Day 30 Thamel 28th July 2009

Woke up at about 0730hrs and it was raining, hmmm we still got ready and went out to meet up Lars first at the cross junction just 2 mins walk from our hotel.. Today we didn’t get any phone call to ask and cancel the appointment so everything should be good.

We walked out and saw Lars already waiting for us, we headed together towards Potala Guest house to meet up with Wendy and Dawa.. On the way Lars told us that he had diarrhoea the night before and thought might be the phad thai he are for dinner.. this will be the 2^nd time he is suffering from stomach upset since we met him… When arriving at the hotel we got to know that Wendy also had the same problem.. Something must be wrong with the food they serve yesterday at the restaurant. But thank god Dawa, myself and Ramli is fine..

We slowly walked towards Durbar Sq looking forward to breakfast.. On the way we could see all the huge piles of garbage everywhere as we heard that the garbage collector is having some strike going on for 7 days.. My oh my you can imagine the garbage on every road.. The sight and smell was really bad… We even saw 1 crashed rat on the road… Yucks!! After walking about 15mins we came to New Road where the locals visit very frequently to do their shopping.. Maybe it is their version of Orchard road… We were talking and some souvenirs sellers approach us, one of them was persuading Lars to buy something from him and I guess Lars was paying much attention to the floor he step on cow poo… Ehewwww… and it was quite a big pile of pooo… He tried to clean it off with piles of water on the road and later got a hanky from a shop to wipe it all clean… Then it looks new again… lol

We arrived at Durbar Sq about another 10mins later, this place is so authentic and different from the rest of Thamel… The old palace was situated here and the Living Goddess Kumari was also staying in one of the old buildings.. Even it is only about 0930hrs it was already so busy with devotees going round for their morning worship and the honking of the vehicles and bikes… It is just so annoying … We saw holy mans all dressed up and with bright colours all painted on their faces ready for any tourists to come by to take their photos.. But only if they are being paid…

View from the Roof Terrace of the restaurant

Durbar Sq

Before all the photos we went for breakfast at the roof top terrace of a restaurant. We could see all the action going down below…Bells ringing in the temples, vendors selling flowers and the busy human traffic below.. Enjoyed our breakfast and headed down to continue where we stopped… We forgot to off the camera the night before so the battery drained out.. So me and Ramli decided we had to come back again to take more photos of this square… After about 30mins we had to part ways with Wendy and Dawa as they need to rush back to the hotel to check out…

Ramli, me and Lars continued walking back to Thamel to our hotel to get the spare battery before we head to Pashipatinath and Bodhanath for some sightseeing finally after 3 days in Thamel doing nothing..

After reaching the hotel we all used the toilet and cleared our bowels and then headed down to get a cab to go Pashipatinath our first stop.. Lars haggled with the young taxi driver for a while and finally agreed to 200NPR for the 3 of us..

We arrived at our first stop 20mins later and proceeded to the entry but was stopped and asked to purchase our tickets first.. Walked to the counter and only knew we actually had to pay NPR500 = SGD10 for a ticket… Since we are already here no choice paid and got in.. A freelance guide was following us and telling us where we should start looking… We knew that this place was where cremation took place for the hindus and the beginning of the Ganga river starts flowing from here… we could smell something burning and see the smoke from a far and guessed there should be a cremation going on…

Body burning

Cremation going on

So the first thing we saw was a body covered in what looks like hay being burned. It was a little bit disturbing after looking closer, we can actually see the skull and the foot exposed!! Its foot it still not burnt yet!! Grosse ….. Anyway we asked the guy that was still following us around if we need to pay him. Well you guessed it, yes we have to pay but he said its lesser than the ticket we paid for to enter. But we decided not to take his offer. He was actually cool with it left without any grudges. We continued walking in to another site where a body was being prepared for cremation. We stood there watching the whole ceremony.

The temple for local Hindus only

They have different area for different status and casts. Apparently the higher up river they are, the higher in society the dead person is. There are a few platforms where the bodies get burnt on. The highest platform is for priest or “Brahmins” The second platform is for the police men or soldiers. Third is for people doing agriculture and the forth is for the poor. It is an eye opener for us, eventhough we have heard of it and to see it with your own eyes is really different.

After we walked up to steps and check out the place. There wasn’t much to see, only saw small pagodas with some small structure in the middle.. All were the same. It was already 1330hrs and Lars had to leave and meet his friend whom was doing volunteer work in Boudanath.. We parted ways and both of us continued to venture thru the place.. When we decided we had enough we walked back to the entrance, while we were exiting a guide approach us and asked us to use his service then we were thinking maybe we should since we don’t know whats happening in the place and since he only asked for USD5 so we agreed.. He told us he was a Brahmin and showed us the string he was wearing across his body inside his shirt which indicates him as a Brahmin.. hmmm

Holyman

He explained to us how was the segregation of the platforms and explained to us that the casts system was actually given by the King to the people in the past. But now it doesn’t really matter anymore and what casts you are now is following your ancestors segregation.. He than told us about the ritual for the cremation, first they will wash the body at a stone slab at the river bank, putting some colored powders and flowers and cloths to cover the body. Then it will be moved to the burning platform by the family members. If the body was wearing any clothes it will be taken out as the body will be burnt without any clothes. Before the body can be placed down they need to carry and turn the body 3 times around the platform. After they will perform some rituals, then after the eldest son will put the flame in the mouth, the hands than feet. If the dead person do not have eldest son the priest will perform the ritual. The body will take 3 hrs to finish burning and all this time the family will wait there awaiting. The ceremony we saw earlier was for a woman and she had 2 sons performing the ritual and they are classified as “rich” so they are at the higher platform, apparently the sons will also have to shave their heads and only keeping a short pigtail like hair behind and have to be wearing white. After the body finish burning, only small bones from the spine will be left and the sons have to place it in a cloth and put it in the river into the riverbed. And the rests of the body will be thrown into the holy river. As they say this is the start of the Ganga River and supposedly the holiest if your body could be cremated and thrown here. The guide was saying that when a person dies they need to be returned to the water, land, fire and air.. So that is why Hindus have to be cremated..

He was telling after the body cremation is done the son have to stay in the prayer hall for 13 days to perform the prayer ritual with the priests and abstain from any meat during this time. And during the ritual they have to offer as much to the priest like clothes etc and in turn their parent will get it in heaven. And hindus believed that the dead will be reincarnated after 6 days of their death.

After he brought us up to the many similar pagodas we saw and explained to us that the structure in the pagoda is actually a fertility symbol. It actually looks like a mill for soya beans used in the olden days. The protruding part actually symbolizes the mail organ and the hole symbolizes the female organs. There is total 108 similar pagodas in Pashipatinath, and the number 108 signifies the number of beads on the prayer beads. And women whom is not able to bear children will come and pray and do some rituals at the pagoda hoping to be blessed with a child.

We carried on and he showed us the various meditation caves for Buddhists and Hindus at the start of the river. Anyone who wants to do meditation can just go. Than just infront of the caves there is a small medical centre supposedly for people who is waiting for their turn to die after confirmation from the doctors that there is no hope of living. The guide was saying some old people will be put to death and when doctor determined the time left for them, they will be place a the stone slab still alive and waiting to go and supposedly the family members will feel very happy.. hmmm

We walked on and he showed us the erotic temple, and of course it is with all the carvings of male and female in intercourse position like the Kamasutara. Carried on and he showed us the Mother Theresa home for the aged, we walked thru the yard and thru the rooms seeing all the nice old people just chatting with each other or watching tv. The guide showed us a picture taken long ago when Mother Theresa visited the home.

Walked on and pass the prayer hall and the cremation area for the lower casts people. We saw 2 bodies on the ground awaiting their turn. And one body was in a freight coffin which seems to have just arrived on a Malaysia Airline flight. There were flies all over the coffin and we saw the family members looking at the coffin and one lady whom seems to be from the village was crying and we assume that is the wife of the dead in the coffin. Walked on and saw a few more bodies lying on the ground.. After about 45mins we finished our tour paid the guide 500NPR and continued on our way to Boudanath temple.

Arrived at the entrance and paid 100NPR each for entrance fee, went in and saw the biggest stupa in the World and woa seems there is a totally different village inside. There were shops selling antiques or prayer beads and restaurants. We walked around the stupa and after decided to get some late lunch at Restaurant Du Temple at their roof terrace seats… view was great and we both had sandwich which was also good. As there is only the stupa to see we left the place about 1 hr later back to Thamel.

Arrived in Thamel, bought 2 chillies and 2 limes for the sardines which we are going to cook for dinner with our electric cooker. Finally some stinging is happening after 15days or more.. We cooked rice than egg than the canned sardines from Thailand with the chilli and lime. And not forgetting the tea .. Enjoyed our dinner and watched the TV and rest for the night..

Our sardine for dinner..