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Kathman-HOOONK!

On arrival in Kathmandu two weeks ago, I had a bit of a culture shock: The city is just so loud and chaotic! After a couple of days sightseeing, however, I sort of got used to the chaos. Still, it continues to be just that: chaos.

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Kathmandu street life

There are simply an unbelievably high number of cars and (especially) motorcycles on the roads, not to speak of the throngs of pedestrians. What is more, whoever is loudest seems to have right of way, so there is constant honking to be heard. People and motorised transport squeeze past each other with just a few centimetres to spare, it seems. Not even the narrow streets of the old town provide some relief: Even though there are no sidewalks and huge crowds, cars and motorcycles use these streets too! The concept of a pedestrian zone seems to be unknown here.

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Kathmandu Durbar Square

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Buddha statue from 5th or 6th century

As soon as you got used to this chaos, though, there are lots of temples and small religious statues to be discovered as well. The highest density of temples can probably be found on Durbar Square, but nearly every corner boast a small temple or a statue, lots of which are several hundreds of years old. This way, every stroll through the city is an adventure – not only because of the traffic.

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Kathesimbhu Stupa

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A bit outside the city centre, three more important temples can be found: Swayambhunath, Pashupatinath, and Bodhnath.

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Swayambhunath

Swayambhunath is a buddhist stupa. It is also called “Monkey Temple” due to the resident monkeys. However, I would have expected to see more of them than I actually did. To me, the name “Dog Temple” would have been equally appropriate.

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Monkey at Swayambhunath

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Pashupatinath

Pashupatinath is the most important hindu site in Nepal. It is known for the cremations that take place there under open skies. The actual temple, however, cannot be visited by non-Hindus. As I felt a bit like an intruder watching the morning relatives burn their dead, I did not stay very long there.

Finally, the stupa of Bodhnath, which is (along with Swayambhunath) the most important buddhist site in Nepal, was my personal highlight in Kathmandu: The huge white cupola with its golden tower which is encircled by hundreds of worshippers was very fascinating to me.

Om Mani Padme Hum(*)

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Bodhnath


(*) buddhist mantra that can be heard at the Bodhnath stupa (both from souvenir stalls as well as from the mouth of some of the worshippers)

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