NEW DRESS FOR X-MAS / CNY?

Most Beautiful Red Lace Dress Ever

I bought a new dress!

Yes I buy clothes every other day.

But I am loving the dress that I just got for either Christmas or the Chinese New Year.

I'll probably be wearing the dress for Chinese New Year since I will be away for the Christmas holidays (so no party to attend).

The dress details as follows:

Brand: Self Portrait Check it out here Shop
Name: Starlet Midi Dress

  

 

Am so loving it.

 

Happiness.

NEPAL: DAY 6 - PART 2



Kathmandu Still

After lunch, I head to another UNESCO Heritage site. I do not remember the name of the temple this time as I have been visiting quite a fair bit actually. I enjoyed watching the daily life of the Nepalese people and have captured some pictures of what they do on a daily basis.

 

I saw a woman selling chicks in woven basket like these.

  

A woman prepping her stall, unsure whether she is ending or just starting her day.

This temple is taken near Patan.

An old lady selling Sal leaves (from the Cotton Tree) which leaves are weaved and formed into a bowl which is used to place offerings to the Gods in all the temples that I have come across

Kumari (Ghar) Temple or accommodation. Read more about Kumari here Life of A Kumari

Kathmandu Durbar Square

Part of an old palace and temple which is now a museum

 

Have you seen so many pigeons in a square

Yup and cows everywhere too

The temple which was supposed to be related to the Kumari legend

where the actual Goddess resides in

 Kathmandu Durbar Square

Kathmandu Durbar Square or Hanumandhoka Durbar Square is the plaza in front of the old royal palace of the Kathmandu Kingdom. It is one of three Durbar Squares in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, all of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

 

The Durbar Square is surrounded with spectacular architecture and vividly showcases the skills of the Newar artists and craftsmen over several centuries. The royal palace was originally at Dattaraya square and was later moved to the Durbar square location.

 

The Kathmandu Durbar Square holds the palaces of the Malla and Shah kings who ruled over the city. Along with these palaces, the square surrounds quadrangles revealing courtyards and temples. It is known as Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square, a name derived from a statue of Hanuman, the monkey devotee of Lord Ram, at the entrance of the palace.

 

Read more here Kathmandu Durbar Square

The old palace

 

Wooden sculpture and carving of the window

More wooden window frames - the way the wooden frames were designed is that the occupant inside the palace is able to view outside whereas anyone from the outside can never see through the window into the palace

 

The palace has been converted into a museum and most of the items them cannot be photographed. those are the stone carvings and the relics from the palace. Most of the carvings depicts the Gods the Hindus pray to and some does not look 'too good' to be photographed.

 

After this I went on a mini shopping trip around the square. A lot of tourist souvenir looking shops selling t-shirts and etc. However I was only looking for cashmere items. My guide took me to a reputable seller and his goods were definitely of the high quality but it does not come cheap. I did not end up getting anything as I was looking for a specific colour and style. So my pocket did not hurt but my heart did ache as the cashmere was so soft to the touching and I really wished they had what I wanted.

 

Well it's the end of Day 6.

 

NEPAL: DAY 6 - PART 1

All About Kathmandu

Pashupati

It is the start of a very interesting day. I am on my way to Pashupati to see the Pashupati Temple where live and open cremation are done on the temple ground.

 

A little bit of history first. Pashupatinath is the Lord Shiva i.e. the God of Gods to the Hindus. The Pashupatinath is considered one of the holiest temple in Nepal and Hindus and Buddhists alike worshiped there. In the sanctum of the temple stands a Jyothirlinga (a devotional object representing Lord Shiva believed to have self appeared) and the like of which is not found existent anywhere else in the world. The temple is located on the western bank of Bagmati river in Kathmandu. The precincts of the temple of Pashupatinath and its surrounding areas spreads over 264 hectares of land, dotted with ancient temples, archaeologically and architecturally important monuments, vihars, monasteries, stupas and so on.

 

A typical looking petrol kiosk - mind you it is not like the modern ones we have back home

The entrance to the Pashupatinath Temple

The 'open' crematorium

As you can see smoke is rising from the open crematorium (urm dead body being burnt there)

 

I was told there the dead will be prepared (bathed and covered with white linen) and funeral rituals will be done at the temple prior to the crematorium of the body at the podium of the temple. Logs of wood shall be placed at the bottom of the podium before the body be placed on top of the log of woods which shall then be covered with smaller pieces of woods surrounding the body. Finally the fire shall be set alight on the top later and bottom layer of the wood. The whole process takes about 3 to 4 hours. After which it shall be inspected by the caretaker to make sure that the 'burning' is complete. The family members shall then gather to watch the ashes of the dead being strewn into the river below. As it says 'ashes to ashes, dust to dust'.

The opposite site of the 'live' burning podium

Below the temple is the river where the dead is bathed prior to the funeral rituals, the full view is blocked by the bridge unfortunately. When I was there, one family was doing a ritual and I did not want to take the picture of the family out of respect.

Stupas opposite and above the area where the 'bodies' are bathed

 

After witnessing the ritual, I explored the temple grounds. Some other interesting sights as below.

 

 

Have you ever seen so many pigeons and cows in an open area?

 

The cows (all male) at the temple grounds are presented by the Hindus in exchange of blessings from the Gods. Only males are presented as female cows are kept at home for its milk. It is an offence to kill a cow in Nepal as it is considered a sacred and it is the national animal of the country. The penalty of killing a cow is 20 years in goal. Further when the cow dies it is to be cremated. The skin shall be taken off from the cow and only the body is cremated. Urmmm, then use the skin as leather goods?? Does not make any sense if the cow is sacred and all but you use the skin ... no?

Shops near the temple ground

 

Great Stupa of Baudhanath

 

My next stop is the Stupa.

 

The stupa is commonly known as Boudha or Boudhanath, meaning lord of wisdom. It is (supposed ) to be a protective, purifactory and wish granting stupa according to the Newar people.

 

There are many stories and legends concerning the origin and history of the stupa. The Himalayan Buddhist believes that a widow name Jyazima aspired to make a great offering to the Buddha, using her hard earned savings as a poultry keeper. She approached the local king for permission and it was granted, on condition that she used an area of land measuring the size of a single buffalo skin. However, Jyazima cut the skin into thin strips and claimed the land enclosed from the strips lay end to end. The mere woman.s ambition to build such a magnificent monuments offering to the Buddha caused much jealousy between the rich and the powerful at the time. The jealous lords petitioned the king to have the stupa demolished, but the king who allowed this happened replied by saying that since his permission had been granted it shall not be rescinded and thus the stupa was named Jyarung Khashyor.

 

 

 

 

 

The Stupa and its sights

The shops surrounding the Stupa

 

Types of souvenirs sold and the special 'thanka' (hand painted paintings on sheet of silk or cotton - usually set to harden first by some solution usually depicting Hindu Gods and the Buddha) which is not captured in picture here but I have inserted a photo I found in Google.

 

 

I had Indian style lunch today and it was decent. The restaurant is near the former palace in which the palace is now a museum. If you can remember I think it was sometime after the 2000 Olympics, we heard about the massacre of the Royal family by the Crown Prince Dipendra (actual event took place in year 2001). Read the Nepal Royal Massacre.

 

The entrance to the former palace

 

This is somewhat a long day so I have broken this piece into two parts.

 

Time for a bit of work now. Chow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEPAL: DAY 5

Pokhara to Kathmandu

Kathmandu

Slow drive back to Kathmandu, yup way too slow as it took nearly 4 hours for a journey which is actually an hour (considering it's only 64km from Pokhara to Kathmandu).

Scenery from the Restaurant (lunch break) between my journey back to Kathmandu

View of the valley and the river as I was drawing closer to Kathmandu

Typical accommodation

 

I did not do much today as the day ended with me checking into my hotel (Soultee Crown Plaza). A nice looking hotel but totally lacking in amenities. Air condition was close to *kaput*, kettle was not working but was fixed by the electrician the night I checked in and the hair dryer died the next day. I did not bother telling the reception (about the hair dryer) as when I told them about my air condition, all they did was "Yes I acknowledge your problem but really it cannot be fixed". This hotel is not great as they do not offer free WIFI, seriously and it's located in Kathmandu town. I think it is better of for anyone to stay in non affiliated hotels run by Nepalese locals as all the so called 'affliated hotels' really do not care at the end of the day.

 

Yes I can feel Friday drawing closer :)

 

 

 

NEPAL: DAY 4

Pokhara

Lake Phewa

Yes, I am still at Pokhara. I stayed here (Lakeside Hotel) for two nights and one of the best thing of all is that there was free WIFI. I mean who can live without Internet these days. My hotel is just located next to Phewa Lake.

 

The scenery taken from the Hotel.

 

It was all about taking in the sights at Pokhara today as it was also the election day for Nepalese.As such there was no public transport on road and cars/buses as they were disallowed to be used today (I do not know why though and I thought transportation will help heaps during this period).

 

Morning walk on the village road which leads to Pokhara Market place

 

Shops at the Pokhara Market Place

Pokhara Market Place

It was a free and easy day as opposed to the day before. It was SHOPPING day. Hurrah!

 

There were so many shops and so many things to buy, BUT the ultimate is to purchase original (and not fake acyclic) cashmere sweaters, pashmina and blankets.

 

"Cashmere wool, usually simply known as cashmere, is a fiber obtained from Cashmere goats and other types of goat. The word cashmere derives from an old spelling of Kashmir. Cashmere is fine in texture, strong, light, and soft. Garments made from it provide excellent insulation." - taken from Wikipedia.

 

There are an extensive range of sweater, pashmina and blankets to choose from the materials available. I chose a decent enough material for a blanket which I purchase to be used at home for my children. My kids like light and warm blanket so the blanket I purchase was perfect.I think the most important is to know your material well enough so that you would not be duped by the sellers. 

 

Next trip is down Phewa Lake. Even though it was 18 degrees that day, it was still a very sunny day and the best thing was to ride a boat with SHELTER.



Phewa Lake

 

Scenery taken at Phewa Lake

 

The tour of the lake took an hour. I stopped in the middle of the lake to visit a temple which was erected on a small island in the middle of the lake. It was a temple where most Nepalese who wishes to get married immediately can do so before the temple.

 

 

The day ended rather early as due to lack or non existent transportation on the road, I settled at the Hotel and waiting for the next day journey back to Kathmandu.

 

More tomorrow :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEPAL: DAY 3

Chitwan National Park

Elephant Ride

Woke up early for my elephant ride at the National Park.

The ride was approximately one hour and it was really interesting even though this was my second time on the elephant, the first was when I was in India.

 

Explored the jungle on an elephant is rather surreal as I was high above and it needed some adjustments from your body as I was sitting on a wood framed box like chair and it was not that comfortable as I have to bend my body slightly to follow the movement of the elephant. I ended up with a sore back at the end of it. 

 

 

 

The elephant rides

 

I saw various species of birds and animals whilst touring on the elephant. The best of all was seeing the one horn rhinoceros. My guide told me that I was lucky as out of all tours that he had taken only two out of his ten trips that he was able to see the rhinoceros (I actually saw a total of four rhinos on this trip).

 

 

Baby Rhino & Mummy

Back of my elephant's head

Deers in the jungle 

Pokhara

After the elephant ride, I went back to the hotel to pack up to head to Pokhara. The trip to Pokhara took about 4 hours even though it was only 40km away (again due to the condition of the road and the traffic).

Tibetan Refugee Camp

I arrived at Pokhara and visited the Tashiling Tibetan Refugee Camp. The Tibetan Camp in Nepal was established for the refugees of the Tibetan who escaped when the Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet to India. There are religious buildings, school, accommodations and shops within the boundaries of the Camp. Due to constraint of time I managed to visit the handicraft centre and right next to it a carpet making little house where the Tibetan spend their day sorting out yak wool before its spun into carpet.

  

I was told that elderly ladies have the duties to sort out the yak wool and where as spinning and the making of the carpet is left to younger women with better eye sight.

Carpet Making

 

 

I bought a carpet (more like a rug) and some handicrafts for friends and family to help out the community there. I mean just imagine if you are foreigner living in another country due to the political turmoil in your own country you are almost always be considered a second class citizen regardless of how great the adopted country is (well this is just my opinion anyhow - even sometimes living in your own country makes you feel like a third class citizen, so go figure).

Davis Fall

After that I visited Davis Fall (the locals call it Devis Fall). The story is that there was a lady and her husband was taking bath in the river before the fall by the name of Davis who got washed off from the rising water. Her husband survived whereas she did not and it took great efforts to extract her body from the waterfall due to the strong undercurrent.

 

 

Davis Fall

Gupteswore Mahadev Cave

I did a quick stop at the Cave which also housed a temple in it. I did not spend too long in there as the cave was dark and has a really bad musky scent to it (bat poo poo). This cave holds special values to Hindus since a phallic symbol of Lord Shiva is preserved here in the condition that it was found. I generally found it too dark for my liking and no pictures were allowed to be taken in the temple/cave.

 

 

The entrance to the temple/cave.

 

Day 3 came to a halt after the visit to the temple. I stayed at the lake side, the biggest lake in Nepal I think, Lake Phewa.

The view taken from the bus on my way to the Hotel. You can see the Fishtail Summit as well as the Himalaya and Mt. Annapurna Ranges on a clear day such as this.

 

Sleep is much needed at this point to ease the back and buttock pain. Ha ha.

 

Nite.