Bhaktapur, Saturday, October 15, 2016

We said goodbye to Hu and Nima and boarded our flight to Kathmandu. About halfway through the flight, there was excitement on the plane as we could see Mount Everest out the left windows. Abby and I had aisle seats across from each other, so we were not able to take a picture. Later, we would have an unexpected opportunity for a close-up look at the huge mountain.

On the ground in Kathmandu, a very nice young lady helped us figure out which immigration forms to fill out. We had to stand in line to pay for a 15-day tourist visa, and then stand in a shorter line to actually receive the visa and be admitted to the country. While in the longer line we stood behind a retired dental hygienist from Shoreview, MN, who was on her way to provide dental care to a remote Buddhist area in northern Nepal. She was traveling with her older daughter, who appeared to be in her late teens.

as three main religions, Hinduism, Buddhism and tourism. Hindus are 80% of the population, Buddhists are 12% of the population, and tourism is 25% of the economy.  We had a delicious lunch of braised chicken breast, green beans, carrots and a potato cake. Some thin cheese sticks and mint leaves provided the garnish.

After lunch we walked into Bhaktapur, the capital of one of the three medieval city-states in the Kathmandu valley. I was shocked at the state of the electric infrastructure, and took pictures of the tangled and looped electric distribution and cable TV conductors. At one point we saw a boy playing with a dangling power cable.

We passed small Hindu shrines, shops of various things for sale to the locals, and men playing cards until we came to Nyatapola Square, the home of Nyatapola Temple. This is the tallest building in all of Nepal, and rises five storieRoad Scholar had arranged for three men with luggage carts to collect our luggage and cart it to the bus. On the way we met our guide Rajesh, or Raaz for short. Our bus drove to lunch at the Hotel Heritage, an upscale hotel, but one with a Nepali feel to it. During the bus ride, Raaz gave us a brief orientation to Nepal, telling us that Nepal hs above the square. King Bhupatindra Malla built the temple in 1702. The temple’s stairs are flanked by stone figures of the temple’s guardians. At the base of the stairs are statues of two legendary wrestlers, Jayamel and Phattu. The Malla kings were selected by their wrestling ability, so good wrestlers were revered. Up the steps behind them are statues successively, of elephants, lions, beaked griffons with rams’ horns and two goddesses – Baghini and Singhini. Each row of statues represents creatures that are 10 times stronger than the row below it. The temple is dedicated to Siddhi Lakshmi, an incarnation of the goddess Durga.

Across the square is the triple-roofed Bhairabnath Temple, dedicated to Bhairab, an incarnation of Shiva whose consort is Siddhi Lakschmi, featured in the Nyatapola temple. Raaz explained to us that the word “pagoda” means “layers,” and that pagodas, or buildings with layered roofs, originated in Nepal. The architectural style was transferred from Nepal to Tibet, thence to China, Japan and Korea. We were looking at some early examples of Nepali pagodas.

We walked from Nyatapola Square to Durbar Square, where we were greeted by the three-story Dattatreya Temple. Raaz pointed out wooden roof struts with kama sutra scenes carved into them. In one of those scenes, a woman was multi-tasking by washing her hair while being pleasured by her husband. I borrow my description from page 159 of the 10^th edition of Lonely Planet – Nepal. The kama sutra scenes were quite a sight, and caused a ripple of comments to travel through our group.

Atop a column on the north side of Durbar square is a bronze statue of King Bhupatindra Malla with his hands pressed palms-together as if greeting someone. The statue was created in 1699 and is now the only surviving royal pillar in the Kathmandu valley. According to Lonely Planet, Bhupatindra is the best-known of the Malla kings and contributed much to Bhaktapur’s architecture.

In front of the ruined Vatsala Durga Temple is a large bell constructed by King Jaya Ranjit Malla in 1737. It was used to herald the morning and evening prayers at the temple, which was destroyed in last year’s earthquake.

According to Lonely Planet, the Golden Gate is the visual highlight of Durbar Square. “Durbar” means “palace” and the Golden Gate is its main entrance. Above the doorway, Garuda wrestles with snakes, while below that is a four-headed, ten-armed goddess, Taleju Bhawani, the favorite deity of the Malla kings. Construction of the gate was completed in 1754 during the reign of King Ranjit Malla, the last king of the Malla dynasty. With him died the golden age of Newari architecture in Nepal.

The royal palace once had 99 courtyards, most of which were destroyed in the 1934 earthquake. More damage was done by last year’s temblor. Inside the gate, sitting on the sidewalk, are pieces of statuary salvaged from the two earthquakes. We paused in front of the Teleju Temple, one of the most sacred temples in Bhaktapur, which only Hindus are allowed to enter, and they must first remove belts and shoes. I didn’t see any belts being removed, but everyone’s shoes came off. We were not even allowed to photograph the entrance to the temple.

Near the temple is the Naga Pokhari, a 17^th-century pool of water used for the ritual immersion of the idol of Taleju. The pool is encircled by a stone cobra and more cobras rise up in the middle and end of the tank. The bronze spout at the end of the tank consists of a goat being eaten by a Makara, a mythical Hindu sea creature.

Back in Durbar Square, the National Art Gallery was closed, presumably because it was Saturday, the only day off for many Nepalis. Raaz informed us that Israel is the only other country in which Saturday is the only day off during the week. The entrance to the Gallery is guarded by large stone lions, and also by 17^th-century statues of Hanuman, the monkey god, and Vishnu in the form of Narsingha, ripping someone’s guts out. Hinduism can be a bit gory at times.

On the way out of the square we could see a temple scaffolded after last year’s earthquake, although there was no sign that repairs had started yet. The entrance to the square’s metropolitan police station was swathed in bougainvillea, making it one of the prettiest police stations I have seen.

After leaving Durbar Square, we passed more signs of earthquake damage – buildings that are cracked and leaning, and a temporary camp for the homeless. We walked by a Hindu religious service that was taking place under a canopy. Those who wished could receive a “tikka,” a blessing represented by a vermillion dot in the middle of the forehead.

We boarded the bus and drove over a winding mountain road to the Dhulikel Mountain Resort. Raaz

told us that we were on the main road to Tibet, and that it would take four and a half hours on the narrow, heavily-trafficked road to travel the 80 miles to Tibet. Presiding over the road was a large statue Shiva. We ate a buffet supper at the resort, accompanied by a chilled bottle of Jacobs Creek unoaked Australian chardonnay.