Kathmandu to Bhaktapur to Hattiban

Student work from the Kathmandu University Art Department, where we spent a day talking with students about their work.

 The Garden of Dreams in Kathmandu,
a garden in Thamel, walled off, with goldfish and frogs, exotic plants, the noise of the city just outside the walls. After dark, they turn on lights, which catch a plant, shadows in the pond, and the stone elephants.



In Bhaktapur, we had to wait so long, I finally bought one of the fried donut rings they make on the street, just to see what it was like.  It was actually quite good, in small amounts.  The walls are crumbling in Bhaktapur after the earthquake.

 these little personal and public niche shrines are everywhere, small objects of devotion where the gods can be touched and remembered. Usually these devotions are accompanied by bells.

 I found a quiet place for lunch, up the stairs, called the pottery.  They had a menu, when I asked if they served lunch and pointed to the menu. I asked if they had Dal Bhat, they said yes, and when everyone came upstairs, we found that was all they had, Dal Bhat served buffet syle, with cauliflower and mushrooms.

 If you want to get around Kathmandu, try the micro bus. How the buses work: the local buses, they drive by, slow down, shouting in Nepali where they are going, and if you want to go there, you hop on.  It costs 15 to 25 rupees, about 15 or 20 cents, and best of all you get to crowd around with the people wherever they are going.   Much to our surprise, at the transfer stop, a young Scandinavian jumped on board, it turns out from Denmark, going the same place as us.  We became friends, and who would not want to be friends with us?

Taxi shrine

Rebuilding the Boudha Stupa

A map of local buses and the pottery square in Bhoktapur.

















This is how they make those deep fried donut rings.