Gridlock, cremations and the Curd King

Well here we are in Bhaktapur ... feel like we have totally scored as we called to reserve a room in a local guesthouse a week ago and now have our own balcony on the top floor overlooking Taumadhi Tole - an old square chock full of statues, temples and general interesting things going on. Bhaktapur is really great - we have spent the day wandering from temple to square to old thing - even walked down to the river to the cremation ghats and found a smouldering pile of ashes .... One of the cool things about Hinduism is the celebration of life and death as a part of the religion - for example, some of the temples have very erotic carvings on them with all sorts of carryings on ... one temple even has erotic animal pairings! Elephants, goats and even tortoises are going at it!!

The Buddha is actually strangely mixed in with the Hindu gods and godesses, and the religion is a heady and strange mix of all sorts of practices. We sat and watched at a temple to Vishnu this morning, seeing rice and tika (red paste) offerings, and watching the comings and goings. We have also discovered (and braved without any repercussions) a fantastic dessert that Bhaktapur is famous for - it's called the King of Kurds, and is a mixture that tastes like very good Greek yogurt with some vanilla cream mixed in .... Really tasty - we plan to live on it for the next few days.

Anyway, we need a little R and R and treating after the 8 hour bus ride to get here from Pokhara. It was sad to say goodbye - Andy's adopted dog (yes, he takes after his mum...) showed up to say goodbye and was rewarded with three of the expensively imported hob-nob biscuits bought specifically for the bus journey - then another dog showed up and Andy felt guilty ... well you can guess how that story goes! We had one last look at the apartment and at the clinic as we headed out of town - promising ourselves that we'll be back.

Once in Kathmandu, there was then an hour and a half in a taxi. Getting a taxi was a major barterring event - various random prices were quoted and no one seemed excited to take us - when we finally set off we realised why - although only about 10 km (6 miles) from Kathmandu, the horrendous (noise, smoke, fumes, pollution, dust, flies, etc.) journey was completely stopped for about half an hour when we found ourselves in total, complete gridlock - impatient drivers had started going in the lane of oppostie direction (including our own taxi driver). This ploy worked OK for a few minutes, until traffic wanted to go in the other direction. A lot (I mean A Lot) of hooting and yelling ensued. It was an experience.... When we finally arrived in Bhaktapur, it was bliss to enter the center of town where few cars are allowed, and to surround ourselves only with pedestrians (admittedly, several of them trying to 'guide' us and sell us trinkets).

But this is why it is all so worth it - last night we sat at a roof top restaurnat (chowing down on King of Kurds), watching the full moon rise over the town and gazing down at the procession of monks and various others marching through the square to celebrate the Buddha's birthday (It's today actually - Happy Birthday Buddha!), and listening to the sounds of devotional chanting, drumming and cymbals coming from the temple next door. Priceless!

In our last couple of days we are going to visit Patan (another very old and temple crowded town) (this time by bus!), and to Bodnath (a Buddhist site). Even though we miss the clinic and our new friends, it is nice to have a couple of days for ourselves to relax and have some time off.

Tonight it's more King of Kurds!!!

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"Embrace this right now life while it's dripping, while the flavors are excellently wholesome. Take your bites with bravery and boldness since the learning and the growing are here in these times, these exact right nows. Capture these times. Hold and kiss them because it will soon be very different." (Jill Scott)