Are we lost?

Armed with our handy Lonely Planet Nepal travel book we decided to head out into the unknown and do two of the walking tours in it. This was going to be good, we were going to learn a lot about the streets we were walking in, rather than just walking along them blindly, as there are shrines, temples and wonderful architecture everywhere.

First problem, we had to find the starting point, easier said than done as a lot of the streets around here have no names and just go by their area! Using two different maps we tried to locate the area which we knew was close by, but it wasn't happening so we decided to ask at the hotel reception desk, After much discussion, scribbling on maps and gesturing we roughly had an area to go to, so off we headed with a spring in our step.

Surprise, surprise we found the starting point, so we headed off reading directions and clues as to where to go and what we should be looking out for.  It is amazing what you do walk past without seeing it or if you do see it , don't realise the significance of it.

This Buddhist temple was tucked down a little alley which opened into a wide courtyard. You wouldn't look down the alley if you didn't know to. Although the main temple was a bit mildewed the overall courtyard was quite impressive. Dotted around the temple were little models of other temples and shrines. 

This is the top of one of the shrines, which again has 4  Buddhas on the top looking out in each  direction.

 This is a shrine to the toothache god. If you have toothache you are supposed to come here and hammer a coin into the bit of wood as an offering. This was just on the wall of a street with everyone bustling past, it took me ages to get the photo as the area is so busy with people and cars.

A close up of the shrine showing the coins. There is supposed to be a small figure in the shrine but I couldn't see it, although if you zoom on dark hole bit there is something there. 

At this point the walk went a bit askew, shall we say, with us heading one way then backtracking , going another way then backtracking again. Oh my lord I was getting dizzy going around in circles. There was much pointing, reading instructions loudly to each other, the louder the better, but we weren't shouting, it's the way you speak clearly and emphasise each word as if it will make it more clear if you speak that way, and turning of the book until at points it was completely upside down before we headed off again. Eventually we gave up, we knew the walk ended at Durbar Square and we knew how to get there, so that's what we did. One of the times we were obviously looking confused a local walked up to us and asked where we wanted to go, we just said we were fine and knew what we were doing, he said, "It's alright I don't want money." It is awful really you do presume that people are going to hassle you and try and get money of you and yet there are people who generally do just want to help.

From Durbar Square we headed off on our second walk, this was totally new territory for us as it headed south. Again it lead us to some lovely temples and ones which were reasonably well looked after. It also took us to what are known as cisterns but which are basically public washing areas, I didn't take photos as there were people bathing there at the time. The walk took us through largely residential areas, which showed us how the locals lived. We walked past one school and the playtime bell went , some of the children piled out onto the street and basically used the temples and shrines as climbing frames. 

At temples to Shiva there is usually a bull facing in towards it.

There are a lot of these cars about , they are homemade and basically have the bare essentials you need to have a working car, as you can see the engine is not even covered. 

Once again we got lost, I blame David, he shouldn't have got kicked out of the Boy Scouts  before he did his map reading badge. So we backtracked and headed back to Durbar Square. Boy,  we are getting our money's worth from the visitors pass. 

When we were there a group of people walked past, two dressed brightly in red and one in blue, who is in the photo below. The people dressed up were dancing, there was a small band of musicians playing music and there was a large group of bodyguards escorting them. So as you can imagine quite a spectacle, and yet David didn't notice them because he said he was reading a mans t- shirt!

This man is carrying a heavy load on his back and yet again the strap which you see on the back goes up and around his forehead. 

Kala Bhairab  this figure has six arms, wears a garland of skulls and tramples a corpse. It was supposed to have originally been found in a field but placed in Durbar Square by Pratap Malla. It is said that if you tell a lie while standing in front of this figure you will die instantly and it was once used as a form of trial by ordeal. 

This is an example of the streets we are walking down, remember though that cars, rickshaws and bikes also use them. They are lined either side with shops. 

This is the Shiva Parvati temple I mentioned in an earlier blog on Durbar Square, which has figures of them looking out of the window, this photo is better as you can see figures, especially if you zoom in. 

You will be pleased to hear we got back to the hotel safe and sound.