Swayambhunath

Today I saw the sights in Kathmandu. First this morning I walked to the bus station and bought my bus ticket to Birganj (where I'll cross the border tomorrow into India). There aren't any tourist buses that go there, so I'm taking a local bus (not fun) for 8 (or more likely 10) hours (for all of $4.50).

From the bus station I walked to Swayambhunath, aka the "Monkey Temple", because there are a bunch of monkeys that call it home (they don't worship monkeys there is what I'm trying to clarify). There were dozens of monkeys all over the place, completely unfazed by people. I learned pretty quickly not to look them in the eyes too long because they would start to look at me as a threat and begin to look mean. I don't want to be the first case of the next weird monkey flu/pox/rabies/etc, so I steered clear. Anyway, it's like being in the monkey cage at the zoo; they run and play and pick at each other like no one is around. I held myself to "just" 35 pictures or so (of only monkeys), as well as this video.

There was actually a Buddhist temple there as well (another stupa), and great views of hazy, large-landmark-free Kathmandu. I doubt it would be anywhere near as popular without the monkeys, in fact I know it wouldn't (I doubt I would have gone). Well from the awesome monkey temple I walked back for lunch (momos, chow mein, and thenthuk - like chow fun soup - all for $1.35).

I took a little break at the hotel, then headed over to Durbar Square. Durbar Square here is the central square, with temples as well as where they used to house the royal family. It was pretty cool, I really like the look of these temples, especially how they're set right in the middle of the city. You can just sit on the steps and hang out or look out over the city. There isn't really an inside to them, at least not one I'm allowed to enter, so they're pretty much just eye candy.

Kathmandu grew on me a little bit today. Before today I considered it to be much like every other big city I've been to on this trip; pollution, overcrowding, hassle, traffic, etc, except without the major sites of cities like Agra or Varanasi. Once I really walked around today I saw it was much less crazy than those other place once you get away from the dead center of the tourist neighborhoods. It was relatively quiet and traffic free in some parts of the city, making for a pleasant walk on another beautiful day in Nepal.

This is my last real day in Nepal, which is sad. It's been a fantastic place to visit, with some of the most incredible natural scenery I've ever seen, very friendly locals, good food, and (mostly) good weather. It is time to move on, however, so now it's back to India. I'll have almost a month there to cover the east coast (quickly), then the south and back up to Delhi, home just in time for Thanksgiving (if my flight is relatively on time I'll be home the day before Turkey Day). I'll be traveling quite a bit the next couple of days, so there may or may not be any posts, however there definitely will be when I reach Kolkata (Calcutta).