Kathmandu's Temple Cities - Bhaktapur

Next on the 'must-see' list was another trip to a temple city – this time it was Bhaktapur, the old capital of Nepal about 10km outside the city.


The bus ride was an adventure in itself, as our local bus (I ended up paying the inflated tourist price of, oh, $.35) headed out. These private buses just wait til they fill up, then it's off we go. Now, by full, I mean actual seats, but that didn't stop them from picking up more, and oh, yes, more folks until eventually it was completely packed... far worse than even my local #22 in London at rush hour.

But, once we got to the town it was great – Nepal took the unusual step of outlawing all traffic from not just the main square, but the entire old city. It's pretty special to wander around streets filled with leaning wooden houses, still being used in much the same manner at centuries before.



The only downside to Bhaktapur was an overly-persistent guide who kept following me. Our conversation went something like this:

Him: Guide?
Me: No thank you.
(Sneakily follows me to next temple)
Him: Guide? Very good price.
Me: No, thank you – I'm just looking.
(This kept on going for awhile... until finally...)
Me: I don't need a guide.
Him: No?
Me: (looked directly at him) I don't want to talk to you any more. Really.

That actually worked for awhile – until he pulled a clever flanking maneuver on me outside the last temple and asked again. Seriously.

The erotic temple art showed its, uh, face here as well – but with a bit of cheeky humor. My favorite was the carving of a woman, um, pleasuring her man while simultaneously washing her clothes. Now that's multi-tasking!



Lonely Planet suggested a meandering rural walk outside town, and it quickly got me off of the beaten path. Some of the highlights? There was a 'ducks only' area in a nearby stream – but all of them were died bright yellow or pink, for whatever reason I couldn't make out. Throw in a nearby river used for ritual cremation (a la the Ganges in India) and lots of quiet backstreets with locals doing their thing – and it was a great way to see the rest of such an interesting city. I always count it a success when they look up with mild surprise to see a tourist so far from the normal stomping grounds...

The evening passed pretty quickly – I got to see a Nepalese wedding procession working its way down Thamel's narrow streets, complete with full on marching band.


Then, I found Happy Hour at a place called Maya's, with 2 for 1 gin & tonics. And man, were these strong – so much so that you could barely fit in the tonic! Perfect.