Well, everyone left on Friday morning to go do outdoorsy things like bungee jump, raft and canonying, so I took the opportunity to see what Kathmandu has to offer! I went to Durbar Square, an old palace, which was the royal Nepalese residence until the 19th century. On the way there, my cabby was annoyed because apparently some Tibetans attacked the Chinese embassy and a lot of streets were closed. It took longer than usual to get me to the square.

According to Wikipedia: “Important ceremonies, such as the coronation of the Nepalese monarch, still take place today. The palace is decorated with elaborately-carved wooden windows and panels and houses the King Tribhuwan Memorial Museum and the Mahendra Museum.”

It’s a famous place apparently (aside from being the palace) during the ’60s and ’70s when  a lot of hippie trekkers came through Kathmandu, and also because it is where Nepal’s living goddess lives, the Kumari. “The Raj Kumari is a girl chosen through an ancient and mystical selection process to become the human incarnation of the Hindu mother goddess, Durga. She is worshiped during religious festivals and makes public appearances at other times for a fee paid to her guards,” says Wikipedia. She is usually about four to six years old and serves until she hits puberty and lives in one of the temples in the square. I was hoping to see if she would be there, but I didn’t see her. I think I saw the courtyard of the temple she lives in, but I wasn’t allowed to take many photos.

The museum is nice and interesting, given I didn’t know too much about Nepalese history. A lot the exhibit has to do with the fight for independence, and the royal family’s history. I also saw some of the thrones and lots of gifts to the royal family displayed.

Everything was so old and beautiful. I was surprised that a lot of it was built in wood, rather than stone.

After spending a few hours in the musuem, I walked along the street and found a coffee shop. I had an iced mocha and cheesecake. The coffee was yummy, but the cheesecake was not that great. I then walked to find a cab to go back home, but I saw a burger place near the taxi stand. Having eaten Indian/Nepalese food for the last six weeks, I was craving something different. When I saw it, I wanted a thick juicy burger, but there was no beef on the menu, just buffalo. I ordered it, and it was a thin slice of meat, and not It also literally came with four fries (see photo below haha). It came topped with lettuce and tomato, and I was afraid I might get sick, but I ate it anyway.  No sickness yet… The waiter asked me where I was from and I said Canada, and he said, “But you have a Mongolian face.” I laughed. “Nope, Canadian!”

In any case, it was nice to just walk around for an afternoon and be a tourist. I wasn’t afraid, no one bothered me, there were locals there hanging out people watching, it was like being in any city in Canada. 🙂

–Bea

On my way to Durbar Square.

The traffic in Kathmandu!

Entrance of Durbar Square

There were lots of old carvings there

All the vendors outside

Durbar Square temple

Durbar Square temple

The grounds were full of buildings and statues like this

The details!

The grounds

People watching

Ahhh, the pigeons!

World heritage site!

Dragon?

I thought this was where the Kumari lives, but going back to my Lonely Planet guide, it says a three-story red brick building. D’oh!

Inside the palace courtyard

The eyes!

This was a small carving in the wall in the palace courtyard

Me in the courtyard!

Back outside in the square.

I think I overheard a guide tell someone this is a statue of Vishnu. People were praying in front of it.

Apparently these guys are the palace’s guards, kind of like the guys at Buckingham Palace!

Scary

Hanuman statue, Hanumandhoka at Basantapur Durbar Square

The grounds

A wall on one of the temples.

I just thought this was cute.

Temple across the street from the palace.

More people watching

Another Hindu god

Outside the square

This shrine was carved into the tree!

The tiny streets! This is actually called Freak Street!

I had an iced mocha here and cheesecake!

My iced mocha (yummy) and cheesecake (just okay)

My ‘buff’ burger, with fries and coleslaw… it wasn’t satisfying at all.