The scent of incense filled the air as I walked among shrines and crumbled buildings. Local people were busy praying and I wandered by while trying to keep my distance to leave them at peace. There is a lot of life here and religion is strong. I could tell that these people honestly feel that their efforts for coming here and paying homage will be rewarded, and I had no reason to doubt their beliefs. It did, even for a non religious person as myself, feel like a spiritual place.
Swayambunath
I was currently at Swayambunath, commonly known to tourists as the Monkey Temple, an important religious site for both Buddhists and Hindus, perched on the top of a hill above the thriving city of Kathmandu in Nepal. It was a hazy day and I couldn’t see the Himalayas that I knew were in the distance, but I couldn’t miss the city spread out before me. Monkeys ran around among the shrines and jumped between trees, or sat silently grooming each other without a care for the people wandering around. They are considered sacred here and are allowed to live here in peace and roam around freely.
After exploring the complex of shrines and temples I made my way down the long staircase down the hill which sits beneath the huge Swayambunath stupa with its golden top and painted eyes overlooking Kathmandu. Even at the bottom of the hill there is a small shrine where people were praying.
A walk back into town
I walked across the street past several vendors selling flowers on the side of the road and made my way down a lane lined with tiny shops and eateries. People were sitting at rough wooden tables and benches drinking tea that was being prepared by a man who boiled his pot perched on bricks over a tiny wood fire on the side of the street.
Further on I passed a man pushing a cart along selling a variety of fruit while some kids ran around playing in the street, their mother watching on contently. There was a lot of life here and it was hard for me to know where to look to try and take it all in.
I left the lane and walked down a narrow street passing old crumbling buildings. A butcher shop across the street had raw meat simply out on display in the open air, a group of stray dogs sat and watched in hope of a few scraps. Further on I passed a goat tied to a post outside someone’s house, munching away on some branches of vegetation that had been gathered for it.
I passed by all kinds of shops selling anything you can think of, and people selling fresh produce seemed to be able to set up anywhere on the street to sell their goods. So too could the people making and selling wreaths and strings of marigolds and flowers, and people selling jewellery and trinkets.
Durbar Square
I eventually entered back into the busy streets of downtown Kathmandu where I dodged cars, motorbikes, pedestrians and rickshaws, and found myself in Durbar Square, the great temple complex of Kathmandu where ancient temples stand where they have for centuries. Unfortunately, many stand no more after the huge earthquake that shook Nepal in 2015. Some are held up by wooden supports, threatening to collapse as soon as they are removed, some are completely gone and all that remains is their foundations, while others look like they were hardly affected at all.
I visited several temples including the Kumari Bahal, where people worship a young girl, the Kumari, who is considered to be a living goddess, before then making my way through the damaged and long abandoned palace of the former royal family, from the days when Nepal was still a kingdom.
Even where there was no longer a temple, people still gathered on its foundations or amongst the rubble to pray and pay homage at different shrines and temples to whatever deity they once represented. Even with so much death and destruction, they have not lost their faith. I felt humbled by these people. I’m not sure that I would be able to have that same kind of faith if I were in their shoes.
I left Durbar Square behind and wandered down a narrow lane where a busy market was taking place. My senses were on overload and I was shuffling through with a seemingly continuous crowd through the tiny passage of stalls. I had people calling me into their stalls while others haggled with other customers, there were colours of all kinds all around and there were all kinds of smells from different foods, flowers and spices.
I emerged out of the market and back into some open space, and I was full of life. This city is just incredible. Its buildings, its streets, its food and colours, its people and movement. It is as if the city has its own heartbeat, and it is truly alive in itself. I was so happy to be there and to experience it. Kathmandu is an amazing place.
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