Julianna and CJ's ~ Follow Your Bliss

--- February 15th, 2015

 

Nepal, a destination of treasures and a temple lover's dream!

 

We are loving life and enjoying our time here in Nepal.  Our first three weeks in Kathmandu Valley were blessed with wonderful people, beautiful temples, and amazing food.  Unfortunately, we also had the pollution of the valley be an impediment to our freedom of breath but despite this, the Kathmandu Valley is a treasure to be discovered.

 

We were fortunate enough to be able to take our time and visit all 7 Unesco World Heritage sites that the Kathmandu Valley has to offer and all of them are unlike anything else we have experienced so far. The richness of history, culture, energy, and of spiritual benevolence and blessings that is to be had at each one of them is beyond expression and imagination. 

 

We started our journey of the Kathmandu Valley in Patan and enjoyed staying in a small Nepalese homestay bed and breakfast, named Sanu's House.  Sanu and her family's welcoming to Nepal was sweet and so kind. Her Nepalese cooking was divine and each day we left their home ready to explore with nice full bellies.  During the 3 days we spent exploring, we walked to all four corners of Patan and had the blessings of spinning the prayer wheels at all four Ashoka Stupas situated at each corner of the city - the east, the west, the south, and the north. These ancient Buddhist Stupas were built in 250 B.C. by the Emperor Ashoka at the four corners and entrance of Patan.  They still stand as a representation of the city's ancient religious importance. We then walked through the lovely Patan Durbar Square situated in the heart of the city.  Beautiful and simply magnificent, full of ancient monuments, temples, and shrines. Patan Durbar Square is full of exquisite craftsmanship and architectural beauty. We visited the history museum which was once the medieval Patan Royal Palace.  From there we enjoyed the Buddhist Golden Temple, a 3 story golden pagoda built in the 12th century.  Then, the MahaBuddha Buddhist Temple which was built in the 14th century where thousands of images of Lord Buddha are engraved, Kumbheshwor, a Hindu temple honoring Lord Shiva, and the Rudra Barna Mahabihar Buddhist monastery full of metal statues. At every street corner there was a temple, a shrine, a monastery...to be seen in a small little alley or through a small doorway. Within our first 3 days in the valley, we quickly understood that this trip to the Kathmandu Valley was going to be one of our most memorable trips ever, filled with ancient treasures to be discovered with each one offering its own unique blessings and beauty to be contemplated and experienced, within and without.  

 

Next, we headed to Bhaktapur where again we stayed in a centrally located small Nepalese B&B. We spent 3 days walking the streets of Bhaktapur's old city, visiting temples and shrines, receiving continuous blessings day after day and enjoying every minute of this journey. We visited Bhaktapur's world famous Durbar Square known for the setting of the Hollywood movie "The Little Buddha". Like the Patan Durbar Square, Bhaktapur's Durbar Square hosts the palace, multiple temples, metal art, wood carvings, and architectural showpieces. The Golden Gate, the palace of 55 windows, the Vatsala Temple, and the big bell are just a few beautiful ancient treasures to be found there all within a few meters of each other.  There are countless other gems to be explored and admired.  The Taumadhi Square is the next important square of the city where the best examples of engineering and architecture of multi roofed temples and rectangular temples can be observed and appreciated. The Dattatraya Square is the oldest part of the city and hosts the oldest Hindu temple, the Dattatraya temple. The Pottery Square was very cool to walk through as well, were thousands of fresh earthen pottery art pieces are laid daily in the sun to dry.  Potters were hard at work on the old wooden wheels shaping clay one piece at a time. After walking through the crowded streets of Patan alongside heavy traffic, we truly enjoyed strolling through the small streets of Bhakatpur as traffic is not allowed in the old city, the streets are too narrow to allow cars to pass through.

 

We then set our sails to Nagarkot, which is situated about 20 km away from Bhaktapur to enjoy the great views of the Himalayan Mountain Range and a nice Sunset over the mountains.  We took the time to hike down to the Changu Narayan Temple another Unesco world heritage site. This temple honors Lord Vishnu and we were so excited to get his blessings on this trip. After 2 days in Nagarkot, we headed to the Buddhist Kopan Monastery in Kathmandu.  Our stay in the monastery with the monks was awesome and one of the highlight of our trip in the Kathmandu Valley. The grounds of the monastery are beautiful and extremely well maintained. It was so nice to stay there for a few days, get to see the life of the monks, attend the early morning pujas and prayers and hear them chant. The whole monastery ambience was the perfect backdrop for our daily Vipassana meditation practice, which we have been keeping up twice daily since our 10 day Vipassana Meditation course in early November of 2014. Check out our previous posts for more on Vipassana meditation.  Anyway, after a few days of relaxation at the monastery, we were now ready for Kathmandu itself. 

 

We started exploring Kathmandu with the Thamel district. There we stayed in a nice eco resort for 5 nights. The Thamel district attracts many tourists as Thamel's streets are full of hotels, guesthouses, shops, and restaurants of all kinds.  Thamel was the perfect place to stay for us to visit and walk to many Unesco Site around Kathmandu city, and visit with our friends Ajay and Sabina from Colorado. We loved seeing them and had such a good time at their Nephew's party at a 5 star hotel! There were large fire pits, delicious hors-d'oeuvres, complimentary fine wine and scotch, and an all you can eat buffet.  We thank them for inviting us and showing us a great time.  The next day we headed for a visit of Kathmandu Durbar Square, again an area full of temples and shrines.  All 3 Durbar Squares in the Kathmandu Valley (Patan, Bhaktapur, Kathmandu) are listed as Unesco World Heritage sites and all of them are simply stunning and awe inspiring.  The architecture of all the temples is just magnificent. The Kathmandu Durbar Square hosts the palace, the Hanuman Dhoka and many other astonishing temples. We took the opportunity to walk through Freak street, the epicenter of the 1960s and 70s hippie movement here in Kathmandu.  From Thamel, we also took a 30 minute walk to Swayambunath, also know as the Monkey Temple, a majestic ancient Buddhist complex on top of a hill.  There are 365 stairs leading the way up to Swayambunath Stupa, temples and shrines, but once we got to the top, it was all worth the sweat and tears :) .  The Buddha statues at the entrance are awesome, the monkeys along the way are considered holy, the Stupa is great, the temples and shrines lovely and the view over the Kathmandu city, superb! All and all, Swaymabunath is an awesome site and we loved being there and receiving its blessings!

 

Last but not least, we ended our visit of the Kathmandu Valley in the Boudha district where we spent 3 nights. We picked a small hotel located at about a 5 minute walk from the large Boudanath Stupa, another splendid Unesco World Heritage Site. This Stupa is a major destination for pilgrims from the Himalayas, Tibet, South-East and Eastern Asia. Staying close to the Stupa was nice as we got to walk there and recite our Om Mani Padme Hum around the Stupa whenever we felt like going. We saw the Stupa early morning, mid day, mid evening, and even at night.  We loved walking with many other pilgrims, turning the prayer wheels, smelling the incense, lighting butter candles, making our prayers, and feeling blessed. Many Buddhist monasteries are also located around the Stupa and the ambience and feel around it is peaceful despite the amount of people walking around it at all hours of the day. We also took a day trip to Pashupatinath Temple, an ancient famous Hindu temple, a sacred destination and pilgrimage site for all Hindus. It took us about 45 minutes to walk there. The temple is located on the banks of the Bagmathi river and there most Nepalese that are Hindu get cremated. Our tour guide told us that about 50 bodies get cremated everyday on the ghats of this temple. Hindus believe that for the soul to be liberated from the body once one has passed, it is necessary to honor all 5 elements. The body is put on wood, earth, then burned with fire, then the flame carry the ashes with the wind, then lift up the soul to the sky (ether) and then once the body has burnt, the rest of the ashes are then thrown into the water. In this process, the soul has been liberated and merged back within all 5 elements. While we were there, we witnessed a couple purifications (before the body gets cremated) and cremations of bodies.  The process does bring you face to face with the impermanence of the body and life. We tremendously enjoyed being there and appreciated being taken into the sacred life and death of the Hindus. 

 

As you can just imagine, the Kathmandu Valley is a treasure to behold. Despite the pollution, we enjoyed every moment and felt so blessed to be on this adventure of a lifetime.  

 

We left the Kathmandu Valley after three weeks and took the bus in direction Pokhara, Nepal.  A 6 hour beautiful bus ride took us there, and here we reside in a small apartment we have rented for a month. We have been in Pokhara for about 2 weeks and are appreciating taking our time visiting the city and the surrounding areas.  We recently hiked to the World Peace Pagoda and enjoyed a nice boat ride on Phewa Lake. Pokhara is definitely more peaceful and laid back than Kathmandu and here we are taking a break from all our Kathmandu adventures.  Yesterday for Valentine's day, we walked down to the Jungle Festival. It was a nice time.  We enjoyed our candle light diner due to the power outage which happens regularly here though it seems that angels watching over us made it all work out perfectly.  We enjoy everything that is showing up in Nepal that is very unconventional from the Western way of life, like no electricity lots of the time. 

 

With these few words and a new update, we send you our love form the other side of the world. You are always in our thoughts and prayers at all temples and shrines we have been visiting and will continue to visit.

 

We are uploading some pics of the Kathmandu Valley right here on the main page within the next few days (3 to 4 a day) so be sure to check back soon for more to soothe the eye and a glimpse into our amazing journey.

 

May you all live in love and joy! 

 

Love and Hugs, 

CJ and Julianna