WEATHER: Hot but pleasant 25C
HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Getting out and about
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Can't think of a single thing
WORD OF THE DAY: Dandybad-thankyou
Today we see what Kathmandu has to offer. I like the feel of the Thamel area where we
have been staying, but it will be good to get out of ‘touristland’ and see some
of the cultural things of the country.
Kathmandu is the capital and with more than one million inhabitants and the
largest metropolitan city of Nepal. The city is the
urban core of the Kathmandu
Valley in the
Himalayas. The city stands at an elevation of
approximately 1,400 meters in the bowl-shaped valley in central Nepal
surrounded by four major mountains: Shivapuri, Phulchoki, Nagarjun and
Chandragiri. And these are visible from
anywhere you are, well at least one of them at any one time. When the country is covered by 68% of mountains
there is a good chance that there will always be some in view. If you flattened out the country of Nepal
(and all its mountains) the country would be as big as the United States of
America!! Eight rivers flow through the
city of which the Bagmati, Bishnumati, Dhobikhola, Manohara, Hanumant and
Tukucha Rivers are predominant. The mountains from where these rivers originate
are in the elevation range of 1,500–3,000 meters and have passes, which provide
access to and from Kathmandu and its valley.
The city’s rich history is nearly 2000 years old, as inferred from an
inscription in the valley. Most of Kathmandu's people follow Hinduism followed by Buddhism. People of other religious beliefs also live in Kathmandu giving it a
cosmopolitan culture. Nepali is the most common
language of the city. Nepal Bhasa is the indigenous
language spoken by the Newar people. Hindi is widely understood. English is understood by the
educated population of the city. The literacy rate is 98% in the city. Archaeological excavation of places of Kathmandu
has found evidences of ancient civilization. The oldest dated of these findings
is a statue dated 185 A.D found in Maligaon. Another
undated brick with inscription in Brahmi script was found during the
excavation of Dhando Chaitya. Archaeologists believe it to be two thousand
years old. The ancient history of
Kathmandu is based in mythology. According to Swayambhu Purana, the present day Kathmandu was once a lake called
Nagdaha. The lake was drained by Manjushree, who established a city called
Manjupattan and made Dharmakar the ruler of the land.
In medieval history Kathmandu was ruled by Licchavis and Mallas. The city grew largely during this time. Most of the historic
temples, monasteries and buildings were built during this era. The city served
as an important transit point in the trans-Himalayan trade between India and
China. Lichchavi era was followed by Malla era. During late Malla era, the valley of Kathmandu consisted
of four fortified cities, namely Kantipur, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur and Kirtipur,
which served as the capitals of Malla confederation of Nepal. These states
competed with each other on arts, architecture, aesthetics and trade which
resulted in massive development. The Newar people—the indigenous inhabitants of
the Kathmandu Valley— came to characterize most forms of artistry during this
time both within the valley and throughout the greater Himalayas. Highly sought
after, they traveled extensively throughout Asia, creating religious art for
their neighbors, as in the case of Araniko and the group of artists he led to
Tibet and China.
The termination of Malla confederation by the Gorkha kingdom marks the
beginning of modern era. The Battle of Kirtipur was the start of the Gorkha conquest of the Kathmandy valley. Kathmandu was
adopted as the capital of their Gorkha Empire, and the empire itself was dubbed
as Nepal. During early phase of this era, Kathmandu saw a continuation of its
culture. New buildings in Nepali architecture such as the nine story tower of
Basantapur was built during this era. Trade declined during this era because of
continuous wars with neighboring nations.
Kathmandu’s trade is an ancient profession that flourished along an
offshoot of the Silk Road linking India and Tibet. From
centuries past, Lhasa Newar
merchants of Kathmandu have conducted trade
across the Himalaya and contributed to spreading art styles and Buddhism across
Central Asia. Other traditional
occupations are farming, metal casting, woodcarving, painting, weaving and
pottery. The main religions in
Kathmandu as in the rest of Nepal are Hinduism and Buddhism, although there are minorities of Kirats, Sikhs, Jains, Muslims, Baha'ais
and Christians. Many Hindu temples in
Kathmandu and the surrounding district are centuries old with some temples of
national importance to Hindus. Kathmandu
and its historic stupas have been of major importance to Newar Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhists for centuries and attracts thousands of pilgrims
annually. Kathmandu is the only place where Buddhism is still practiced in
Sanskrit.
We all plied into the van for the 20 minute ride to our first stop. The roads were bumpy and a little chaotic
with bikes and cars and I think the Nepali drivers are a little impatient with
a lot of horn honking and not a lot of friendly ‘letting your neighbor in’
style of driving. We arrived at Swayambhunath which is an ancient religious complex atop a hill in the Kathmandu Valley. It is also known as the Monkey Temple as there are holy monkeys living in
the north-west parts of the temple. For
the Buddhist Newars in
whose mythological history and origin myth as well as day-to-day religious
practice, it is probably the most sacred among Buddhist pilgrimage sites. The
Swayambhunath complex consists of a stupa, a variety of shrines and temples, some dating back to
the Licchavi period. A Tibetan monastery, museum and library are more recent additions. The site has two access points: a long
stairway, claimed to have 365 steps, leading directly to the main platform of
the temple, which is from the top of the hill to the east; and a car road
around the hill from the south leading to the southwest entrance. We were lucky enough to get to the site via
the car access, but not because we were lazy but there were a few site to see
before climbing 120 steps to get to the main stupa.
It was busy with the daily locals
coming for their prayers, and the first thing I noticed besides the magnificent
view of the valley was the hundreds of prayer flags that they had ties from
tree to tree, actually there may have been thousands. As we passed through the main entrance you
could see the World Peace Pond to the right and my first Nepalese stupa. We stopped at the World Peace Pond that had a
Buddha statue in the middle with a vase at his feet. The pond would have been 10m wide, so you if
you could throw a coin and get it to land in the metal vase you would have good
luck and your wish would be granted. We
didn’t have any coins but Padama came prepared and let us have 3 turns each
with my first go the closest hitting the side and then bouncing in the pond. Oh well no special luck for me today. As we headed to the smaller stupa found on
the lower level of the complex there was a man standing there selling pink
fairy floss in plastic hanging from a t-shaped hanger. I wonder how much business he does there each
morning? A big seller? There were also other stalls that were just
starting to set up with the usual religious artifacts and souvenirs. The Nepalese stupas are a little different
from all the Sri Lankan stupa’s I had seen only 3 weeks ago. These ones have Buddha's eyes and eyebrows
painted on. Between them, there is something painted which looks like the nose
- but is the Nepali symbol of 'unity', in the main Nepali language dialect. As we
were listening to our guide tell us about the stupa, there must have been about
100 monkeys in a troop coming down the stairs to try their luck at getting some
food. We were told to not have plastic
bags in your hands or anything loose as they will come along and take it from
you. They aren’t very nice looking
monkeys either.
We then joined the hordes of
people heading up the stairs and to the main complex. People were a little pushy and I think they
were locals who didn’t really have much time or patience for tourists. I can understand that we are in their
country, but there still has to be a little respect given I think and I wasn’t
feeling that from them. It was busy as
this was the last day of a 10 day festival that is held each year, so that
could also have something to do with people’s attitude, but it sucked all the
same. We passed some more shops and I
like the look of what Nepal shops have to offer. They aren’t the cheap souvenirs, made of
plastic hot off the tourist press, there is a lot of old things, things with
character, that seem to have been around for a while on sale and even though
there is some crap, if you have the time, you could find some really nice pieces,
which I intend to do in the next 13 days.
The great thing this being the last stop of the trip I can load up on
some nice pieces and don’t have to worry about space or sending things home as
I can just bring them with me. Swayambhunath,
is among the oldest religious sites in Nepal. Although the
site is considered Buddhist, the place is revered by both Buddhists and Hindus.
Numerous king Hindu followers are known to have paid their homage to the
temple, including Pratap Malla, the powerful king of Kathmandu, who is
responsible for the construction of the eastern stairway in the 17th century.
The stupa was completely
renovated in May 2010, its first major renovation in 90 years and its 15th in the nearly 1,500 years
since it was built. The dome was re-gilded using 20 kg of gold. The
renovation was funded by the Tibetan Nyingma Meditation Center of California,
and began in June 2008. The stupa consists
of a dome at the base, above which is a cubical structure painted with eyes of Buddha looking in all four directions with the word
"unity" in the main Nepali dialect between them. The dome at the base represents the entire
world. When a person awakes (represented by eyes of wisdom and compassion) from
the bonds of the world, the person reaches the state of enlightenment. The
thirteen pinnacles on the top symbolize that sentient beings have to go through
the thirteen stages of spiritual realizations to reach enlightenment or Buddhahood. There is a large
pair of eyes on each of the four sides of the main stupa which represent Wisdom
and Compassion. Above each pair of eyes is another eye, the third eye. It is
said that when Buddha preaches, cosmic rays emanate from the third eye which
act as messages to heavenly beings, so that those interested can come down to
earth to listen to the Buddha. The hellish beings and beings below the human
realm cannot come to earth to listen to the Buddha's teaching; however, the
cosmic rays relieve their suffering when Buddha preaches. There were candle sellers, people buying offerings
from small stalls in the form of flowers, rice and plants. There were prayer wheels getting spun by
people and there were also people lining up to get there 5 seconds with some of
the holy shrines located around the stupa.
We weren’t allowed to take pictures of 2 of the shrines and I have
noticed that unlike Sri Lanka, there are no rules in the way you have your photo
taken with Buddha. Whereas in Sri Lanka
you were never allowed to have your back to the statue, you always had to be
turned on your side for photos. Not here
it seems. There was a lot of incense
burning, candles burning, candles getting cleaned and there was just people
everywhere. Throw into the mix dumb tourists
(ourselves excluded if course) it made for a hive of activity. After some more information we were then
given 20 minutes to take a walk around ourselves, always in a clockwise
direction as Buddhist belief. There was
a small museum that we went into to have a look, and there were a lot of
Buddha’s of all size and people were also praying to these as we walked around.
Back outside and it was just
getting busier, so I think we came at a good time. We did see the changing of the prayer flags,
and also the spilling of yellow water on the top of the stupa, which had
something to do with the festival. Jess
said when she came a few weeks ago; none of the small tents that were set up
around the stupa were here, so it would be good to see this place when it isn’t
in festival. We made our way back to the
van for the 10 minute drive to get us as close to Durbar Square as we
could. Again the roads are just crazy
and I can see now why people complain about the traffic.
Our next stop for the morning was
Kathmandu Durbar Square which is
the plaza in front of the old royal palace of the Kathmandu Kingdom. It is one
of three Durbar Squares in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, all of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Durbar
square is surrounded with spectacular architecture and vividly showcases the
skills of the Newar artists and craftsmen over several centuries. The Kathmandu Durbar Square holds the palaces
of the Malla and Shah Kings who ruled over the city. Along with these palaces,
the square also surrounds quadrangles revealing courtyards and temples. The
square is presently known as Hanuman Dhoka, a name derived from the statue of
Hanuman, the monkey devotee of Lord Ram, near the entrance of the palace. The
preference for the construction of royal palaces at this site dates back to as
early as the Licchavi period in the third century. Even though the present
palaces and temples have undergone repeated and extensive renovations and
nothing physical remains from that period.
The square is still the center of important royal events like the
coronation of King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah in 1975 and King Gyanendra Bir
Bikram Shah in 2001. My first glimpse at
the massive square with all its old buildings was it reminded me a little of
China, the Forbidden City with the rounded roofs on some buildings and square
roofs on others. Basically every time a
new King cane into power he built a temple and as the years progressed they
were all built here which is pretty cool to see them all in the one place.
The oldest temples in the square
are those built by Mahendra Malla (1560–1574). They are the temples of
Jagannath, Kotilingeswara Mahadev, Mahendreswara, and the Taleju Temple. This
three-roofed Taleju Temple was established in 1564, in a typical Newari
architectural style and is elevated on platforms that form a pyramid-like
structure. It is said that Mahendra Malla, when he was residing in Bhaktapur, was
highly devoted to the Taleju Temple there; the Goddess being pleased with his
devotion gave him a vision asking him to build a temple for her in the
Kathmandu Durbar Square. Then with a help of a hermit, he designed the temple
to give it its present form and the Goddess entered the temple in the form of a
bee. It was in the time of Pratap Malla,
son of Laksminar Simha, that the square was extensively developed. He was an
intellectual, a pious devotee, and he was especially interested in arts. He
called himself a Kavindra, king of poets, and boasted that he was learned in
fifteen different languages. A passionate builder, following his coronation as
a king, he immediately began enlargements to his royal palace, and rebuilt some
old temples and constructed new temples, shrines and stupas around his kingdom. Around 1692, Radhilasmi, the widowed queen of
Pratap Malla, erected the tall temples of Shiva known as Maju Deval near the
Garuda image in the square. This temple stands on nine stepped platforms and is
one of the tallest buildings in the square.
All the Shiva temples have some form of wood carving depicting the Karma
Sutra. It is a little strange to be
looking at these religious places of worship with a couple carved into wood
doing it ‘doggy style’ and threesomes and other sexual images on the beams of
these magnificent buildings. So what
does all that mean?
The Kama
Sutra is an ancient Indian Hindu text widely considered to be the standard
work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by Vātsyāyana.
A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sexual intercourse. It is largely in prose, with many inserted anustubh poetry verses. "Kāma"
which is one of the three goals of Hindu life, means sensual or sexual pleasure, and "sūtra"
literally means a thread or line that holds things together, and more
metaphorically refers to an aphorism (or line, rule, formula), or a collection
of such aphorisms in the form of a manual. Contrary to popular perception,
especially in the western world, Kama sutra is not just an exclusive sex manual;
it presents itself as a guide to a virtuous and gracious living that discusses
the nature of love, family life and other aspects pertaining to pleasure
oriented faculties of human life. The Kama Sutra is the oldest and most notable of a
group of texts known generically as Kama Shastra. Traditionally, the first transmission of Kama Shastra or "Discipline of Kama" is
attributed to Nandi the sacred bull, Shiva's doorkeeper, who
was moved to sacred utterance by overhearing the lovemaking of the god and his
wife Parvati and later recorded his utterances for
the benefit of mankind. And here we
‘western’ people think Karma Sutra is all about the sex and the pictures. Wrong.
The most interesting thing for me
of the trip to Durbar Square was the Kumari Bahal. In this house resides the Kumari, an immature
girl who is revered as the living goddess. Kumari, or Kumari Devi, is the tradition of
worshiping young pre-pubescent girls as manifestations of the divine female
energy or devi in Hindu religious traditions. A Kumari is believed to be the
incarnation of the goddess Taleju until she menstruates, after which it is believed that the goddess vacates her
body. Serious illness or a major loss of blood from an injury are also causes for her to revert to
common status. She is a living goddess
and selected from the Shakya clan of the Nepalese Newari community. The Kumari is revered and worshiped by some of
the country's Hindus as well as the Nepali Buddhists. While there are several Kumari's throughout Nepal, with
some cities having several, the best known is the Royal Kumari of Kathmandu, and she lives in the Kumari Ghar, a palace in the center of the city. The selection process
for her is especially rigorous. The current Royal Kumari, Matina Shakya, aged
four, was installed in October 2008 by the Maoist government that replaced the
monarchy. The worship of the goddess in a young girl represents the worship of
divine consciousness spread all over the creation. While worshiping a goddess, only a young girl
is chosen over a mature lady because of their inherent purity and chastity
which are considered to be principal characteristics of Durga.
Eligible girls are Buddhists from
the Newar Shakya caste (the clan to which the Buddha belonged) of silver and
goldsmiths. She must be in excellent health, never have shed blood or been
afflicted by any diseases, be without blemish and must not have yet lost any
teeth. Girls who pass these basic eligibility requirements are examined for the
battis lakshanas, or 'thirty-two perfections' of a goddess. Some of these are
poetically listed as such: A neck like a
conch shell, A body like a banyan tree, Eyelashes like a cow, Thighs like a
deer, Chest like a lion, Voice soft and clear as a duck's. In addition to this, her hair and eyes should
be very black; she should have dainty hands and feet, small and well-recessed
sexual organs and a set of twenty teeth.
The girl is also observed for signs of serenity and fearlessness (after
all, she is to be the vessel of the fierce goddess Durga) and her horoscope is examined to ensure that it is complementary to the
King's. It is important that there not be any conflicts as she must confirm the
King's legitimacy each year of her divinity. Her family is also scrutinized to
ensure its piety and devotion to the King.
Once the priests have chosen a candidate, she must undergo yet more
rigorous tests to ensure that she indeed possesses the qualities necessary to
be the living vessel of Durga. Her greatest test comes during the Hindu
festival of Dashain. On the kalratri, or 'black night', 108 buffaloes and
goats are sacrificed to the goddess Kali. The young candidate is taken into the
Taleju temple and released into the courtyard, where the severed heads of the
animals are illuminated by candlelight and masked men are dancing about. If the
candidate truly possesses the qualities of Taleju, she shows no fear during
this experience. If she does, another candidate is brought in to attempt the
same thing. As a final test, the living
goddess must spend a night alone in a room among the heads of ritually
slaughtered goats and buffaloes without showing fear. The fearless candidate
has proven that she has the serenity and the fearlessness that typifies the
goddess who is to inhabit her. After passing all other tests, the final test is
that she must be able to pick out the personal belongings of the previous
Kumari from an assortment of things laid out before her. If she is able to do
so, there is no remaining doubt that she is the chosen one.
Once the chosen girl completes
the Tantric purification rites and crosses from the temple on a white cloth to
the Kumari Ghar to assume her throne, her life takes on an entirely new
character. She will leave her palace only on ceremonial occasions. Her family
will visit her rarely, and then only in a formal capacity. Her playmates will
be drawn from a narrow pool of Newari children from her caste, usually the
children of her caretakers. She will always be dressed in red, wear her hair in
a topknot and have the agni chakchuu or "fire eye" painted on her
forehead as a symbol of her special powers of perception.
The Royal Kumari's new life is
vastly different from the one to which she has been accustomed in her short
life. Whilst her life is now free of material troubles, she has ceremonial
duties to carry out. Although she is not ordered about, she is expected to
behave as befits a goddess. She has shown the correct qualities during the
selection process and her continued serenity is of paramount importance; an
ill-tempered goddess is believed to portend bad tidings for those petitioning
her. The Kumari's walk across the Durbar Square is the last time her feet will touch the ground until
such time as the goddess departs from her body. From now on, when she ventures
outside of her palace, she will be carried or transported in her golden
palanquin. Her feet, like all of her, are now sacred. Petitioners will touch
them, hoping to receive respite from troubles and illnesses. The King himself
will kiss them each year when he comes to seek her blessing. She will never
wear shoes; if her feet are covered at all, they will be covered with red
stockings. The power of the Kumari is
perceived to be so strong that even a glimpse of her is believed to bring good
fortune. Crowds of people wait below the Kumari's window in the Kumari Chowk,
or courtyard, of her palace, hoping that she will pass by the latticed windows
on the third floor and glance down at them. Even though her irregular appearances
last only a few seconds, the atmosphere in the courtyard is charged with
devotion and awe when they do occur. The
more fortunate, or better connected, petitioners visit the Kumari in her
chambers where she sits upon a gilded lion throne. Many of those visiting her
are people suffering from blood or menstrual disorders since the Kumari is
believed to have special power over such illnesses. She is also visited by
bureaucrats and other government officials. Petitioners customarily bring gifts
and food offerings to the Kumari, who receives them in silence. Upon arrival,
she offers them her feet to touch or kiss as an act of devotion. We didn’t get to see the Kumari
today, and not being Hindu we were not allowed in to her house for
prayers. But what an amazing religious
ceremony that still continues to this day but now with no King. The Monarchy was abolished in 2001 when it
was kicked out of power by the government.
The last King is now a powerful business man living in Kathmandu and
still maintains a palace, but with his own money and not the governments.
Though decreased from its
original size and attractiveness from its earlier seventeenth century
architecture, the Kathmandu Durbar Square still displays an ancient surrounding
that spans abound five acres of land. It has palaces, temples, quadrangles,
courtyards, ponds, and images that were brought together over three centuries
of the Malla, the Shah, and the Rana dynasties.
It was an amazing place to see and we also stopped in to see the old Royal
palace. The palace is decorated with
elaborately-carved wooden windows and panels and houses the King Tribhuwan
Memorial Museum and the Mahendra Museum. It is also possible to visit the State
Rooms inside the palace but we didn’t have time for that and after a few photos
we circle the square one last time and then walked back to the bus for our
transfer back to the hotel.
We had a 3.5 hour gap before we
were to meet again for the afternoon programme, so we all checked out our
internet in the lobby of the hotel, a toilet stop for some and the TV was on
telling us about Hurricane Sandy that had hit New Jersey and the damage that
she had done and that she was still in force along the east coast of the
US. How scary to see pictures of boats
and cars swept away and the NY subway full of water. There were 2.8 million people without power
over 11 states, the mind boggles at those numbers and this is really what you
don’t see much of when you are travelling.
So I hope that all my east coast friends are safe and literally whether
the storm. I am thinking of you. So it was lunch time and as a group we went to
a place called Pilgrims. It is a
bookshop in Thamel that also has a café out the back. Unless you knew about it you wouldn’t even
know there was a café there. Some of the
girls had been here before so it came recommended and it didn’t
disappoint. I have noticed that things
run on Nepali time and they never seem to be in much of a rush and it was lucky
we had time to burn as it took them over an hour to get our meals to us. It wasn’t too bad as we waited we were all
hooking onto their free Wi-Fi, slowing the whole system down-but we did manage
to find each other on Facebook and now have 8 more friends and it helped kill
some time, even if it was painfully slow.
I ate pokora, which is like shredded vegetables, deep fried, and they definitely
were worth the wait. The great thing
about the restaurants here they let you pay individually, so none of the group
payments and being short (happens 9 times out of 10) which may take a little
longer but certainly worth the wait. I
have been trying to crack my 1000 rupee notes into small denominations in
preparation for us hitting the smaller towns in the coming days. Especially the smaller stalls and shops they generally
can’t break big notes. It’s very smart
of me hey!
So we reconvened at 3pm for our
walk to the KEEP office which was 15 minutes away. I can see why we walked as it would have
taken us longer in a bus, traffic really is shocking in this part of the
city. The tragic death of a young British trekker, Tracey
Taylor Young, led to the establishment of the Kathmandu Environment Education
Project (KEEP) in 1992. Tracey was
killed in a fall during a climb on the trekking peak Imja Tse (Island Peak) in
1991. Tracey, along with her friend Joanne Chittenden, had decided to climb
Imja Tse to raise awareness of the growing environmental degradation of the
Khumbu region of Nepal. In her memory,
it was decided that a new project on ecotourism should be established to
provide education on safe and ecologically sustainable trekking methods to
preserve Nepal’s unique and fragile eco-system. A study of the impact of trekking on Nepal
in order to develop a way to increase access to environmental and safety
information. This brought about the
establishment of the Tracey Taylor Young Mountain Trust in the UK and KEEP in
Nepal. KEEP then obtained support from the late Lord John Hunt and by the
autumn of 1992, KEEP’s Visitor Information Centre in Kathmandu opened its doors
to the public. Since the idea first
germinated in 1991, KEEP has continued to expand its sphere of influence and
develop new projects. Today, we are established as one of the leading
eco-tourism NGOs in Nepal and have links to international organizations in
Europe, the USA and Australia. With
projects including the Community Development program, Environmental and Ecotourism program, Porters’ Clothing Bank, Tourism Capacity Development program, Visitor
Information Centre and
the Volunteer program. We basically just got a rundown
of the programme and really a general overview of the country itself. Some stats that we were told include that 2%
of the world’s flowering plants are in Nepal, 4% of the world’s mammals, 8%of
the bird population, 8 out of the 14 highest mountains are found in Nepal, it
has the world’s deepest gorge and the 2nd largest hydroelectricity
plant in the world. In 1962 6,000 people
had visited the country and in 2011 600,000 people had traveled here. Some pretty impressive numbers there and
after 1 hour we had a quick look at the shop and the library and we were given
free time for the rest of the afternoon.
As we were in
the area a few of us decided to visit The
Garden of Dreams which was only a 10 minute walk from KEEP. The Garden of Dreams is a neo classical historical garden; that
is situated in the midst of Kathmandu city.
The Garden was famous as the garden of Six Seasons which was created by
late Field Marshal Kaiser Sumsher Rana (1892–1964) in early 1920. After the completion of this Garden,
it was considered as one of the most sophisticated private gardens of that
time. Within the Garden walls you find exquisite ensemble of pavilions,
fountains, decorative garden furniture and European inspired features such as verandas,
pergolas, balustrades, urns and birdhouses. He erected six impressive
pavilions, each dedicated to one of the six seasons of Nepal. These pavilions
provided the Garden's architectural framework and lent a cosmopolitan flavor to
the formal arrangement of flowers, shrubs and trees. Today, only half of the
original garden is in existence. After
the demise of Kaiser Sumsher, the garden was handed over to the Government of
Nepal. However it was not properly managed for decades. Seven years of
extensive renovation has revived the garden as per the original concept with
added modern facilities. It has now become an oasis of peace and tranquility in
the urban bustle of Kathmandu city. The size of the Garden is 6,895 sq. meter
including three pavilions, amphitheater, central ponds, pergolas, urns and
combination of small gardens to larger ones.
While a dozen European-style gardens of similar caliber can be found in
India, Kaiser Shumsher's extreme refinement and his personal adaptations of the
landscape and architecture, together with the Garden's connection to a
historically significant figure, make this one of the great and unique
landscaping monuments of South Asia. The
Garden of Dreams is adjacent to the former Royal Palace (now a museum) built in
1895. The Garden's design has much in common with formal European gardens:
paved perimeter paths, punctuated by pavilions, trellises, and various planting
areas, surrounded by a sunken flower garden with a large pond at its center. We
paid the 200repee entrance fee and took a stroll around these amazing
gardens. It was a little strange to
still hear the beeping and traffic outside the garden walls but to be able to
still feel the tranquility inside was cool.
After the stroll we sat down at the main terrace part of the garden and
just chatted and read for an hour before the sun left and it started to cool
down. So we headed back to the hotel and
we did our own thing for dinner in preparation for our departure tomorrow
morning. Jess and I decided to get some
‘western’ food and when we had eaten we made our way back to the hotel, we were
entering through the gate when we looked at our watches and it was only
7.30pm!!!! The sun sets around 5.20pm,
so in our defence it was dark, but we just couldn’t head back to the room at
7.30pm, we walked back out and stopped at the first bar that had a roof top and
decided to kill a few hours there. So a
beer, a cocktail and 2 hours later we didn’t feel so bad heading back at
9.30pm. While we were talking we
discovered that we had the same driver in South America last year, Gray-so we
sent him a picture of us both with a beer, so we will see if he remembers
Jess. It just goes to show how small
this world really can be sometimes!
So day 1 of the tour complete and
this is exactly what I needed to keep me busy.
The group seems great we all get along and I have a great vibe about the
rest of the 15 days.
