacred places for Hindus in Nepal and throughout the world. This is the main temple in Kathmandu, and its where the dead are cremated on the side of the sacred Bagmati River. It was built around 400 AD. I was not allowed [...]
Budhanilkantha. Say that three times fast!
This 20 foot long, 1300 year old incarnation of Vishnu is nestled in the foothills of Shivapuri on the northern edge of Kathmandu is the Sleeping Vishnu. He’ll awake again at the end of the rainy season.
He appears to be floating in a pond [...]
This is a picture of the field behind my house. It is commonly used by boys in the neighborhood to play soccer, cricket, and just to be boys. Everyday and almost all day, there would be kids playing back there, having fun, keeping out of trouble. Now, however, it looks like this…
They [...]
I celebrated July 4th by visiting the American Club here in Kathmandu. Its normally by membership only (and no, being a citizen doesn’t mean “member”), but on the 4th they opened it up to all the US citizens.
Once you’re inside the compound, you really don’t feel like you’re in Nepal. You feel like [...]
At the Bhoto Jatra festival (see my last post) I was lucky enough to see the Royal Kumari, or living goddess, although I use the work “lucky” with a slight cringe.
There are many Kumaris found in India and Nepal, but the most famous one is the Royal Kumari of Kathmandu. She is a young [...]
Every year in Lalitpur, the Newari people build a giant chariot for the Rato Machhindranath and parade it through the city for a month. At the end of the procession, they hold the Bhoto Jatra festival.
The Rato Macchindranath is the god of rain (rato meaning “red”, macchindra meaning something like “fish”, and [...]
