Özge Bilgin Kesitler ve Günlük Yaşam
photography travel
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Analık Nedir?
Kimse sormadı ama ben kendim kendime sordum kendim kendime de cevaplamış olmayayım diye buraya yazıyorum.
Annelik "kendinle yüzleşmedir". Tek cümleyle çok net budur.
Tam artık hazırım ben bütünüm tamamım yeni bir canlıya varlık katabilirim özgüvenine kavuştuğunda, toz pembe gözlüklerle puset seçip, allı güllü body stoklarken birden büyümüştür beben ve başlamıştır krizler. İşte burda başladı benim için annelik, bundan öncesi kepkeyifli bir rüya... Ama sonrasında biraz acı var gözyaşı var :)) Kendini bebeni arabaya,pusete, banyoya sok bir de çıkar cebelleşmesinde bulup, sinir krizlerinde içinden fışkıran lavları farkettiğinde başlar işte annelik...
İşte o zaman başlarsın eski yaralarını görmeye ve anlamaya, kapanmamış kabukları önce kanatıp sonra tek tek kapatmaya... Gömdüğün ve unuttuğun ne varsa iyi kötü dan dan kafanı yara yara çıkar ortaya. Merhaba sana da eyvallah deyip geçemeyeceksin o yaralara, tek tek iyileştireceksin (ya da bir süre kalacaksın üzerinde) ki işte o zaman faydan olacak yavruya.
Yani bence özetle, "insanın kendisiyle ve geçmişiyle yüzleşmesidir" esas olay. Gerisi sonra geliyormuş... Birini sevmek, birine bakım vermek, birine yol göstermek vs de var evet ama kendinle yüzleşmeden bunları layığıyla yapamıyormuşsun.
Bilmek rahatlatır... İşte o yavru bilmediğini görmediğini gösteriyor sana... tabi azcık akıllı olucan.. yoksa 10 dane de doğursan kütük geldin kütük gidersin...
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
NEPAL
My visit to Nepal was in October 2013. At the begining,
we hesitate to go this country since it has a reputation for being dirty,
dusty, crowded etc., which i think now is bullshit. Do not hesitate to go to
this country. Go and see the smile, purity on the face of the people. We were
also afraid not to find anything to eat
that fits our accustomed taste but on the contrary, i loved the fresh and all
organic food there. The local nepali cusine is great and so delicious. There
are plenty of traditional restaurants in
Kathmandhu and by the help of foursquare comments we were lucky to find a seat
at Thamel House Nepali Restaurant on our last night. They have a set
menu in which all major traditional nepali food is served. In our last day afternoon we went to thamel square for
shopping (i bought outdoor salewa boots of great design to a cheaper price
compared to Turkey) and ate at that restaurant.
Kathmandu Streets on a rainy day
One of the difficulty before our trip started was to
consolidate on an itinerary. If you
search on the internet there are lots of iteneraries which after a while
becomes confusing. But, our constraint was time! We had only 8 days and i both
wanted to see the historical cities and
the rural mountainous areas. Me and my walking body, is not such sportive
people although i have the courage of ignorance that i thought i can walk to the
Everest base camp but as i said our limitation was the duration of 8 days. In 8
days, you can just walk up to base camp-namche bazaar and could not see
anything else. So, i gave up. I will write my itinary systematically below but
please note, none of the places i can say to you “no need to see there”. They
are, i believe all “must see” spots for a first time nepali trip.
Kathmandhu Durbar Square
Kathmandhu Durbar Square
Kids were on the steps of the temples as if the balconies of the temples are their playground
Kite runners of Kathmandu Temples
A lonely boy at the top of the temple
Kathmandu Durbar Square View from our Hotel
Date
|
Hotel
|
Programme
Details
|
Where
we stayed
|
Hotel
communication
|
Day-1
|
World
Heritage Hotel
|
Kathmandu
|
Stay at Kathmandu
|
World Heritage Hotel and Apartment
|
Kathmandu
Durbar Square + Swayambhunath
|
(DWARIKA CHHEN)
|
|||
World
Heritage Hotel
|
Kathmandu
|
Stay at Kathmandu
|
Kathmandu Durbar Square
|
|
Bouddanath
Temple
|
Kathmandu-25, Nepal
|
|||
Tel : + 977 1 4261862
|
||||
Cell :+ 977 98510 66000
|
||||
Day-3
|
Thagu
Chenn
|
Patan+Bhaktapur
|
Stay at Bhaktapur
|
Thagu Chenn Boutique Hotel
|
PATAN till afternoon (there are taxis
every where in kathmandhu that can take you to Patan)
|
: +977 9851152541
|
|||
After PATAN, take a taxi to Bhaktapur
(no problem in finding a taxi in these 3 cities)
|
||||
Day-4
|
World
Heritage Hotel
|
Bhaktapur to ChanguNarayan (we took a taxi for the climb, in return
we walked back to Bhaktapur)
|
Stay at Kathmandu
|
World Heritage Hotel and Apartment
|
Day-5
|
....
|
Kathmandu to Sundarijal (by taxi)
|
Stay at Chispani
|
a house that our guide arranged, it is
not posssible online booking in advance for chisapani
|
Sundarijal to Chispani (whole day though walk! Approximately
22km)
|
||||
Day-6
|
Nagarkot
Fort Resort
|
Chisapani to Nagarkot (whole day tough walk!
|
Stay at Nagarkot
|
Nagarkot Fort Resort
|
Approximately 15km)
|
Lazimpat Kathmandu
|
|||
9771 6680069
|
||||
Day-7
|
Dhulikhel
Mountain Resort
|
Nagarkot To Dhulikhel
|
Stay at Dhulikhel
|
Dhulikhel Mountain Resort
|
(whole day tough walk!
|
+977 1 4420774
|
|||
Approximately 15km)
|
||||
Day-8
|
....
|
to Namobuddha and Panauti city
|
Stay at Kathmandu
|
World Heritage Hotel and Apartment
|
Day-9
|
Kathmandu
|
Mountain flight + Pashipunath + relaxing
in gardens of dreams
|
Stay at Kathmandu
|
World Heritage Hotel and Apartment
|
1st day -Swayambhunath temple: It has a great atmospehere.
I had great photos of monks there. Hearing the song “om mani padme hum” gives a
different feeling that is mostly comforting. We prefer to arrive this temple by
walking from Durbar Square (our hotel is also a traditional nepali house
located just 5 min. walk to Durbar Square, Hanuman Statue, etc.) I loved the
ambiance there! The houses, doors-windows-shutters are great piece of art all
through Nepal. We could not go anywhere else on this day, because i was flight
sick and i slept half of the day.
The classical view of Swayambhunath Temple
The monks inside Swayambhunath
The monks inside Swayambhunath Temple
The monk watching the visitors of the Stupa
Candle selling women in the Stupa
Exploring around the Swayambhunath Stupa
You can see many boy monks around the Stupa
Boys chasing after the monkeys which are so many in Swayambhunath Stupa
Monkeys are not welcome to their backyard :)
2nd day- Boudhanath Temple: When we entered inside, i
was so charmed by the beauty of the
place. It was a cloudy and rainy day, nevertheless we have walked over and over
around the Stupa. We even encountered a monk in his bordeux religious
clothes with rosary in his hand having
cirle rounds around the Stupa. He was counting
the rounds he completed. I guess
he had to achieve a number of rounds as his worship. I entered a buddhist
ceremony where photography was allowed J). That was a great
experience! It was my luck i guess to come accross a buddhist ceremony. The
chants, the insturments, praying tools of budism, all was a fabulous feast. And
there were plenity of women prayers also with their buddhist praying tools.
Ther even served me a candy, which had a bitter taste.
Bird eye view of this lovely Boudhanath Temple
Women prayers (Tibetian minority in Boudhanath Stupa)
Monks walking around the Stupa
Rainy Day in Boudhanath Stupa
Portraits inside the Boudhanath
Women prayer of Boudhanath Stupa (Tibetian minority)
Girl enjoying the rain @Boudhanath
The monk having his circle as his worship
3rd day- Half day PATAN+ Half day BHAKTAPUR: Patan is really a very nice
city. The temples are magnificant. They are precious art. The temples,
buildings , all of them are very valuable. I was suprised by the architectural
esthetic of Nepal and eastern countries.
I dont want to offend anybody but i
concluded that the handmade art in Patan-Bhaktapur-Kathmanu and Penauti is so
original and authentic that you can find pieces of this unique esthetic concept in western civilizatins, in other
words western art/architecture may be improvising from this rich creativity
existed in Nepal. In Patan we had our
lunch in Swotha traditional homes which is on the list of travellers’ 1st choice. That was nice, but
the coffee house inside is european furnished and for me there were nothing
special, but the food was nice&traditional.
Bhaktapur: We take a taxi from Patan to Bhaktapur. A shabby car
of a random guy can take you Bhaktapur, do not worry not to find a taxi, it is
all available at the city entrance gates
(They are also cheap). But don’t expect an official taxi. After seeing PATAN, i
said i loved PATAN more than Kathmandhu. Then after we arrived in Bhaktapur, i
said between 3 of these, i think the best is Bhaktapur. During our stay, it was
Dashain Festival.( i think it was our luck to come to a festival but don’t
worry i think there are plenty of festival_one in every month_that you can come
across one) During the festival celebrations, people as a group were chanting
with their drums, other instruments, flags, wandering at the streets carrying their
god’s statues especially at nights ...
Every where (especially Bhaktapur) was ornamented with
colorfull tiny triangular flags. After seeing the main temples, i (full of
energy and eager to explore more than what is served) wanted to have long walk
and get lost between the streets of Bhaktapur. Bhaktapur is relatively bigger
that you can spend at least 4-5 hours in the streets of the city. No need to
say, this city is great and maybe the most well preserved one. Again by the
help of foursquare, we picked the one of the most famous restaurant in Bhaktapur
that has a great view of the square (don’t miss to come to this square) for the
dinner. It is the peacock restaurant. After dinner, we had some night
photography while walking back to our
hotel passing through the center. We wathced people praying, lighting candles at the verandah of the temples to thank to their many gods (during the
festival, this is customary). No need to
say, this time, watching the hindus was great experience (you know I had chance
to observe Buddhist praying rituels in – Boudhanath Stupa). I can assure you that there is no religion or
race that have the smile of the hindus on face. By the way, there is no
competition or tention between hindus and buddhists. They even pray for each
other gods. Visit each other temples with the same respect and dignity.
Believers of these two religion is so humanist that that live side by side with
no problem. We stayed the night at Bhaktapur.
The festival flags all around
People wandering the streets and singing to celebrate their Dashain Festival no matter the rain
Whole day raining in Bhaktapur
Hindu Temple in Bhaktapur
When it get darks, Hindu prayers light candles and put some food for their gods
Bhaktapur wooden work of a temple
4th Day- Bhaktapur& Changu Narayan: Changu Narayan is definetely
a “must see “ temple. It would be a total “miss “ not to visit it. The road from
Bhaktapur to Changu Narayan has great scenary. In the morning, we took a taxi
to Changu Narayan temple. Since it is a climbing path passing through rice fields,
we prefer walking down the hills and shooting the scenary on the return from
the temple to Bhaktapur. Temple is located at elevation of 1400m and you can
have a view of Kathmandu valley from above. I again didn’t content just to see
the temple and its garden but also went behind the temple, took the
ladders down to the village nearby. Dried corns string
to a rope, hanging on the windows was the common façade of the village houses.
Wooden art works of Bhaktapur
Women were so joyfull at the Temple
Back side view from Changu Narayan
Kids enjoying the view at Changu Narayan
The walking path from Changu Narayan to Bhaktapur is
highly recommended (also it is a good warming
practice if you will start a 3 day trekking to Annapurna on the next dayJ ) But as I said, to save time we didn’t climb there, in return we get
back to Bakhtapur on foot, enabling me to shoot the great scenary.
On our way from Changu Narayan to Bhaktapur
We passed through many rice fields
It is time to pick the rice leaves from the mother earth
Late afternoon when we arrived to Bhaktapur, we would
like to try one of the most famous coffee house of Bhaktapur, which is on the
top of the temple and having great complete view of the major square of
Bhaktapur, Marco Polo. In Nepal, the milk is real milk, so if you are not used
to drink pure milk (unpastorised i think)
it would be diffucult to have it with your musli at the breakfast. But,
the coffee in here with milk was so good and take away the tiredness of all day
walking. At the evening, we turned back to our hotel Dwarika’s Chen (house of a
newari men, who is very well care taking of its guest) in Kathmandu and start
packing for the tough 3 days trekking. I was so exited about seeing the Annapurna
range!! As of that day, due to the
clouds and heavy rainy weather we couldn’t see the Annapurna which they say, if
it is the right time you can see the mountains even from Swayamboudnath in
Kathmandu. That’s the sad side of our trip that although october is the best
season to see the mountains, the clouds did not release them to accompany us
during our trekking. And, our mountain flight had been cancelled 3
times!!! Since there were no clear
vision. But on the last day, we had the one hour flight over the mountains finally.:)
5th Day- Trekking from Sundarijal to Chisipani:
An unforgettable day in Nepal... I was unaware of what
i will face during this day. All i know was that it would be a tough walking, actually
climbing from 1500m to 2500m only in 8 hours!
We again took a taxi from the hotel at Kathmandu to Sundarijal, and we
arranged a Nepali guide (this is must, at the entrance of the national park,
they check your documents and ask for a guide) by the help of our hotel’s
owner. (as i said, the owner of our hotel helped in every aspect of our
holiday). Sundarijal is the starting /entrance point of the trek and the
national park. The officer of the natioanl park was suprised that we were the
first Türkish entering this route. Yes, i know i am a real explorer and
adventure lover. And i am not a typical Turkish, having sun bath all the day at
the beach with my water melon beside me. Anyway, we got off the taxi at
Sundarijal and the area was full with the other tourist crowds. Since i have a
20kg photography bag, and our back-up clothes/rain suits etc. , we decided that
we should definetely get a porter, in Nepali called SHERPA. He was a
short&strong local guy. Most of the time, he was climbing in front of us so
easily with that heavy bags on him. Then, he stopped and waited for us to reach
him. It was impossible to reach him unless he stopped J Compared to him, we were slower and frquently stopping, resting etc. He
was ok all the time. He really had the practice. And for sure, he was eating
very well, much more than us J. We were leaving the rice
fields down below us, as we were climbing. The scenary is fascinating! The
small village after 1 hour walk from our starting point at Sundarijal, is again
very picturesque. (i haven’t been yet but it resembles the North Black sea
region of Turkey). During the whole day, we climbed up&up. I was fascinated
by every step and frequently stop for a photo of this wonderful view (and also
to have a little rest of course). On the
first day climbing, i was better than my husband, i was a head of him most of
the time, but the 2nd day trekking was very hard for me, that i usually had to
stop our sherpa&guide& husband. And on the half day, we stopped at a
tea house for lunch where you can have Dal bhat! . They give you a big
plate with full with rice, spinach kind of greeny food, potato, all pan fried
with delious spices, which is called Dal Bhat. It was delious because the owner
of the tea house got the potato and spinach from his backyard. He picked them
from his nearby garden just after we arrived. So fresh, so delicious… Although,
i am a weight watching freak, i didnt care about eating that much
carbohydrates. That was the best potato with correct spices i had ever had.
Ma husband, we are just starting to a whole day climbing trek
The first village we arrived after Sundarijal
Our funny and relaxed Sherpa:)
As we climb to 2500m there had been a little fog which
gave a misterous effect to the surrounding.
Although i felt really exhausted, i pushed our team to catch the sunset
over the Annapurna. I shouldn’t miss it. For a while, i was anxious that we
were gonna miss the sunset but finally we achieved to arrive to Chisipani at
2215. The time that i see the litte peak of a single mount belonging to
annapurna range, that was a great moment, a great experience that no word can
describe. I think, real mountaineers can only share my feelings at the moment
of this encounter of the Annapurna mount. God damn to the clouds, only a part
of the mountain was visible with an
orange sun light on it. It was so glorious. I wait for around an hour for the
clouds to be draggered so that the Annapurna range becomes visible all in front
of me but it didnt happen. What a pity... They said Chisipani is the nearest
and the highest point where you can see the Annapurna range, even Everest if
the weather mercy! Unfortunately we were not that lucky, but i am also
satisfied what was visible to me. To see the mountains, our only chance was the
mountain flight but to be honest, it does not give the same feeling. Seeing the
top of the snowy mountain from below ground is something different and
uncomparable to see it from above by plane. Chisipani was the highest point of
our trek, and after sunset it got foggy and really cold.
We rarely come across local people sharing the paths with us
The breath taking view when we arrived Chisipani
Glorious Chisipani
At night, we were so tired but no matter, my husband
had his Everest beer with our talkative guide. While i was chatting with the
other European tourist about istanbulJ, our guide and my husband
arranged for the flat that we were gonne have the night. There is no way that
you can reserve your place online for Chisapani stay. The time you arrive
there, you get you flat. It was again crowded with tourist goups but we didn’t
have difficulty to find a room, althoug there were a few ugly concrete buildings
there. The room that we stayed was terrible, the bedding was dirty and the room
all smelled sweat from the previous visitors. Since it was cold at night, we
could not open the windows. Without having a shower and changing our clothes,
we hugged each other and stuck to only one bed putting our towels underneath us
and tried to sleepJ That was again an unforgettable memory of the Nepal
tour. It was only for one night, and despite the room conditions the beauty of
the nature made me not to care about such city girl obsessions. The food that
you can have here was potatos with scrambled eggs of course also with spices,
noodles, creps... all delisious... After i turned back to Turkey, i kept on
cooking noodles for a while. As a contribution of our Nepal visit, I realised that i really liked noodles.
I also saw a lonely women tourist, who dared to take
the route whole by her self and her Sherpa. I really appreciate her that she
did not wait for a company to have this great experience. So, i can say it
seems totally safe to travel alone as a women in Nepal.
6th Day- Chisipani@2215m to Nagarkot@2195 : We start early for our 2nd day trip. The
route from Chisipani to Nagarkot has up and downs, so at the night where you
arrive nagarkot your elevation does not change too much. I found this 2nd day
really hard, it was longer than the day before. Nevertheless, we had to arrive
Nagarkot and should have not miss the sunset. Nagarkot is famous for its sunset
and sunrises. Although i stopped my team frequently for a rest, when i realised
that we could not catch the sunset, i didnt care about the tiredeness of my
legs and also the rain (yes it heavily rained on this day but just for an hour)
and speed up. Don’t do the same and make
your team nervous, just have a relaxed trip and do not loose too much
unnecessary time before afternoon. Because, this route is really long (at least
i felt like that). I was nervous of tiredness and angry to my husband that he
didn’t care about catching the sunset and speeding up with me. He followed me
back after and i had my sunset with the guide. Since then, i started hating the
guide. I thought he should warn us about the length of the route. But he couldn’t.
Later on, he confessed that the he did not take this route before. He had
experience about Annapurna trekking routes. He even did not know the correct
way, that where we hesitated about the path we should take, we waited and
followed the other tourist groups to show us the way. We should understand that before, since he was
stopping for taking photos, which makes obvious that it is his first time. Anyway, i could not have the sunset with my
husband just because of that idiot guide. After having a bad mood that
afternoon, i was happy about my photos and a lonely sunset in Nagarkot.
Nagarkot is really very green. Just make sure to be on time on a terrace for
the sunset with your lover of course!
Our hotel at Nagarkot was the most luxurious and antique hotel of the region and we were so happy to be able to have shower and a comfortable sleep at our king size bedJ The food at the hotel was also good. I slept that night for a early wake up to capture also the sunrise in the morning, so it became another early mornings of me for the love of photography.
Nagarkot seemed on the horizon, hurry up guys i need to catch the sunset
Finally we got to Nagarkot
A lady of Nagarkot watching the sunset
7th Day- Nagarkot@2195 to Dhulikhel@1550m:
With the thought of getting a real good sunrise
photograph of Nagarkot, i woke about 5am in the cold morning without anybody
around. Even the terrace was not yet opened and i could not find a hotel staff
to open the cover above the ladders climbing to the terrace so i handled it by
myself. I set the tripod on the terrace and waited for hours, but again bad
luck the clouds were so intense that you cant see anything else but the fog.
Although i was dissapointed with the foggy sunrise, i felt lucky about the
yesterdays’ sunset despite the minor obstacles we had.
After i was convinced that i could not get a good
sunrise photography, i quit for a delicious breakfest of creppes J. This day became a sunny and hot day. After rainy, cloudy days, finally
it was hot and shiny. Today, we were heading downwards, which made me sad to
descend after being ascending for 2 days.:)) Since, i had a good breakfast and
having no faith in our guide, this time i didn’t stop frequently, to arrive
Dhulikhel on time. The sceneary was great. The rice fields, the villages (both
the people and the houses we passed
through), the nature is so beautiful. Fascinating! I still remember the huge tree, that i could not
help posing in front. At luch time, we
stopped at a tea house and i didnt want to move anywhere else but stay there. It had an amazing view... wonderful... One of
the best parts of our trek. I strongly advice to take this route (from Nagarkot
to Dhulikhel) I had to confess that, getting closer to the noon time, with the
tiredness you stop talking and joking and get obssessed to arrive to the hotel.
Someone should write the rules and ethics of trekking, i suggest. It is just a
matter of time that you get mad about your guide, if you get lost just becouse
his misleading and had to walk one hour more. That happened to us, but again we
were lucky to arrive hotel and its beatiful garden lobby having again the Annapurna
view, before sunset. If you are trekking in Nepal, the critical issue is to get
to your point having enough time in advance for you to enjoy the sunset. Chisapani,
Nagarkot and Dhulikhel are all famous for Annapurna view. But because of the
cyclons,wheather movements etc., the mountains are visible before the sunrise
and at the time of sunset. So, arrange
yourself accordingly.
Rice terraces, the path from Nagarkot to Dhulikhel
The comman way for the kids to swing, brillant!
The rice terraces - should be somewhere between Nagarkot& Dhulikhel
On the way from Nagarkot to Dhulikhel
A house on our way from Nagarkot to Dhulikhel
The breath taking views between Nagarkot & Dhulikhel
At this point, there remained 2 hours to arrive to Dhulikhel
Kids picking potato, helping their parents
We are trilled by the view
While waiting for Dal Bhat to cook, we had a selfie on the road to Dhulikhel :)
This little girl is already parenting her niece
She is so clever but too shy. Beside parenting her niece, she also attends to school
I also want to write a little bit about our hotel in
Dhulikhel. It has a great location and lovely garden with nice iron
tables&chairs, it had a romantic &lovely decoration. The garden may be
very relaxing for a day to read and only watch the annapurna view. I got my
small piece of the view with a peak of only one mount.
For Dhulikhel visitors, i stongly suggest our hotel
(dont expect new brand washing tabs inside the room, the garden by itself is
worth to be there). At night time, we
tried local cuisine but it was not that good as Dal BhatJ we had on the peaks of mountains. Although Dhulikhel is the farthest and lowest
point that you can see the Annapurna range, you should take the trekking from
Nagarkot to this city for great scenary& nature.
Again our sherpa... Check out the load on him we put:( he had no difficulty to carry and walk. Actualy his performance was better than ours...
8th Day- Namo Budha& Panauti:
Our initial plan was to walk from Dhulikhel to Namo Buddha
but we gave up. We were totally finished after 3 days walking. Instead, we took
a taxi to go to Namo Budha. And, we could stop the driver if we wanted, saw
something interesting etc. on the road. That’a really long way to walk and
really no need. It is better to go there by taxi and have your time inside the
monastry. It is an isolated monastry far away from the residential areas. It
was my fisrt time to see a buddhist monastry and i was impressed by the
atmosphere there. The buddhist architecture, the monks, kid monks were so
different and new to me. Don’t miss to visit Namo Budha! I had joined the
budhist ceremony previously in Boudhanath stupa, but the ceremony in
here was different. More glorious! Photography inside was not allowed. ( i am
sorry i couldn’t keep recording the below video)
It seemed that since this is a monastry where the monks
live, the ceremony in here were more
strict& seemed really serious. (Although i caught a boy kid monk playing
with his cell phone under his table, instead of reading the mantra in front)
The lead teacher were keeping record of the boys joining the pray. The absent
boys would work harder to reach to the nirvana, I guess. The drums, the pipes,
the chants song all together was a great holly atmosphere and a great experience.
Let me share what i got from the pray.
This lady is dealing with the dried corn at her verandah, The villagers on the way to Namo Budha
The boy monks enjoying their free time
The ceremony lasts for the whole day, one part of monks
leave their places to the new comers. I understand that it is not obligatory to
join them all at the same time. After leaving the saloon, i tried to photograph
the boy kido monks. I feel that they are not so interactted with girls, while i
tired to photograph them on the terrace suddenly i was chased by their dog,
which i could only escape only by closing the door behind me. I did not know, what
would happen if that door was not there... The boys liked this and all of them
got a laugh at me. I was so scared and a little bit ashamed but for getting a
phtogoraphy, it was not my first time being chased by a dog L.
Generally i can say that, monks are shy to pose to
cameras. So, you keep your distance from them to get their photos.
Keep in mind to stop at the lovely village just before
you arrive to Namo Budha.
Till from morning to late afternoon, we stayed at Namo
Budha which enjoyed very much then head to Penauti, another historical city
close to Kathmandu.
Panauti is very small, very lovely city. The people in
here seem poorer than Bhaktapur but nevertheless i loved this small historical
city. I am happy that, i also included this small city to our itenary. From
Namo Budha to Panauti, do not even try to walk and loose time. There is not
much to stop on the road. We got to Panauti by the taxi that took us to Namo
Budha. (we arrange a whole day taxi from the Hotel in Dhulikhell by the help of
our idiot guide, this may be only point we helped us)
The pray flags of Budhisim
A lovely girl at the Namo Budha visiting Siddhartha
Namo Budha monuments
At the entrance of Panauti, there were a rice field,
that a group of people were gathering& grinding the rice leaves. I watched
this lovely team work of rice production process. The ladies with their
traditional rice-head packs seemed suffering due to the weight. They were so
skinny but powerfull and adapted to carry the bush, rice leaves with these
authentic bags. I got happily crazy to have the chance to photograph them in
charge!
Rice farming
The women seems tired under that bag of rice
Panauti Main Square
Kids of Panauti
I love this photo...
After having the experience of rice agriculture, we had
a short walk inside this cute city. The temples and houses were similiar to
Bhaktapur just being the miniature version of it. After having satisfaction of what we have seen during
our Kathmandu valley trekking, we turned back to Kathmandu late at night.
9th Day- Mountain Flight – Pashupatinath – Gardens of
Dreams: After 3 times cancellation, we finally got our
mountain flight. As i said before, it was nice but may not be necessary if you
saw the ranges in Chisapani or Nagarkot. Anyhow, we seen the holy EverestJ behind a dirty plane window. I
wish i was rich as to get that 5000 euros helicopter tours, having lunch on a mountain
terrace with everest view at elevations 6000ms. Yes for sure, for Rockefeller
families, that are such options. J
Photos of Everest from our Flight
One Mountain flight with Buddha airlines
Since the Pashupatinath temple and the airport is very
close to each other, after the mountain flight we visited the Pashupatinath. I
was with the family having thier dead fathers body burning ceremony. That
temple is crowded and hot since all abutments are on fire!. The congested view
of this area is very picturesque. If you are again an obsessed European finding
dead bodies irritating, and blind to see the pure faith of people to their
traditions, have your time in Gardens of
Dreams.
Pashupatinath Temple
Pashupatinath Temple
Pashupatinath Temple& its mysterious ambiance
The burial ceremony i involved
Yes, after i participated in a dead burning ceremony from the begining to the end, we moved to Gardens of Dreams since we had half day in Kathmandu. The garden is nice, you can relax and have your breakfast. There were so many tourist laying on the grass, relaxing, it is like a university campus with an esthetic landscape. Inside there, you cant’ hear the horns and isolate from the surrounding. As usual for a last day, we did shopping in Thamel square. The stuff that can be bought is of course nice textured table clothes_collecting different and traditional table cloths is my special interest, Salewa boots for lovely colors, hand made Budha sculpture, hand made Ganish sculpture ornamented with coral and turquaise natural stone pieces (i find Ganish very sympathic among a thousand of gods, oh my god is was difficult to get the stories of the hindu gods, althoug i studied some hinduisim mythology books before), and i got my karete pants of lovely textures which we can also describe as hippy style pants and excited to wear them this summer most of the time.:)
This is my story of Nepal... To conclude, just go and
have 10 days at least in this country. You won’t regret it. Pull up to go
trekking! It is also guarantee that after eating mommos all the night and
potatoes at lunch, you will be still loosing pounds in returnJ.
“om mani padme hum” was my favorite song of the Nepali days.
There is one more newari song which sticks to your mouth during long day walks
“resham firiri” J).........
Ps: Due to the Dashain festival, we also encountered a
goat sacrificing ceremony of hinduism. The ceremony started early in the
morning and we watched the details from our hotel terrace @ KTM. The ceremony
took place in the military office garden. There was a band playing live music,
one guy brought the goat to the arena, and when suddenly music stopped and they
shoot the gun, then at one movement the guy strike the sword on the neck of the
animal. It is gone. The head is seperated from the body at one sword strike.
Then the body of the animal is held from its legs and sweept around the head 2
times to spill the blood. Then music starts again, and the next animal comes for
the same. I didn’t count but at least they sacrificed 100 goats that day. I
must say that it is a wild rituel.
Check also my mixed iphone photos:
On the way to Changu Narayan, i loved this road
My hippy pants bought from Thamel
Gardens of Dreams for isolating the horn voices
The delicious unbearable mommo!
Chisipani was breath taking!
The Namo Buddha appears
The foggy & rainy trekking day from Chisipani to Nagarkot
I was enjoying the sun and the beaty of the nature
I also got the traditional bruise having the lovely colors
The panoromic view from Marco Polo in Bhaktapur
I have started to yoga sessions in return, now i do the positions better:)
We had to enjoy the rain (it rained 3 days non-stop) @Changu Narayan
Mountain flight video- Live from Everest :)
To watch the Buddhist ceremony just click on the vimeo link below:
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