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 [...]
I visited Old Dhaka to check out some of the more historical sites. Old Dhaka reminds me a lot of Kathmandu, especially the Thamel area. Tight streets lined with small shops covering everything from clothes to brooms to cement coloring. Rickshaws are the mode of transportation of choice in this area. [...]
Hmm. Where to begin? Its much easier to write as you go than to have to look back, so I guess I’ll start from the beginning.
I arrived in Dhaka on Wednesday evening and headed out Friday morning to go south to the coastal belt around Barisal and Patuakhali. We continued south on [...]
It was quiet in Kathmandu today. The roads were empty from trucks, buses, cars, motorcycles, and even bikes. The stores all had their shutters closed. People were out, not sure where they were going, but they were only out on foot. All other transportation, except for police and emergency vehicles, were [...]
Today my friend P.J. and I headed over to Swayambhu Stupa. It is also referred to as the “Monkey Temple” because of the monkeys that play and relax around the stupa. It sits atop a hill overlooking all the Kathmandu valley and has possibly been a religious site since around 460 A.D. [...]
A friend of mine shared this link with me. It links you to 27 AMAZING pictures of Holi. I didn’t see it celebrated en masse as some of these pictures portray, but it was certainly just as colorful here. Check them out!
Holi Pictures
Now you can see why I didn’t want to take [...]
The Boudhanath Stupa was #4 on my Top Ten Things To See Around Kathmandu. It is by far one of the most impressive things I have seen since I have been here, and that is saying a lot. I knew it was big (its one of the largest in the world), but I [...]
I headed over to Bhaktapur yesterday to check out the sites. Its the third city (behind Kathmandu and Patan) in the Kathmandu Valley and the oldest. And you can tell. There is an “old” feeling to it all. Little traffic, not nearly as many people, and things are still done the old way in many [...]
