My last day in Nepal...

I had one more Buddhist Temple to visit, Swayambhunath, situated on the top of the hill in West Kathmandu.  It is also known as the "Monkey" Temple because of the large tribe of monkeys protecting it.  This is the most ancient and enigmatic of all the Holy shrines in the Kathmandu Valley with historical records found on stone inscriptions that the stupa was already an important Buddhist pilgrimage destination by the 5th century AD.    I felt honored to do the same as those centuries before me.

Looking down at all the prayer flags


I said goodbye to my companions, Rishi and Lock

This was my last visit and headed back to the hotel for another shower and change of clothes for the very long journey home...I will treasure the memories of all of the special places and people I encountered on this journey but I am ready to go home and tackle my new life.  I have an apartment full of boxes awaiting me and I will be more open to what the universe has in store for me after this incredible journey.

A Better Day

After the doctor visit, I drank hot water with lemon juice to break the fever and help the congestion. After a fitful six hours, the fever broke and I was able to get some sleep.  I skipped the morning site seeing but did go out in the afternoon (no rain) and experienced  three burials at the Crematorium Temple on the outskirts of the city.  In the Hindu faith, they must be cremated within 8 hours so "death vans", white Land Rovers are circling the city 24/7 to pick up the dead and take them to the nearest crematorium temples.  The family gathers and watching the funeral pyre and it is released into the river to be re-incarnated.



Awaiting the body

Being released and ready for reincarnation

I felt like I had been reincarnated into my old self because I had energy to shop after this temple visit at a wonderful store called "Crafts with a Conscience". I bought several gifts and a purse for myself and all but 15% of the purchase went to the women who produced the goods. It made me feel good to spend money!

Dashain

Dishain began on Wednesday and the first day of the 15 day festival worshipping Durga, the Goddess of Power.  There will be many animal sacrifices during the festival and everyone travels to their ancestral home to celebrate with family and community. There is a five day government holiday and 15 day school holiday.  This meant much less traffic on the road for my journey to Bhaktapur.  This is a 12th century town on the eastern edge of the Kathmandu Valley.  It is s "living heritage" because it has been preserved as a UNESCO world heritage site with cobbled stone streets, temples and exquisite artwork.  Bertoluccin choose this as the site for filming "Little Buddha".

Cobbled streets

I was getting sicker by the day and finally needed to go back to the hotel and see a physician. I was most concerned for my trip home on Friday and needed something for the cough and chest cold due to the monsoons.

More information

I spoke to my guide and driver about my discussion in the “Lost Horizon” Bar and they were hesitant at first to discuss the challenges but from what they explained, it is even worse.  They can go 4 days without running water and up to 18 hours a day without power.  Over 700 people a day leave the country for work in India, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, etc.  because there are no jobs, especially for young people. There is a feeling of desperation and anger against the government because they have mismanaged so much.  They were suppose to have new Constitution 2 years ago and are still waiting.

We discussed all of this in terrible traffic due to rain and all the people leaving Kathmandu for the 15 day festival.  We did get out of the rain for a little while and went through what we would call a consumer fair on things people can do to improve their environment.  I have included a few photos of some of the booths which included solar panels, Habitat for Humanity’s Bamboo house, composting toilets, education material etc.

I will finish the travel loge tomorrow before I leave.

Services and Infrastructure

I had an interesting discussion with a businessman from Australia in the bar last night about  services and infrastructure.  He has been working here for over five years and his viewpoint is the new Maoist government is not supporting all the people and that it will not last.

They only get clean, running water for one hour every three days and they store it in every imaginable container.  Electricity can run anywhere from 5-20 hours depending on the time of year. Many of the more enlightened are adding solar panels so they can have more consistency. Garbage service is contracted to one of the most corrupt companies and service is spotty (evident throughout Kathmandu).

The two major roads were built by India and China so they have access to each other. The east/west roads are not as good because Nepal is responsible for building these and they have no money to build or maintain.  We shared our stories about the flooded roads yesterday and he said it is like that through out the monsoon season.

You see wires everywhere...

I will ask my guide about this today and see if he will discuss and if so, if his story is the same.

The monsoon has returned

It has rained steadily for over 24 hours causing flooding in the streets and raging rivers that will wreck havoc downstream in Southern Nepal and Northern India.  Both of those areas cannot handle much more because they were the worst hit by the earthquake last week.

Raging rivers

We continued to tour today but it was not as easy to get around and seas of umbrellas made it difficult to walk. Even with all the hassles, I did saw some fantastic things…

We drove to Dakshinkali at the south end of the valley to a Hindu shrine dedicated to Goddess Kali.  They offer animal sacrifices and they were sacrificing a goat (to rid someone of pride) and a chicken (to rid them of greed). 

Kali Temple but no oil lamps around her due to the rain

From there we stopped at one of the many Tibetan Monasteries that have been built in the valley since China has persecuted the monks in Tibet.

Gate you pass through to enter


Happy and "peaceful" monks

We stopped at a bride over the confluence of two major rivers and you could see the torrents of water and garbage flowing.

Lots of plastic bottles

From there we stopped at village called Payanggaon where they had trees of dried corn after the harvest. I hope you can see it well enough in the photo.

Corn trees! They also dry soya beans and chili's in this fashion

The last stop was in Patan, the city with a 1000 golden roofs.  It is full of pagodas, temples and monasteries, primarily Buddhist.  I spent some time out of the rain at the Patan Museum (museum behind the golden door).  It is housed in the renovated palace compound and the exhibits cover a long span of Nepal’s cultural history and include amazing treasures.

Above the door where you enter the museum

I made a stop at a pharmacy in Patan because my sore throat and headache were getting worse and I wanted something to help so I can enjoy the rest of the trip.

Water I had to walk through all day in my crocs...no wonder my cold is worse!

Kathmandu Day one



I was met at the Kathmandu airport by Deepak, the owner of Himalayan Destinations and he took me to the Shangri-la Hotel.  We had a late breakfast and I met my guide and driver for the next four days.  It was Sunday and the Old Market and Durbar Square were very busy. 





Bling and fabric



Water Buffalo Meat at the Market



I was able to see the Living Goddess; reigns between ages 8-12.  Astrologers choose her based on her strengths and many Nepalese worship her.  She was taken from her family at age 4 and is prepared for her reign.  When her reign begins another little girl will arrive at the palace and begin her training.

Window where Living Goddess appeared

We also visited the imposing Boudhanath, the largest Buddhist stupa (Hemispheric half domes sanctified with sacred relics inside) ) in Nepal.  Monks in red robes circled the stupa with the living eyes of Lord Buddha.  Drums beat and prayers are chanted all day; you hear Om Mane Padme Om continuously.  I saw prayer wheels that ranged in size to a foot to ten feet by six feet wide.  We had lunch at a rooftop café so we could view everything from another angle. 

One view of Seeing Eyes of Buddha



View from rooftop cafe

Before we returned to the hotel around 4 we visited a school teaching the ancient craft of Thangka painting.  Heavy rain started about 4:30 and continues.  It will be a wet day today but I am looking forward to many new adventures.

Sunrise at the Taj Mahal

We left the hotel at 5:30 to queue up for entrance into the complex at 6:00 AM. As we walked through the arch, it takes your breath away...There are very few words that can describe the magnificence of this monument.  Plus the love story behind it makes it even more intriguing.
Everyone wanted to have their picture taken on the same spot at Princess Diana but none of them will turn out like hers because their will also be many others in the shot.

Before sunrise

After sunrise


My Diana Shot...



not perfect but I loved the light


We left around 9:00 Am and had a few hours free time until we took the 5-6 hour return journey to Delhi. They dropped me at my hotel since it was on the way to the airport and I do not leave until tomorrow. the car will pick me up at 3:00 Am to catch my flight to Kathmandu. It will be very quiet on my next adventure and I will miss all of the wonderful Team members and Alliance partners I met on this trip. I want to that Whole Planet Foundation, the Miracle Foundation and Seventh Generation for a trip of a lifetime. Nepal will offer different and more solitary experiences.

Agra



Supplier Alliance partners in lobby in new Indian clothes ready for a day of site seeing

We left in the AM to the visit Fatehpur Sikri, the 16^th century capital of the Munghal rulers.  The great Mughal Emperor Akbar built a beautiful capital city about 40 km from Agra.  It is built entirely of red sandstone.  It was the capital city for only 15 years because it lacked water and is one of the few major cities that was not on a river.  The mosque was also extraordinary and is still in use today.

Beautiful example of Mughal architecture

Local boy hamming it up for the Americans

inside the mosque

After lunch, we visited Agra fort, built in 1565 by Akbar and was developed by his successors. The fort was a military structure and became the palace of Emperor Shah Jehan, who built the Taj Mahal.  It became Shah Jehan’s prison and he was able to see the tomb of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

Our group with Mughal, our guide for all sites in Agra, at the Fort


Part of the hareem in the living quarters of the fort

View of Taj Mahal from the fort with all of the smog


We finished out the day learning about the ancient skill of marble working that has been passed down since the building of the Taj Mahal and we met descendants of those workers. After that, a little shopping and off for a special dinner recommended by Shelia at the Amarvila's hotel.

Cutting precious stones for mable inlays

South/North Passage

It took us over 14 hours to travel form Trivandrum to Agra yesterday and the last 5 and ½ hours were in Toyota vans travelling from Delhi airport to The Taj Gateway Hotel in Agra.  There was a four lane toll road for part of the trip but it was a roller coaster ride with all manner of vehicles going varying speeds and constantly honking their horns. Other parts of the road were single lane with everyone driving on the shoulders as well with huge pot holes and speed bumps in weird places.  My camera was in the back of the van so I did not get any photos but will check with the rest of the team today so I can share some tomorrow.  We passed by small villages and larger cities including Muthra that had many oil refineries.  This area is one of the major agricultural areas so there were thousands of tractors and other farm type vehicles on the road.  The dust and smog was overwhelming and even in closed air conditioned vans, we were all coughing and rubbing our eyes.

We arrived to a festival of lights (visions of Las Vegas) and music blaring in the streets due to a visit of a Holy Man. My hotel room is on the street side so the noise continued all night.  I finally got up around 6:00 and took a few photos out my window.  You can see the smog surrounding the Taj Mahal at a distance.  We have a full day of sightseeing today.

Smoggy sunrise

Taj in the smog

Strret view outside hotel window

We went NUTS today

We traveled two hours north to visit the Cashew processing plant that supplies Whole Foods Markets with bulk cashews. We saw many cashew trees as well as coconut palms along the way. The traffic was not as bad as yesterday because it was a local holiday.

The owner met us and gave us a tour of his plant and packing house. I have a new appreciation for why cashews are so expensive...very labor intensive. The workers are paid by the pound and the average wage is $5.00 a day. The company pays into the government plus Cashew Workers pension programs and employees have medical benefits. They work 13 days and have one paid day off. The most amazing thing he told us was they receive a 21% bonus at Christmas time. The company has a bus that picks up the workers for an 8-5 shift with two tea breaks and lunch break totaling one hour. These workers have above average pay, benefits and working conditions.

Raw cashews are put into a hopper over fire for 2 minutes and mixed with sawdust to remove the oil
They are then caried by "head" to adjacent room for de-husking.


Women prefer to do the old fashioned way by hand but men use machineray to remove the outer shells



After the cashews are dried, they go into the next room for seperating and sizing

. 


Quality control is the last stop before the packing process that is fully automated

 

Once they are sealed in airtight container, they are boxed and ready to go to US or UK. One year shelf life.

Ready for the container

I was very impressed with the owner and his pride in his people and product. He introduced us to his entire family and treated us to boat ride on one of the many backwater lakes after lunch.



We had lunch at a beautiful new Lakeside resort with lots of interesting art and architecture. It reminded me of some of the resorts in Southeast Asia.


Genie with doorman and goodess at entrance to hotel


Son of the owner on the boat ride

The final stop of the day was to go back into the city to pick up all the new clothes we had made. Tomorrow I will wear my first traditional Indian outfit for our long trip to Agra.