March 27

First off…  Happiest Birthday, Little Brother!!!!!

Next, I want to answer some questions from past comments. I do try to keep up and check out your comments! Someone asked about our plans after Nepal (I did WhatsApp you but I don't think you got it??. We do try to keep our itinerary updated on the home page.) But our plans are after Nepal to go to Maldives, for some SCUBA diving; and then Sri Lanka, for maybe three months(?). We do not have any plans for China, as we have been there and seen what we were interested in. Then after this we are still figuring it out. Another question set from the comments: Kathmandu is 1,324 meters (4,344 feet) above sea level, so not as high as you would think. It is in a valley setting with hills around and has two rivers meeting here. The mountains are in the distance, and most times hard to see due to air pollution. And last question: the Gold Statue at Swayambhu is Buddha, in the middle of the World Peace Pond with a quote… “May Peace Prevail On Earth.”

Thank you to all who do comment it is fun to read them, memories flood of you when I see who wrote them!!!🥰 Anyway, I need to catch up now!

Yesterday… We had our hearty breakfast and set out. We decided to go to Hanuman-Dhoka Durbar Square, (AKA, Kathmandu Durbar Square), a World Heritage site since 1979. It also is complied of many palaces, temples, and shrines; and it's also both Hindu and Buddhist. Most of the temples and shrines are brick, with wood embellished, intricate carvings in the Pagoda style from 12 to 18 centuries. The flyer we received upon our paid entry, says the 'Durbar Square epitomizes the religious and cultural life of the Nepali people.' This was evident on Holi! This is where the biggest crowd of people we saw were celebrating. Today, as we walk around it, it is way less crowded. The brochure also relates that Nepali Kings were crowned here in the day, and was the King's residence until the early 20th Century (Nepal became a federal democratic republic in 2008, abolishing its monarchy).

We visited around the outside of a number of the temples, as many are not open to public- native or foreigners. Many of these temples have been restored from the 2015 – 7.8 magnitude earthquake. Being made of brick and wood, it was a wonder that any of them are still standing at all. One of the temples has a display of the damage the earthquake caused, and notes that China has helped in much of the restoration efforts. Some of the buildings are nine stories high!! There are also many museums with various displays of paintings, military armaments, palanquins, thrones, ancient money/coins, jewelry, etc., and so forth.

One last place I'll mention is a temple that is home of the 'Kumari' or living goddess, who is considered to be an incarnation of the goddess Taleju. When we went in, the kumari appeared in a window bay, looked boringly around for a minute or two then left back out of sight. Some audience bowed their heads in reverence. No photos are allowed. I was not impressed. Jeff smiled and said it was because I'm not a believer. Whatever! Anyway, we did meander about the complex for a good hour.  

When we left we needed food! We went to a Thai restaurant, O'Cha Thai Street Food. Well, all who know us, we love Thai food!!  This place did it for us! We had Chicken Tom Kha Gai – a coconut milk soup (thanks to one of our brother-in-laws for introducing this to us); Chicken Pad Thai (Yumm); and a Som Tam, take away – a green papaya salad. It was all great!! We thoroughly enjoyed! Now, we head back to our hotel.

We just vegged and chilled for the rest of the day, as it was very cloudy. Since not conductive to sight-seeing, we mutually cancelled a tour with Sam. Supper was the last of our cheese and salami as sandwiches. I tried to blog, but it just was not flowing. We watched some You tube and bed by ten.

Today, awoke feeling great, but outside was cloud cover. Pooh!! We ate our hearty, included breakfast and decided to make the best of it!! We went trekking to Boudhanath Stupa, (AKA, Chintaamani Stupa, the 'wish fulfilling jewel.') We arrived and paid the entry, obtaining another brochure, which claims that the Boudhanath Stupa is believed to be the biggest stupa in the world! This is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. There is not a record of who built the stupa or how old it is. It is revered by Buddhist's worldwide.

First, we arrived at Ghoilisang (Peace Park). It's a pond with a couple of statue/idols and eight small stupas, depicting the life of Siddhartha, later known as Buddha. It is also believed the pond was made because soil for the stupa was dug from here. Hence, the pond area bears significance with the stupa. There were people worshipping here, as we have seen throughout these sites. 

We left and found our way – just a short distance – to the stupa. It was big, with it's iconic white dome and it's tall, four-sided, golden spire with the all-watching eyes and nose. The eyes here are blue, however (I don't know the significance). We entered the perimeter where all can go – just allowed to walk around the perimeter. Is there an inside? Can only Buddhist's go in? It does not appear to be the case. But as always I have questions!?!?!  Anyway, we did see a little display about the 2015 earthquake, some of the damage it caused, and that the Chinese helped to restore the stupa. [China seems to provide quite a bit of aid to Nepal.  (🤔, just sayin'!)] We completed a full circle of the stupa, as people were prostrating themselves, were admiring the stupa, and just taking pictures like we were. Finished we walked back through and out of the stupa area.

We were hungry. We had seen Mexican places and one was close by… so we went. It was simply, Enjoy Tacos, Authentic Mexicana!  We ordered Mushroom Teriyaki Tacos, and a Nachos Platter with Queso. And, well, we did enjoy tacos!, as well as the nachos!! When we finished, we walked out happy. We did have a spitting of a little rain, so we quickly stopped at a supermarket. When we checked out, we caught a taxi to get back, because it looked like it could open to a full-out rain any minute. We got back to our hotel and siesta time. We had some newly obtained 'Yak' cheese and salami cracker sandwiches with grapes for supper. We watched some You tube and caught up on blogs! 

Blessed couple of days. Thank you all for your prayers, know we pray for you as well!