Archive for March, 2007

Monument near Buddhist Stupa in Kathmandu

Surrounding the Buddhist Stupa in central Kathmandu was a series of small monuments as shown in the photos above and below. Again, I do not know of their religious significance. They were rather interesting as they looked quite ancient. I know some structures in Kathmandu are known to be many hundreds of years old. This just adds another facet to the overall fascination of this exotic city of great contrasts.

At a Buddhist Stupa in Kathmandu

Buddhist Stupa in Kathmandu

The Buddhist influence is everywhere in evidence throughout Kathmandu and in many parts of the countryside. This stupa in central Kathmandu is very colourful and very photogenic. The colourful prayer flags fluttering in the breeze just adds further to this amazing structure.

During our trek in the Everest region I was amazed at some of the places these colourful prayer flags had been placed. Some were high up on the steep faces of the cliffs surrounding the valleys we were walking along. When we climbed high up over ridges, more prayer flags were seen even higher up.

Buddhist Stupa in Kathmandu

Dentist in Kathmandu

One of the things I did before leaving on my trip to Nepal in 2006 was to visit my family dentist. I had been rather naughty and hadn’t been for a checkup in a few too many years. Just as well I did, because I needed quite a few extra visits consequently. Some root canal work later and I was fine. Just the mere mention of the words “root” and “canal” in the same sentence sends shivers down my spine.

In retrospect, however, it was the wisest thing I did before leaving the country. As my dentist said, “You certainly don’t want that tooth exploding half way up Everest, because there are not too many dentists up there.” In fact I think the photo above shows the only dental establishment I saw in all of Nepal. I’m sure the dentist concerned is very nice; I just didn’t want him poking around in my mouth.

I am pleased to report that my teeth gave me no problems whatsoever while away.

Monument in Kathmandu

I have commented on several occasions about the large number of temples in the streets of Kathmandu. There are also a large number of smaller monuments like this one, quite often not associated with any temple. I do not know of their significance and can find no reference to them in the guide books I had with me.

It is things like this that made me think that employing a local guide for a day would have been beneficial in understanding what I was seeing.

Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal

On previous occasions I have written about the vast number of temples and other religious buildings in Kathmandu. Seeing them is unavoidable. At almost every turn – there is another one. Some are in quite open squares where many people congregate to talk, sit around in the sunshine or carry on a trade such as selling food.

Others, like the temple shown in the photo above, are crowded in by the surrounding high-rise buildings. A five or six storey building in Kathmandu IS a high rise building; few are higher than that.