Twenty hours worth of flights, ten hours worth of layovers and three different airlines…

our first leg of the trip from Los Angeles to Shanghai to Chengdu (China) to Kathmandu is finally complete!

With jet lag banging at the door, we decide to take advantage and do a day long tour of all the major sites in Kathmandu.

Our first stop was Durbar Square, where we were welcomed by a greeter who was calm, cool and collected. The Square, which houses temples for Hindus and Buddhists alike, is housed within an old art town known as Basantapur Darbar Kshetra.

Swayambhunath is a Buddhist stupa set atop a small mountain which allows visitors to view the entire Kathmandu Valley and surrounding mountain ranges. Unfortunately pollution has taken a toll and now the view is hindered by the smog. Swayambhunath is also known as ‘monkey temple’ due to the amount of monkeys that need to be dodged while visiting the site.

Walking through the gates of Pashupatinath, a Hindu temple, we see vibrant colors of powder that are used for prayer and we detect a hint of burning wood. We continue on and walk past the ‘Holy River’ to our left that is polluted with trash of every kind. We walk a bit further and start to notice concrete platforms along the river, and see families and friends gathered mourning their loved ones. One family prepares their loved one for cremation by gently removing their clothing and washing their feet in the river, while another group sits as their family member is cremated and slowly turned to ash. We sit, a good distance away, in awe, as the rituals continue before our eyes. It’s a beautiful, morbid, emotional thing to witness. Pashupatinath, which is one of largest Hindu temples in Nepal where non-Hindus are not allowed in, sits right behind the cremation site, silently keeping watch on its visitors.

Boudhanath Stupa is the the largest Buddhist stupa in Nepal. Under Buddhist belief if you walk around the entire stupa clockwise all your sins for your life are washed away. We asked if we could go around twice…

More Images of Kathmandu:

Food from Nepal…