KathmanDID

By Julia
Kathmandu, Nepal

Tom and I have had a hectic first week in Nepal organizing the outrageous fun we will experience for the next four weeks.  Trekking mountains, riding elephants and river running are all on the itinerary. Kathmandu is a surprisingly clean, cosmopolitan city compared to what we expected.  Unfortunately, the air pollution forces many residents to wear face masks to protect their lungs.  I initially mistook this for a fresh outbreak of bird flu until someone explained it to me.

Sadhu next to a small tree temple

  While most of our time in K-town was spent with busy work, we did have a chance to see some sights.  We spent a day touring Durbar Square, the medieval quarter of Kathmandu.   Some pagoda-style temples in this area dates back hundreds of years.

Kids flying a kite in Durbar Square

Intricate carvings on medieval temple

Freaky-ass puppets

  We also paid a visit to Swayambhunath Temple, commonly known as the monkey temple, a Tibetan Buddhist tribute to the feces-flinging primates on the loose around the complex.  I was warned several times to NOT under ANY circumstances bring food into the monkey temple, for people who have made this mistake before have come under severe monkey harassment.  Note: the idea of this is only funny if you are not the person being pounced on by a monkey.

According to Wikipedia, the dome at the base represents the entire world.  When a person awakes (represented by the eyes of wisdom and compassion) from the bonds of the world, the person reaches a higher state.  The thirteen pinnacles on the top of it symbolizes that sentient beings have to go through the thirteen stages of enlightenment to reach Buddha-hood. 

Prayer wheels sending kind thoughts into the universe

Tomorrow we begin our 10-day assault on Annapurna...base camp.  Tom has been refusing to shave for weeks in preparation.  The words of the great Mitch Hedberg sum up our feelings about the experience:

“I want to climb a mountain—not so I can get to the top—cause I want to hang out at base camp. That seems fuckin’ fun as shit. You sleep in a colorful tent, you grow a beard, you drink hot chocolate, you walk around, ‘Hey, you going to the top?’ . . . ‘Soon.’”