Bhaktapur the Cultural City

55 Windows Place - The King's Home

 Bhakapur is the Cultural Capital of Nepal. The city was the capital of the whole of Nepal from the 12th to 15th century.  After the 15th century it became a city state and it's citizen surrounded it with a wall.  The city is home to almost a 100 thousand people, most of who are farmers.  Bhakapur is know for pottery and handicrafts. 

 Until just 20 years ago water flowed into the King's Bath from this spout 24 hours a day.

The King's Bath was surrounded by a stone snake and there is a bronze snake in the middle. The Snake was seen as a protector of the king.

Most of the streets are very narrow.  You only see foot traffic and motorcycles in the central part of the city.

This lady is hand crushing soy beans.  I watched her for quite a while.  It is going to take some time to crush all of those beans in the pot.

Normally this square is full of drying pottery, but this was rice harvest season.  The rice is cut in the fields, dried, and thrashed.  Then the rice is brought to this square where it is separated from the chaff and dried again.

The separation process

All of the windows in the city center where handmade here by craftsmen.

Local pottery piggy banks

Vegetable sales.  These balance scales are used in most transactions.  I bought 5 oranges around the corner.  I wanted only 4 but I had to buy enough to balance out the weight.

More rice separation

Wash day

This was the chicken market. The wicker baskets hold up to 6 chickens each.  I believe this hen will be in someone's pot before the day ends.

The main square of the city is called Dunbar Square.  This square has a conglomeration of stone art, metal art, wood carvings, and terracotta.

The lady behind the umbrella is removing weeds and grasses from the bricks.  I asked if I could take her picture and she politely turned away and blocked the camera with the umbrella.

According to local legend the strength of stone figures gets progressively stronger as you go up the steps.

This is what happens to you if you tell a lie.

Dunbar Square temple.

The golden gate into the King's palace.

The majority of the inhabitants are either Hindus or Buddhists.

This craftsman was working on a brass instrument.

Local pottery products.  The small cups in the lower left corner are one use drinking cups.

Bronze lion in Durbar Square.

The clouds opened up and dumped rain for about two hours.  Water was ankle deep in the square.

This goat did not like photographers.  About ten minutes before this picture it ran over to me and head butted me.  I saw him chase another photographer for about 5 minutes.

Almost all goods and trash is carried on backs with a strap around the forehead.

These two ladies are carrying bananas to this market.  The younger lady in the background looked to be a novice.  She needed help unloading the basket from her back.

That's all for Bhaktapur.  The next blog will cover Bandipur and the road to Pokhara.

Kathmandu

Kathmandu welcomes us with open arms

These two children were playing at The Great Boudha Stupa World Heritage Site.  There will be more photos from this location later in the blog.

This is a picture of the courtyard at our hotel in Kathmandu.  My room was on the fourth floor.  I share a room with a fellow american from New Mexico.  John was in the Peace Corp in Nepal in 1966-1969.

Since John and I both arrived a day early we headed out for a morning walk to Durbar Square.  Along the way we passed a morning market.

These gentlemen were playing at a temple adjacent to the market. .

You can buy almost everything you need at the market.  The market is setup in the street.  By mid-morning they have to be packed up and gone.  

Durbar square is a holy site.  There were a lot of people making their morning devotional visit.

Pigeons are feed at all of the temple locations in Kathmandu.  There are also two calves in Durbar Square.

I thought these mask were interesting and a little scary.

After we left Durbar Square we stumbled across this little worship building.  It was right along side the road and couldn't have been much bigger than 6 foot by 8 foot.  I could easily look over the roof.  Throughout Kathmandu there are many religious sites along the road or at intersections.

Our photo tour officially began at dinner the first night.  But picture taking started at sunrise the next day. At 5:30 am we headed to Swayambunath.

As the sun rose a little higher it highlighted all of the dust in the air.  Quite a few people in Kathmandu wear a mask over their mouth to keep the dust out.

Swayambunath is also know as the monkey palace.  When we arrived there were monkeys everywhere.  As more people arrived most of the monkeys disappeared.

A monk who is just completing his walk around the Stupa. Swayambunath has many shines as well at the Stupa. The complex is an important site for Buddhist as well as revered by Hindus.  

Bamboo scaffolding at the complex.  One of the vertical poles had a 30 degree bend.

Incense,smoke, and candles are part of the worship practices.   

This is why you shouldn't build your scaffolding out of bamboo.

The Monkey Palace Stupa.

Monkey with a cataract. He doesn't look too happy.

Street vendors at the foot of the temple site.  Food and materials are still delivered by foot power.

Worship candles were sold by quite a few vendors at the foot of the stairs to the Stupa.  The Stupa sits on the top of a large hill.  You can see the top of the Stupa just over the Buddha statues left shoulder. 

One of the candle vendors.

We ate lunch at a roof top restaurant close to our hotel.  Many of the older buildings in Nepal have six foot ceiling heights.  Historically Nepali people weren't very tall.  

After lunch we went to the Great Boudha Stupa site.  

This young lady was at the Stupa with her family.  She was poising for pictures for them and let us photographers capture a few shots.

The dome of the Stupa is a 120 feet in diameter.  Buddhist people believe that the relics of Kashyapa Buddha, the third Buddha of Bhadrakalpa was enshrined in the Dome.

In 1979 the great stupa became a World Heritage Site. Today it is a major destination for pilgrims from the Himalayas, Tibet, and Southeast and Eastern Asia.

Touch up work to keep the stupa looking it's best.

Prayer flags back-lit by the sun. 

People were constantly walking through this smoke.  Many stopping for a minute to say a prayer.

Camera sun flare turns a pigeon into a rainbow. 

Ewen Bell our tour leader does a lot of people photography while shooting into the sun.  So for the next two shot I am trying to replicate his process.

Setting sun putting a warm glow on the buildings around the stupa.  Tomorrow we are off to Bhaktapur which is know as the cultural capital of Nepal.

First Day in Nepal

I arrived in Kathmandu today after a 5 hour flight delay in Istanbul.  Was glad to get to Nepal.  Upon my arrival I discovered it was a festival day and that half of the customs staff decided not to show up for work.  So lines where quite a bit longer than usual.  The good news was that traffic across Kathmandu was much lighter than normal.  So we made good time getting to our hotel in the Thamel district.  After a quick shower I ventured out to the streets for a few pictures.  These should give you a good feel for the immediate area around my hotel.

Kathmandu taxi stand.  The Thamel district is a shopping area that caters to tourist.  None of the shops are very big and all appear to be family run.

Right in the middle of a street intersection they placed this large art mural on the payment.  The artwork is formed by grains and flower petals.  It is a temporary exhibit to celebrate the new year.

Lots of tourist junk up and down the streets.  Cashmere is suppose to be a bargain here but you have to buy it from a reputable shop.

Typical street view. Since today was a festival day a few of the shops were closed. Motorcycles, cars, and pedestrians fight for the same street space.  Horns are constantly honking.  The streets are very narrow.  There is a customary directional traffic flow on the streets but the streets are not truly one way.  So lookout for the crazy guy going against the flow.     

Old meets new.  I like this shot because in this part of Kathmandu you can see historic culture and pop culture in the same space.  This is the fifth and last day of the festival called Tihar. On this day sisters put “Tika of five colours” Paanch Rangi Tika - Yellow, green, red, blue and white on forehead of her brothers, to ensure long life and pray to Yamraja for her brother’s long life and prosperity. The gentleman holding the smart phone has these marks on his forehead.

Our photo tour doesn't start until tomorrow evening.  Looking forward to moving beyond the tourist areas.