Nepal: Day 1 (11/05/19)
Big big day today! I woke up giddy with excitement to start my Nepal adventure, which should be absolutely packed with, well, Adventure! I rounded off leftover food from my bag for breakfast, since I won’t be carrying it during my trek for the next few days, and met up with my Kathmandu tour guide at 10am. I think his name was Chat if I recall, but in any case he definitely knew his stuff! One of the advantages of working with a hostel run by tour/trekking guides I guess. He promised to take me to all the best places in town, and some of his personal favorites if I was up for it. (I’m in freaking Nepal, of course I’m going to do everything I can!)
First stop - Swayambhunath, aka the Monkey Temple. We met some (rather chubby) monkeys while Chat told me the story of Kathmandu’s founding, which I of course have to share in turn. The Kathmandu valley used to be a filled with water, forming a large lake. One day, a group of Buddhist monks on pilgrimage, lead by the saint Manjushree, came upon the lake and stopped to rest. Manjushree spotted a lotus flower, a symbol of purity and divinity, in the center of the lake. Declaring this a sacred place, he cut a gorge in the hillside allowing the lake to drain and creating a fertile valley for people to live in. Where the lotus was found, Swayambhunath Stupa was built as a place of worship.
Further up the hill from the “monkey zone” is the Stupa itself. Chat explained that the Stupa represents the path to enlightenment: the face depicts the third eye, a symbol of self reflection and meditation; the 13 different levels represent the 13 steps to enlightenment; and the cone on top is nirvana, the final release from desire. He also said that each Stupa is built upon a hollow dome with some holy artifact sealed inside, which in this case would be the lotus flower, but could be anything from mantras to a saint’s body part. All around the Stupa are also prayer wheels, which range from my a few inches to a few feet tall, and are turned as you walk the perimeter while making a wish. There’s also hundreds of multicolored prayer flags stung up around the area. As in early Christianity, a written prayer is considered continuous while a spoken one is spontaneous.
From there it was on to Durbar Square. A central square in Kathmandu and UNESCO site, it was packed with incredible architecture in the form of Hindu temples, gardens, courtyards, and royal palaces turned museum. The intricate stone and wood carvings were especially stunning, as every available surface of buildings would be covered, inside and out, with them. Chat took me through one of the royal palaces and talked about the Hindu gods while showing me the sacrificial square, royal bath, and a cultural museum in one of the buildings. We then ended our tour of the square with a stop at the only singing bowl store officially recognized by the Nepalese government. They gave me a walk through of how the bowls are made, their uses, and how to identify a legitimate singing bowl (most of which I already knew since I love singing bowls and went to a bowl meditation group for a couple years while in college). While I was VERY tempted, I didn’t end up buying one because I still have a long ways to travel and well made bowls are a bit too expensive for my budget on this trip.
A short drive later we arrived at Pashupatinath Temple, which lies on a holy river and is the site for Hindu cremation. The funeral is attended by the entire entire extended family and friends. Bodies are washed in the river, placed on a pyre, ignited by the eldest son, and then the ashes are deposited into the river. Because of its religious importance, its actually very busy, with several funerals going on at once. We stayed for the start of a ceremony and then left once they lit the pyre at Chat’s advice - burning flesh is a unique and rather unpleasant smell.
Our next destination was Boudha Stupa, which if I recall is the largest Stupa in Nepal. And it certainly towers over the surrounding buildings at over 100 ft tall. We sat down for lunch at a restaurant with a view of the area and I had my first Nepalese dish, dal bhat (Dal: lentil, bhat: rice). Which I was told is what everyone in Nepal eats every day one or two meals. I can understand why, it was delicious! But what really got me was that apparently its standard for the rice and lentils to be all-you-can-eat and that the local way to enjoy it is with your hands! We talked with a lady at the next table over who is visiting from France and it was remarked that she didn’t look like a tourist because she was knuckle deep in her plate. I wasn’t brave enough to get my hands in there but I enjoyed the assorted curries and sides nonetheless.
After lunch Chat took me to a special art studio. It’s run by a master mandala painter who only teaches single mothers (very uncommon in Nepal) and orphans. I got to walk around the tiny studio space and see painters at different stages in the 3 to 18 month long process of making mandalas. I even got to talk with one of the master painters who told me about the history and religious significance of mandalas in Nepal. Definitely one of most unique and powerful experiences I’ve had on this trip.
It was getting late so after thanking the school I was brought back to my hostel where I met my trekking guide for the next few days. After all that I just wanted to sleep so I ate the rest of what was left of the food I brought from Dubai, packed my bag for the next few days, and conked out. What a fantastic first day!
