I went to another Monkey Temple today! It was another long trek but luckily it wasn’t up and down a mountain, just a steep climb straight up about 300 stone stairs! I really enjoyed it here though. It was very beautiful, and there were lots of monkeys in this gigantic complex of Buddhist history! It is the second most important place for Tibetan and Nepalese Buddhists. The grounds are said to be as old as from the fifth century!
When I got up to the top, I kept thinking, how did they build this back in the day?! Seriously, on top of a gigantic hill and so many details. It is all truly a work of art! According to Wikipedia: “Swayambhunath is also known as the Monkey Temple as there are holy monkeys living in the north-west parts of the temple. They are holy because Manjushree, the bodhisattva of wisdom and learning was raising the hill which the Swayambhunath Temple stands on. He was supposed to leave his hair short but he made it grow long and head lice grew. It is said that the head lice transformed into these monkeys.The Bodhisattva Manjusri had a vision of the lotus at Swayambhu and traveled there to worship it. Seeing that the valley can be good settlement and to make the site more accessible to human pilgrims, Manjusree cut a gorge at Chovar. The water drained out of the lake, leaving the valley in which Kathmandu now lies. The lotus was transformed into a hill and the flower become the Swayambhunath stupa.”
It has been interesting to see the prominence of Buddhism in Nepal, compared to India. When I was in India, there were lots of Hindu and Muslim structures and historical places. In Nepal, there is a lot of Buddhism with a mix of Hinduism. I am learning quite a lot about Buddhism and one of the interesting things is the correlation to peace. For example, when I was in Pokhara, there was the World Peace Stupa, and today, I saw a World Peace Pond and several of the inscriptions along the walls of the Swayambhunath complex were dedicated to ensuring world peace.
In any case, I am nowhere near religious, but it was the first time since Laos (13 years ago) that I was in a Buddhist monastery so I gave an offering to my mom and said a prayer of sorts.
Before I went to the temple, I wanted to go for French food at Delices de France. The cabby couldn’t find it and had to ask three or four other cabbies. I finally got there and it was closed. (What’s with me and closed places?!?!) I walked across the street to a restaurant called Third Eye instead. My Lonely Planet guide said it was a good place, but I should’ve listened when it said the Indian food is best. I was going to get a lamb tandoori kebab, but I was also eyeing the steak. I ended up with steak that was listed as “tenderloin,” and AGAIN, dude asks me how I like. Medium rare, please. My search for meat ended in failure once again, as it came out WELL DONE, and again, it was NOT tenderloin. It was fatty and stringy (everyone knows I like my fatty meat, but seriously… don’t list it as tenderloin if it’s not!!!), and there was supposed to be bernaise sauce on it. I told the waiter it wasn’t what I ordered and he pointed to a circular thing on top of the steak and said that was the bernaise sauce. I’m like, um, I’m pretty sure that’s just butter… or do you usually put frozen sauce on top of steak?!?!!? Anyway, the flavour of the red wine/mushroom sauce was good, but I was soooo disappointed in my steak that I didn’t even eat it all. Gasp!!
–Bea
Bea Vongdouangchanh 